MUSIC THERAPY
BLUES TO BEAT THE BLUES
A pilot project is using the power of music to change lives
Participants playing the French Horn during one of the sessions
Blues and Tunes is the world’s first music therapy program designed specifically for emergency workers. The first pilot project took place in 2021 and comprised of 12 one- hour group music therapy sessions that ran over 12 weeks between April and June 2021. This was funded by the Coronavirus Community Support Fund distributed by the National Lottery Community Fund and there was no cost to participants. Professions associated with a higher risk for the development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) include the military, firefighters, first responder/ambulance personnel and law enforcement officers (Skogstad, 2013). In 2019, Police Care UK reported that one in five serving police officers were living with PTSD or anxiety disorders triggered by exposure to one or multiple traumatic events. Almost two-thirds of officers reported experience of fatigue, anxiety or sleep disturbances. However, they continued to go to work as per their usual schedule.
36 | POLICE | AUGUST 2022
COVID-19 has placed front-line workers under an additional layer of considerable psychological pressure. Not only is the police service responding to an increased level of incidents related to mental health, but they are also continually increasing their own exposure risk to the virus. The main treatment options offered for
PTSD in the UK are cCognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and/or medication, with the goals of reducing symptoms, teaching strategies and skills to deal with symptoms, and restoring self-esteem. Music therapy for PTSD, anxiety and trauma-related stress within ex-military personnel in the US is well documented (Libby et al. 2014), yet despite an equally high incidence of PTSD and other emotional trauma-related symptoms reported in blue-light emergency service personnel, music therapy as a treatment for workers in these services has not been
explored, until now. To address this gap, a working collaboration between the blue Light Symphony Orchestra (BLSO), Chroma, and five blue light organisations: Surrey Police, Sussex Police, Surrey Fire & Rescue Service and East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service and South East Ambulance Service, was established to design, implement and evaluate music therapy as a treatment option for front line workers with symptoms of PTSD. The BLSO is a user-led charity, which
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