Unprecedented Music Therapy Conference Happening in Tbilisi

Exclusive Interview

The first Georgian Music therapy Conference will be held on the March 1 and 2 to coincide with World Music Therapy Day). Music therapy is already helping disabled adults and children in Georgia, thanks to Teona Kacheishvili, Director of the first Georgian Music Therapy Center. This center works in partnership with the charity Music as Therapy International, created and directed by Alexia Quin. Today, Quin helps us to understand what Music Therapy is and what amazing work it is already doing in Georgia, themes that will be further developed at the March Conference.

She explains that before the official creation of the Music Therapy Center, the first music therapy initiatives in Tbilisi were made in Public school n°200 and Public School n°198. Her charity initially responded to a local request for introductory training in the first school in 2011.

“We received a request from the school because they had a real commitment to the therapeutic activities they offered to the children who attended their school. But Music Therapy was not yet available in Georgia, so they had to look internationally […] it is really important for them to be able to show that it is recognized in other countries”. Indeed, Music Therapy is already recognized “by the UK National Health Service,” for example.

Her organization works in eight different countries to help develop Music Therapy in places where it is not recognized and therefore, where there are no funds to secure the survival of music sessions for disabled people.

“The children we have been working with [in Georgia] are children with disabilities who need extra support and specialist interventions to fulfil their potential. […] Our approach to Music Therapy is very much focused on finding ways that children or adults can make music themselves.”

She explains that it is not about teaching people how to play music, but rather a way to create communication and relationships with these people.

“You might use music to create a simple conversation […] to establish contact with a child or an adult who is very difficult to reach, maybe someone who is very withdrawn will find the opportunity to make music […], maybe they will find that motivating and it will draw them out of the world they are locked into. Maybe also the fact that they are being given the opportunity to use a medium that doesn’t require words might help people who find language difficult, to express themselves in a different way. (…) [music] gives you that feeling of being understood, which can boost your self confidence and your willingness to develop relationships.”

Music Therapy especially helps children developing new skills and focusing their attention.

The therapy is “about drawing [people] into a meaningful relationship within which they can try new things and broaden their experiences and develop new skills. Developing attention, listening (…) social skills. […] For some children who are very active, for who focus or concentration is difficult, a therapy session can provide a real focus for that energy, a real channel for that energy, you can plays drums incredibly loudly […] and use that energy […]: it is constructive and creative and I think this has a very positive impact on people who have a lot of energy”.

However, it is not without challenges that the Georgian Music Therapy Center runs, the first challenge being the need for funds.

“Every year she [Teona Kacheishvili] has to raise about 34,000 GEL to run [the center] to offer Music Therapy sessions to children and families who are having difficulties or have disabilities. […] The fact that she was so motivated to set up such a ground-breaking service in Georgia […] is a real symbol of the power of music to make the most of people’s potential.”

It is not difficult to find professors who are interested in being trained to become therapists “but finding the money to pay for the training is more difficult. Just to organize this conference, Teona needs to raise just under 4,000 GEL […] that is something that she urgently needs help with, she urgently needs to find people who believe in the power of music and who might become sponsors of the Music Therapy Center so that children from families who don’t have money to pay can benefit from music therapy.”

The potential of Music Therapy is also limited by the fact that it lacks recognition in Georgia.

Teona has been having “discussions with the authorities to have music therapy recognized […] because if it is not recognized by the Georgian authorities, it cannot be in a school curriculum and it is very difficult then for a teacher to have time to be allowed to offer music therapy”.

Quin insists that the conference will play a major role in promoting Music Therapy and in making people who could benefit from it aware of its existence in Georgia.

“This conference is very important […] and I understand that a representative from the Ministry of Education will be coming. The Ministry is committed to understanding more about Music Therapy and they have said they would like to make space for it within the recognized activities”.

“Teona and all the partners we have in Georgia really deserve recognition for their work and this conference is a fantastic opportunity to find out more about the work they’ve been doing, whether you work in a school and you want to know about training yourself, whether you have a child with a disability and you want to know how music could help or whether you are somebody with influence or somebody with a business who is interested in music and might be able to find a way to support either the conference costs or the Music Therapy Center in the future.”

By Gabrielle Colchen

Image source: musicastherapy.org

Music Therapy Center website: www.mtc.ge/

Donations can be made directly through this link and will be redirected for the conference: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/donation-web/charity?charityId=1002743&stop_mobi=yes

You can also directly contact Alexia Quin and Teona Kacheishvili for questions or donations: alexiaquin@musicastherapy.org, teonakacheishvili@yahoo.com