Who We Work With

George’s Rockstars provides music therapy for children in hospitals across Hampshire. Many of these children have serious and life limiting/ threatening illnesses or mental health challenges and spend a large proportion of their time in hospital. This can impact them in many ways, from the physical challenges they face due to their condition to missing time with friends and family. For many they have to come to terms with the long term impact their condition will have on their day to day life, or that their condition will be life limiting.

As well as their condition specific challenges, the hospitalisation of children has been shown to have a negative and lasting impact on the motor, cognitive, emotional and social development of the child.

Music therapy uses music to help children and their families live creatively and resourcefully in the face of illness, disability and trauma. It can be used to support children and their families to explore and express their emotions without having to put them into words, to encourage them to engage in activities and support their treatments, to help meet developmental goals, and build positive memories of time in hospital.

Research has shown music therapy to be beneficial to children in hospital settings in a wide range of areas of care – for example pain management, intensive care, procedural support, palliative and end of life care, brain injury rehabilitation, respiratory care, medically fragile children in low awareness states and with both premature and full term hospitalised infants. (Bradt 2013 Guidelines for Music Therapy Practice in Paediatric Care)

George’s Rockstars works with children, young people and their families across the age range – from supporting newborn infants and their parents, through boisterous toddlers, to thoughtful teens. Each of their needs is specific and individual and we use our knowledge and experience to tailor programmes to support them, whether as individuals, family groups, or with their peers.

With it’s largely non-verbal nature music therapy can reach the widest range of individuals, including those with profound and multiple learning difficulties, those for whom English is not their native language, and those who’s traumatic experiences have created barriers to their engagement with people and services.