Music therapy

Nathalie Leduc, Music Therapist at the CHU Sainte-Justine, obtained her Master’s in Music Therapy from Drexel University in Philadelphia. She worked in adult palliative care in several hospitals affiliated with McGill University for ten years. She has been supervising music therapy students since 1997.

Music therapy was the first form of art therapy to be implemented at the CHU Sainte-Justine. It first began at the Centre de Cancérologie Charles-Bruneau in February, 2005.

The main goal of music therapy in pediatric oncology is to help children cope with their disease and hospitalization. Apart from speech, music therapy offers children a way of communicating what they are experiencing regarding their disease and hospitalization. Children can receive therapy at different stages of their disease (announcement of the diagnosis, treatment, remission, reoccurrence, bone marrow transplant, intensive care, palliative care, etc.).

Music therapy enhances an individual’s physical, cognitive, emotional and social development, and self-awareness. It also:

• provides support during painful and invasive medical procedures;
• helps relieve pain and reduce anxiety;
• stimulates motivation and prevents feelings of discouragement;
• strengthens the mother-child bond;
• fosters non-verbal self-expression;
• brings comfort and provides consolation to the child and their loved-ones in the last moments of life.

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