PFA

• This has more than doubled since the early 1990s, a time period labelled “the decade of displacement” by the United Nations Refugee Agency.
• This rate of increase shows no signs of slowing and has been fuelled by the current situations in Syria and Ukraine.
• While practical support such as providing physical safety, food and clothes and medical help are crucial, psychological support also needs to be offered.

Music therapy

• Music therapists use a range of music-based interventions including interactive music-making, songwriting and listening to music.
• Music therapy offers a flexible and accessible way of supporting wellbeing and sharing difficult experiences.
• The integration of these elements into music-based and music therapy interventions is useful for refugees.
• My studies have shown that people who have had music therapy find it useful and supportive for a number of reasons.
• My projects used the core principles of PFA linked to music therapy for small groups of asylum-seeking families from Albania, Egypt, Syria and Pakistan.

Feeling safe

• People who experience trauma need help to feel safe, and providing a structured session does this.
• Music and music therapy are useful tools to employ in planning PFA and continuing therapeutic support for refugees.
• Finding ways to offer access to these opportunities more widely will benefit greater numbers of those seeking to build new lives.