The Song Therapy Network Advisory Team



Song Therapy Network Advisory Team Nigel Neill Nigel co-founded the Song Therapy Network in 2018 and wrote the original Certificate in Song Therapy distance learning course. This has been refined and updated with the help of many others over eight years. A professional community musician based in the South West of England running community choirs in Taunton and Minehead and previously in Exeter and Tiverton since 2013. He has worked extensively with learning disability groups and in life limiting care settings as well as providing music programmes for the brain injury charity Headway and Parkinsons UK. He has worked closely with the mental health charity Rethink and studied clinical Music Therapy for two years in Bristol before switching to Counselling Skills for a third year. His professional background is music performance recording composition and song writing, composing original instrumental music for BBC television and recording many established artists over forty years working professionally within the UK music industry. Bsc (Hons) Combined Science. Post Grad Cert Music & Health (UWE) .Counselling Skills (Level Four) (UWE) Anna C. Park Anna is a teacher, community musician, professional ceilidh caller and circle dancer, based near St Albans. Her earlier career as a day services social worker included supporting adults with learning disabilities and mental health conditions through song-writing, performance & dance. Anna pioneered the development of interactive musical lightbeams in Care & SEND Education (OptiMusic) and the award winning first Interactive Projection Table (OMi Mobii) used predominantly in dementia care. In recent years her community work has offered support to older people living with dementia, re-discovering piano playing abilities, the joy of singing and inclusive dance. Anna is a Special Advisor and podcaster for NAPA (National Activity Provider’s Association) encouraging more music and the arts in care settings. She’s also a Trustee for the Liverpool intergenerational charity ‘Ready Generations’ with its fully integrated nursery in a care home and intergenerational singing groups. Anna has a BA Hons 1st in English Literature & Theology, a Postgraduate Teacher Qualification (P.G.C.P.C.E) & Counselling Skills Level II. Stuart Penman Stuart is a professional SEND music educator and community music leader. He was recently commissioned by the Plymouth Music Education Hub as their Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Music Consultant and appointed to the Devon Music Education Hub's Advisory Board as a SEND music specialist. Stuart founded an annual music festival that brings together special and mainstream schools in Plymouth. The festival provides a supportive, non-judgmental platform for students to perform and celebrate each other's musical achievements. He established an Open Orchestra at school for students with varying disabilities. The orchestra integrates music technology and traditional instruments to create and perform original compositions. He is the founder and musical director of Plymouth Special Voices Choir. This specialist choir is open to anyone in the Plymouth area with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), with a particular focus on pre/non-verbal children. The choir currently has 15 members. He is guest musical director for a community choir for men. The choir provides a safe space for members to express themselves through song and performance. Certificate of Music Educators from Trinity College (2016). Certified Song Therapy Practitioner. BA Education (2010) Peter Brown Peter is based in Winchester, UK has worked as a community musician in schools, care homes, a children's hospice and most notably at Winnall Rock School which offers free music workshops and performance opportunities to young people facing participation barriers. He also helped establish Sound Winchester, a project connecting community music and wellbeing groups in the area. Peter is an associate lecturer at the University of Winchester, teaching and supporting students on the Music in the Community module. Our qualified students Our Advisory Team specifically includes many of our ex students now delivering high quality music programmes in community social care and education Their feedback and contributions have helped to shape the growth of our independent leadership course over several years Through our peer support webinars many of them continue to offer valuable insight into specialised areas of music delivery as well as reflections on career development and sometimes personal health challenges faced along the way Further some have penned additional course materials helping to ensure an inclusive organic evolution of the course for the benefit of future students Certificate in Song Therapy Skills Ben Murray (2024) Jackie Macbeth (2023) Rebecca Wright (2022) Karen Moss (2023) Katy Holtham (2022) Emma Lancaster(2021) Lyndsay Regan-Hicks (2022) Peter Brown (2021) Bexi Owen(2021) Stephen Kenny (2021) Amy Hopwood (2021) Liz Radford(2021) Julie Oldham (2022) Julie Dowling (2022) Paula Tait (2023) Helen Alder (2023) Alan Flay (2023) Stephanie Guntrip Jessica Bowie(2023) Joanna Suvarna(2024) Nicky Aikin (2024) Sharon Moss (2022) Caroline O'Callaghan (2024) Joanne Lowry (2024) Sabrina Cartlidge (2024) Elaine McGinty (2025) Jacinta Sexton (2025) Roisin de Paor (2025) Certificate in Song Therapy Practice Joanna Suvarna Jessica Bowie Alan Flay Julie Dowling Julie Oldham Liz Radford Amy Hopwood Katy Holtham Karen Moss Helen Alder Joanne Lowry Registered Students A few of our qualified students commit to ongoing CPD regular peer support and have adopted an ethical framework They are registered on our informal Song Therapy Register launched in 2023 which is updated annually Registration particularly suits those in employment in education and social care and those whose recreational music making programmes are sponsored by their employers or by third party funding authorities It provides an independent annual updated record of CPD and evidence of commitment to professional practice. Our register will slowly grow with time at its own pace and help ensure the continued growth and profile of our Song Therapy Support Network in years to come Joanna Suvarna* (Registered) Jessica Bowie* (Registered) Julie Oldham* (Registered) Katy Holtham* (Registered) Joanne Lowry* (Registered) Stuart Penman* (Registered)