The value of Interpersonal Cultural Cognisance and the Culturally-oriented Self in Music Therapy

Music Therapy (MT) is used to support the wellbeing of people experiencing a range of mental health conditions. This research interrogates data gathered at an acute in-patient mental health ward of a hospital in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Music therapy was provided as a part of a larger occupational therapy program. The therapy was conducted with people experiencing a range of mental health conditions including psychosis, depression and eating disorders. The aim of this research was to explore ways in which participants’ personal musical culture – a term designed to refer to one’s own musicality and accrual of musical tools and experiences – could be encouraged and supported. It was proposed that a person’s ways of interacting with music and expressing their musicality are complex and related to their greater socio-cultural self. The research was undertaken with an aim to understand how to support these greater selves within therapeutic interactions. The research was informed by resource-oriented and feminist approaches in addition to indigenous models of health such as te whare tapa whā. Thematic analysis was undertaken within a secondary data analysis methodology. The findings pointed to four ways of supporting participant’s personal musical culture: nurturing a therapeutic alliance; providing a flexible therapeutic space; offering a person-centred and resource-oriented practice; and developing personal rituals of reflective and reflexive thought. The research process provided deep reflective investigation of the researcher’s music therapy practice and connected to existing cross-cultural and culture-centred literature. The value of cultural cognisance was elucidated, suggesting the benefit of further research considering socio-cultural identities within music therapy practices.