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NOR’WEST NEWS Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz Thursday <strong>January</strong> <strong>28</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 11 KIWIBANK LOCAL HERO AWARDS Work with music therapy earns Wade medal • By Ella Somers KIMBERLEY WADE, founder and director of Southern Music Therapy, thought it was a hoax when she found out she had been made a Kiwibank Local Hero medallist for her work as a registered neurologic music therapist. However, she said it was “really lovely to be valued by someone other than my husband and my mum. Someone investigated and appreciated what I’ve done and thought it was cool, so that’s pretty special.” Wade grew up in Hawkes Bay in a musical family and studied psychology and classical singing at Victoria University. She considered becoming a clinical psychologist but “wanted to add the music in there somewhere.” After meeting a music therapist and learning about music therapy, Wade realised it was a career she wanted to pursue. She auditioned and got into Victoria University’s master of music therapy programme and, after graduating, moved to Christchurch. Wade describes musical therapy as a tool to help with a nonmusical goal, like finger dexterity or helping with emotional expression. “We’re also working on communication, physical VALUED: Providing musical therapy for people with disabilities has earned Kimberley Wade a Kiwibank Local Hero medal for <strong>2021</strong>. rehabilitation, cognitive, emotional and social goals,” she said. Music therapy is in “quite a medical field,” Wade said, something she wishes people were more aware of. “As musical therapists, we’re providing opportunities and we think outside the box as to how music can be accessible to people with disabilities. “I love music because it’s a non-verbal way of communicating with people. It bypasses everything and gets right into your soul and provides this universal connection to people.” Wade has more than14 years experience as a neurologic music therapist and works primarily with people who have rehabilitation and neurological conditions. Said Wade: “I founded Southern Music Therapy because I liked working with people with neurological conditions. I wanted to work with stroke clients which was quite unheard of in New Zealand, not just Christchurch.” Southern Music Therapy provides a range of therapy services for people with disabilities from group work to individual sessions and now works within all the big neurological facilities in Christchurch such as Equitas, St John of God, Laura Fergusson and Burwood Hospital. As well as setting up the organisation, Wade co-founded the Cantabrainer Choir Trust with Therapy Professionals in February 2012 which is now run by the trust. The choir is for people with neurological conditions. Wade said she is really proud of what it’s done for so many people. “There was a real gap for people with neurological conditions who couldn’t afford private music therapy. “It’s a fabulous community space for people to come together and be able to do rehabilitation without it being super expensive.” A lot of Wade’s clients, especially her stroke clients, are not covered by ACC which means they have to pay privately for music therapy. “There’s never enough funding in the neurologic area and there’s never enough understanding of what musical therapy can offer,” Wade said. “I do have clients who sacrifice parts of their lifestyle in order to pay for the therapy because it’s so highly valued in their world.” It’s only after years of education and advocacy of music therapy that Wade feels more people are aware that music therapy is out there. Ideally, she wants people to know that music therapy is an option just like speech therapy or physiotherapy and to make sure it’s available to people if they need it. “In the last couple of years music therapy is becoming more recognised and more valued,” she said. “It’s definitely growing and keeping it as a quality service is very important.” • More awards, pages 12 & 13