When a loved one is seriously ill or suffering from a disabling condition like Alzheimer’s Disease, communication may seem impossible. Such situations can throw a family into grief, as family members despair of ever again having the chance to share meaningful, intimate moments.
At such times, music, carefully chosen and applied with understanding, can offer hope. Music can reach both the mind and the heart even when words fail. It can touch the spirit and revitalize faith. It can provide rich moments of sharing for the family and the loved one.
Music therapy can create these sharing experiences in a way that respects the person’s history and cultural background as well as current needs and limitations. There is no condition, however grave, that can completely remove all hope of meaningful contact, even up to the last moment of life. Music therapy offers hope to those who are seriously impaired and to their families, helping them know that love never loses its power to unite and to enrich and to heal.
Do you have a loved one living in an institution?
Are you a professional caregiver?
Do you have a friend or family member who cannot communicate due to confusion or serious illness?
Then you may want to read these
ARTICLES ON MUSIC THERAPY
Or hear a talk about
PASTORAL MUSIC THERAPY
Book available
Judeochristianity: The Meaning and Discovery of Faith by Charles "Carlos" Gourgey is an exploration of the meaning of faith from the perspective of Jewish and Christian tradition. It presents a comprehensive spiritual path that addresses the needs of all people, regardless of background or creed (or even lack of a creed). The book draws upon many examples from the author's experience as a hospice music therapist. What emerges is an understanding of faith that helps us through life's various and inevitable problems. Many people facing death - those who are most fortunate - discover a faith, not grounded in rigid belief but rather in love, that helps them confront their destiny without fear. What we can learn from them helps us not only in such extreme situations but in our daily life as well.
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