Music Therapy in Adoption and Trauma: Therapy That Makes a Difference After Placement

by Joy Gravestock

Overview

Music therapy is a valuable method of support and treatment for those dealing with trauma within the adoption community. Music Therapy in Adoption and Trauma offers a timely and much-needed perspective for music and creative arts therapists, as well as families themselves.

Addressing topics such as contemporary adoption processes, potential resulting trauma, attachment and adoption breakdown, the book looks at why music therapy specifically can help. Throughout, it centres the value of lived experience in increasing understanding of trauma and effective support.

Following a decade of dramatic change within the adoption practice, this book is an invaluable resource for those looking to support individuals and families impacted by adoption.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785925238
Publisher:	Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Publication date:	05/21/2021
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Joy Gravestock is Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol and a self-employed music therapist in private practice. Prior to her music therapy training, she was clinical lead for a Nottinghamshire NHS Trust, in adoption services, CAMHS, Nottinghamshire. She was also a member of Nottingham and Leicester Adoption Panels for many years. She currently works as a specialist music therapist in adoption practice is working towards a PhD focussed on attunement within music therapy relationships and adoption reparation.

Table of Contents

Foreword Helen Odell-Miller 9

Prologue: Lived Experience and Sense-Making Informing Music Therapy in the Adoption Community 19

1 The Relevance of Music Therapy for the Adoption Community 29

2 The Contemporary Adoption Process in the UK: The Impact of Process on Music Therapy 45

3 Sense-Making of Lived Experience: A Theoretical Approach 61

4 Accessing Music Therapy: The Adoption Support Fund 79

5 Referral Presentations: A Needs-Led Approach for Diverse Issues 93

6 A Needs-Led Music Therapy Approach: Listening To Lived Experience 107

7 How Music Therapy Supports Adoptions in Difficulty 123

8 An Adoption Narrative Informing Music Therapy 141

9 Resonances of the Music Therapist's Self in Intersubjective Relating: The Significance of Therapists' Lived Experiences of Adoption 161

10 Lily: Learning from Lived Experience 177

11 Co-Constructing Future Practice with the Adoption Community 195

Appendix 1 205

Appendix 2 207

References 211

Subject Index 217

Author Index 221

Editorial Reviews

The importance of this book cannot be overstated. Joy Gravestock has produced a seminal text in an area which is now widely recognised as one of the most important in contemporary health and social care. The text will prove invaluable to those involved in all areas of the adoption process, including music therapists, social workers, agencies, counsellors and adoptees and their families.

Dr Elizabeth Coombes

The book I would turn to when contemplating work with anyone affected by adoption. Accessible writing belies the complexity of knowledge and reflexive understanding integrated here. Vignettes illuminate the text like coloured glass, culminating in a profoundly moving case study.

Dr Cathy Warner