Control and Creativity: Music Therapy with Adolescents in Secure Care

Abstract: The adolescent in secure care experiences restrictions in freedom, control and choice. In music therapy, however, the individual is often encouraged to explore and develop these very same qualities. This paper aims to assimilate thoughts and ideas which have emerged from individual music therapy sessions conducted within an Adolescent Forensic Secure Unit. By way of introduction the writer describes this highly specialised unit and its client group. This provides a context for the subsequent discussion of music therapy sessions. A case study, illustrating six months of music therapy with a fourteen year old boy, forms the basis for the paper, although examples from clinical work with other individuals are also included. These examples serve to describe techniques and theoretical frameworks which the writer has found helpful in developing methods of working with this client group. The paper also seeks to explore some of the issues which arise for both client and therapist working together in a secure environment. Issues such as loss of freedom and imposed control are highlighted and discussed, with particular reference to their implications for both the musical and the therapeutic relationship. This paper will be published by the BSMT late in l992, price on application.

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Keyword(s): Control, creativity, adolescents, secure-car, individual-music-therapy, control.

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