Music therapy
Philosophy and services.
“It's the power of music that gives me the vitality to defend the values of sharing. »
Art and care
Art aims to enrich the capacities of the individual and to develop his sense of openness to dialogue within the family and his entourage. If it can allow you to reconcile with yourself, it is also a way to promote social ties.
My approach to music therapy is based on my experience in an associative environment within the framework of a cooperation with the Raoul Follereau foundation during "world leper day" in Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, and especially in a hospital environment at the George Sand Hospital in Bourges with people with physical or mental disabilities, in particular with autistic children and adolescents with behavioral and personality disorders.
I have always endeavored to make them forget their difference, to make them aware of their inner strength by valuing their own body and mind. My interventions are intended to respect the energy and perception of each. This is why I am attentive to the personality, the singularity and the reactions of each person. I also attach great importance to the interactions within the group, the exchange between the patients passes through a musical or sound phrasing, which serves as a common thread in the group.
With sound and group effect, bodies and minds come alive. The arms are freed and speech is unblocked.
All the music of the world to cure the ailments of the body and the spirit
In Africa, art has always had a central place in education as well as in care: it has a social function by “healing” society as a whole, and a therapeutic function by caring for body and mind. Disability is not an isolating factor there because people with disabilities are always integrated in one way or another into family and social activities. This is the originality of African societies and it is on this approach to disability that my care practice is based.
I use a very large musical palette: diversified chords, percussion, the sound of the kora and of the balafon, that of the flute arouse different psychic and bodily reactions. I also use classical music, jazz, chamber music, electro-acoustic music. The choice of instrument and chords depends on the pathology encountered and the medical prescriptions. Using a CD player is a must to fully harness the power and power of music.
My music therapy workshops generally include six main areas: listening to music, reproducing sounds and rhythm, dancing and singing, body expression and stretching, touching skin instruments, and finally relaxation and work around silence.
Professional experiences
From 1987 to 1994: George Sand Hospital Center in Bourges, Department of Dr Jean Claude Martin, Head of Department, Dr Nadia Salle, hospital practitioner.
From 1994 to 2012: songwriter at the Jeunesses Musicales de France, artistic director of the “Enchanted Tales of Africa” ensemble.
From 2012 to 2014: Child psychiatry department at the George Sand Hospital Center in Bourges under the responsibility of Dr Hénin, chief physician.
November 2013: speaker at the 4th National Congress of Mobile Teams in Psychiatry, in Bourges, at the request of Dr Michel Hénin, child psychiatrist and Alain Vernet, psychologist-philosopher
“ My commitment is to fight suffering,
ignorance and confinement ".
I'm available :
For stays organized by professional care structures,
For the training of music therapy students,
For conferences on music therapy,
For anyone interested in discovering music therapy in Africa.
Music therapy services:
In African culture, music, dance, storytelling, occupy an important place in the education and care of the individual and the group. These "natural" activities have a social function (social bond, socialization), and therapeutic (appeasement of the tensions of the body and the spirit, reconciliation with oneself).
Thus, in West Africa, disability is not a factor of isolation, people with physical disabilities or suffering from mental suffering are always integrated into the activities of family and social life.
My professional experiences began in Upper Volta and Mali, in the Raoul Follereau Foundation and with traditional professional practitioners, then continued at the Center Hospitalier Spécialisé George Sand in Bourges, with adults, children and adolescents. autistic or suffering from behavioral or personality disorders. I worked there with Mrs. Mauduit-Secret, director, then her successors, as well as with Jean-Claude Martin, head doctor, and Nadia Sallé, then Michel Hénin, head doctor, and Alain Vernet, psychologist.
I have also worked with adults with disabilities and autism (GEDHIF, La Chataigneraie autistic home at SESAME AUTISME CHER).
The various practitioners with whom I have worked have recognized my know-how and the results obtained with patients. These experiences and the professionalism of these psychiatrists and caregivers have strengthened me in this approach, the purpose of which is to contribute to the well-being of people by promoting the restoration of self-esteem and the appeasement of tensions in the body and the mind.
I rely on both ancestral and human know-how as well as the knowledge acquired from doctors and hospital caregivers, to offer individual or workshop care integrated into a care protocol decided by the doctor. -chief.
It is above all a question of establishing human communication based on respect and consideration, of safeguarding people's modesty and dignity whatever the problems linked to their pathology, of making them aware of their own wealth, of awaken their potentialities and help them use them in daily life.
Through African bodily expression on a musical background, anchored in "the concrete and the earthly", by moving in space, people rediscover sensations and rediscover the resources of their body. This movement of the body, which promotes better control of breathing, has a soothing and reassuring function.
The work on the skin instruments makes it possible to feel the vibrations and invites the teenagers to produce rhythm, leads them to realize that their body is alive and that they are capable of creating. In addition to the fact that this practice helps them to free themselves from the internal tensions that sometimes prevent them from communicating with others, this observation is likely to restore the image, often negative, that they have of themselves.
All this aims to help people get out of the confinement in which their psychic suffering plunges them, to reconcile them with themselves, to consider the human being in his greatness, and also to provide them with pleasure and satisfaction.