Chroma, the only Ofsted registered arts therapies provider in the UK, has established a new partnership service at Barley Lane School, Exeter, delivering music therapy sessions to their students.
Barley Lane is an SEMH school for up to 80 boys aged 7-16 years, which supports students with social, emotional and mental health needs.
As a result of Chroma’s therapeutic provision this year, the school has already seen an improvement in pupil wellbeing, behaviour, engagement and, in some cases, attendance.
Most students have previously struggled in a mainstream school and Barley Lane offers a setting that is proactive in supporting these students; with relationships central to the school’s approach and values, staff invest in building trusting relationships with students to enable them to feel safe, secure and ready for learning.
Students at Barley Lane primarily receive 1-1 music therapy sessions, which aim to help improve their emotional wellbeing, help them to better express and manage their emotions, explore new ways of relating, and process trauma they may have experienced.
The school is proactively experienced across a range of special educational needs, with relational practice at the core; following therapy sessions, when students may feel more emotionally vulnerable, teaching staff will naturally provide additional support.
Paramount is that pupils feel safe at school, and only then can learning begin, so consistency of ‘supporting adults’ from both staff and therapists, is vital to help children feel regulated and to access the curriculum. To support this, Chroma’s music therapist, fully integrated in the staff team, is a highly attuned, consistently available adult who builds trust with students to enable them to be supported with their psychological, emotional and relational needs in a way that feels accessible and safe.
Therapeutic approaches implemented include songwriting, to enable students to creatively explore and process their thoughts, emotions and experiences, often giving order to children’s internal chaos; improvisation, playing instruments freely, such as the piano, drums and guitars, to enable emotional release through creative expression; group work, offering a place for students to develop peer relationships and share their experiences, giving them a voice and to feel seen, heard, understood and supported within a familiar relational network; and play-based interactions, helping children regain their trust in relationships and their sense of safety.
And actively engaging with therapeutic interventions such as drumming can help students to develop important regulation skills, often through opportunities for co-regulation within a therapeutic relationship, with patterned, repetitive rhythmic activity also enabling children, particularly those who have experienced early trauma, with valuable opportunities for regulation and developing calmer states.
Lucy Collings Pettit, Senior Therapist at Chroma said, “This partnership is extremely important to support these boys in expressing, processing and managing their thoughts, feelings, relationships and experiences, including safely processing trauma, fostering their self-esteem and supporting their engagement with school.
“Many students have not felt safe at some point in their lives, and the therapy sessions, and the school, represent a place of increased safety and trust, allowing them to feel safe enough to be emotionally vulnerable and explore issues within the therapeutic space. Music is highly engaging and motivating to many students, and proving a particularly accessible way of working therapeutically in the school. This partnership is working to support students’ emotional wellbeing, development of trusting, positive relationships and self-esteem, and, above all else, feelings of safety and security, all of which impact positively on their engagement with learning and educational attainment.”
David Jones, Head of Barley Lane added, “I strongly believe in being proactive, where possible, over being reactive. Music is a significant part of the boys’ lives and music therapy is not only responding to specific needs as they arise but there is exciting potential to support students in a preventative, proactive way such as through building their resilience and supporting their developing regulation skills.
Whilst we await a formal evaluation of the direct therapy input this year, I‘ve seen the benefits of the creative and engaging support provided. Pupils feel safe to express their emotions, including some very difficult and raw emotions, and feel listened to and supported; as a result, they are better able to cope and engage with school. “As a school, we look forward to further enhancing this partnership and, based on this year’s success, look to expanding the service offering.”
