RICHMOND MUSIC TRUST - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Outreach Service
20 Alexandra is a Music Therapist based in Surbiton with her husband and three children. After graduating with a music degree from Liverpool University, Alexandra returned to London to continue her training as an opera singer, whilst working as music teacher in central London. She has enjoyed a busy performing and teaching career working for organisations such as Opera Holland Park, Arts Council England, Lambeth Music, the Royal Festival Hall and schools in Belgravia and Brixton. Most recently she has been an Associate Director of Music at a popular London day school and enjoys a thriving private teaching practice.
Alongside her professional work Alexandra has always enjoyed using music to help people and alongside various voluntary roles in the community she has also raised thousands of pounds for two charities supporting children affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa and Uganda. Since the pandemic she has set up SingforJoy, a community singing group which encourages people to sing to improve their sense of well-being and to connect to others.
Whilst training as a music therapist, Alexandra's clinical placements have included a specialist PMLD school for children with complex needs and an NHS placement in Southwest London working with adults in the community with schizophrenia, psychosis and personality disorders.
0Andreas is a classically trained musician, playing violin and piano. He has a wealth of experience, having worked for 35+ years, in health, education and social care settings. He originally trained in Social Pedagogy/Social Work in Germany before undertaking a postgraduate Diploma in Music Therapy at the University of Roehampton, London. After several years of clinical practice within the NHS and the independent sector, he furthered his studies by undertaking the MA programme at the University of West England, focussing on research and evaluation. In his clinical practice he uses a wide array of other instruments, as well as singing.
Andreas has practised as a Music Therapist since 1998, working in a variety of NHS settings with adults with mental health problems, such as psychosis, depression, anxiety disorder and personality disorder, as well as in settings for adults with dementia and adults with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. Andreas has also extensive experience of working in paediatric / educational settings delivering Music Therapy to children with autistic spectrum conditions, developmental conditions and social, emotional and mental health needs.
Andreas leads the Music Therapy service at Richmond Music Trust, which includes all aspects of service delivery and development, including the supervision of Therapists. In his clinical practice at Richmond Music Trust his caseload includes children with a wide range of emotional and developmental needs as well as adults with mental health problems, dementia, acquired brain injuries and learning disabilities. He also works with self-referred adults accessing Music Therapy as a form of emotional support. Andreas is approved as a supervisor by the British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) and has a diploma in supervision with the Centre of Supervision and Team Development (CSTD). He is also a visiting lecturer on the MA course in Music Therapy at the University of Roehampton.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Outreach Service
Cathy trained at the Royal Academy of Music. After graduating, she pursued a professional singing career with performances in various West End musicals, concerts touring the UK, recordings, and television work. Cathy qualified as a Music Therapist at Roehampton University in 2005. She currently works as part of the RMT Music Therapy Outreach Service providing music therapy to children with cancer or another life-challenging condition, adults with dementia, and adults with neurological conditions, physical disabilities, sensory loss, and learning disabilities. Cathy's other experience includes working with children with autism, and children and adults with severe learning disabilities. Cathy is also a qualified teacher and has her own private teaching practice in Surrey.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Outreach Service
Cathy is an experienced HCPC-registered Music Psychotherapist having obtained her M.A in Music Therapy from Anglia Ruskin University in 2002. During her career she maintained her own freelance practice in addition to work with the Richmond Music Trust and other organisations, offering specialist therapeutic support to adults and children with a wide range of needs within many educational and care settings. She has presented widely about her work, both in the UK and abroad, and also had a variety of teaching and supervisory roles. She is the co-author of Music Therapy in Mental Health Settings (in the British Journal of Music Therapy 2011) and of a chapter about skills sharing (in Intercultural Arts Therapies Research 2016). She continues to offer clinical supervision to music and arts therapists.
Cathy's special interest is in the interface between the non-verbal and verbal realms of human experience. To this end, she has undertaken specialist training in arts psychotherapy. She has an Advanced Diploma in the Therapeutic Arts from the Institute for the Arts in Therapy and Education and is a Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery. She is also a UKCP-registered Integrative Psychotherapist, having obtained an MSc and Clinical Diploma from the Metanoia Institute, London.
Cathy presently combines work with the Richmond Music Trust with her psychotherapy work, both for the Psychology Sussex in Hove, East Sussex and her own private practice. Her work with young people and adults is trauma-informed and from an ethical perspective of inclusive, non-oppressive practice. All her work is underpinned by the ethical standards set out by the HCPC and UKCP governing bodies.
In her spare time, Cathy has wide-ranging interests around health and wellbeing. She is a musician in various guises, singing with local choirs and playing the piano.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Outreach Service
Claire joined RMT's Outreach Service after qualifying as a music therapist at the University of Roehampton. She works in the community with adults with learning disabilities and with children affected by serious illnesses, delivering sessions in family homes, schools and online. Outside RMT, she works with children with life-limiting conditions and their families in a children's hospice.
During her music therapy training, Claire undertook clinical placements at a special needs school, working with children with learning disabilities and autism, and in a psychiatric setting with adults. In all of her work she has experienced the power of music to connect people and help them to express themselves, when words are not enough.
Claire is a classically-trained singer and pianist, singing regularly in choral concerts and tours in the UK and abroad. She studied music at Bristol University before pursuing a career in BBC Radio and TV production, and in corporate communications, prior to training as a music therapist.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Operations & Finance Administrator
Emma joined Richmond Music Trust in October 2022 as Operations & Finance Administrator, after working in a similar role for a number of years with Kingston Music Service. Having been a musician from a young age, Emma is an avid supporter of music education, believing that all children should have the opportunity to access and engage with music.
At RMT, Emma undertakes financial responsibilities, supports the administration of RMT's tuition in schools, and coordinates ABRSM and Trinity exam sessions. Emma also oversees the administration of RMT's Wider Opportunities programme, which gives all primary children the chance to play an instrument as an integral part of National Curriculum music lessons.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Briar Road Twickenham Service
Francine considers music to be central to her own wellbeing; she regularly sings in a choir, provides keys and lead vocals in a band, and is almost constantly listening to music from a huge variety of genres. She is delighted to work in a profession that uses music to build therapeutic relationships and facilitate others' experiences of agency, connection and creative expression.
Francine studied her undergraduate degree in music at the University of Cambridge, and completed her MA in music therapy at the University of Roehampton in 2016. She joined Richmond Music Trust in 2018 and has enjoyed working with clients across a broad range of ages, backgrounds and therapeutic needs from the studio at Briar Road. Francine also provides music therapy at an NHS mental health unit for older adults, and at a service for adults with learning disabilities.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Outreach Service
Jack graduated with a degree in Theology at the University of Durham in 2018, where he also held the position of Director of Music for a college chapel choir. Jack then worked as a teaching assistant for two years before completing his Masters in Music Therapy at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with distinction in 2022.
Whilst on placement, Jack worked in a variety of settings, working with children and young people who have autism, learning disabilities and severe mental health needs including psychosis. Since qualification, Jack has worked with young children and their families at Chelsea and Westminster hospital, developing his practice and learning alongside an experienced music therapy team and wider multi-disciplinary team. Many of the children are on the social communication pathway for autism, and others have developmental delay, language delay and other needs. As well as seeing these patients in the hospital setting, Jack also supports children in nursery settings, working closely with staff to support their development.
Alongside his music therapy work, Jack also enjoys empowering young people to use their musical talents at church. He has also worked as a freelance music tutor, teaching cello, piano and guitar to both neurotypical and neurodivergent children.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Briar Road Twickenham and Outreach Services
Joanna studied piano and bassoon at the Royal Academy of Music gaining an LRAM and a Graduate Diploma before pursuing a teaching career both privately and in schools, mainly in the North of England. In 2007 she returned to London and studied for an MA in Music Therapy at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Joanna has spent much of her life working with young children and supporting their families. She is passionate about using music as a tool for communication and enabling every child to find their own unique ‘voice'.
She joined the Richmond Music Trust in 2015 as an Outreach Music Therapist and visits clients in their own homes as well as in schools; she is now part of the Saturday clinical team working at Briar Road. Joanna has also developed work in private practice to support the needs of older adults, especially those with dementia and has links with several care homes in her local community to meet the growing needs of this sector of society. Joanna is currently a bassoonist with the Kew Wind Orchestra and works from her studio in West London, teaching and sharing her love of music with others.
Job Titles:
- Operations, Media & Events Administrator
- RMT 's Operations, Events & Media Administrator
As RMT's Operations, Events & Media Administrator, Josie works as part of the core team, liaising with schools, teachers and parents. Josie also manages our social media output and assists with our large scale events. Josie is passionate about the arts and understands the value that these experiences bring to young people.
Josie lives and breathes music; whether it's singing on stage, going to gigs or finding new artists online. From first performing on stage in her secondary school's talent show, to singing live with a blues band in Japan, Josie's passion for music has continuously grown. With a degree in Drama from the University of Bristol and several years of experience working in education abroad, Josie now brings her endless enthusiasm for performing arts to Richmond Music Trust.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Outreach Service
Kathryn is from a musical family and took to music from a very young age. She is a classically trained cellist and has played in a variety of ensembles including string quartets, chamber and symphony orchestras and bands for musical theatre shows. Kathryn also enjoys playing the guitar, piano, clarinet and singing. Kathryn graduated with a BA in Music from Bath Spa University before undertaking a MA in Music Therapy from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.
She has worked in a variety of settings with a wide range of clients including older adults, children and adults with terminal illnesses, children with severe and multiple learning difficulties, autistic spectrum conditions, and those with profound and multiple learning difficulties. She currently works as part of the RMT outreach service at a unit in a school for children with ASD and LD, a mainstream primary school where she works with children who have attachment disorders and a wide range of children and adults at our therapy room at the Hook Centre in Kingston. Kathryn spends the other half of the week working as a Music Therapist in a school for children aged 3 to 19 with a wide range of learning disabilities in Walthamstow.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Briar Road Twickenham Service
Lucy has a degree (GRSM Hons 1983) from the Royal Academy of Music where she studied Flute,Voice and Piano. Lucy then combined a career of music teaching (Post Graduate Certificate of Education, Froebel College Roehampton 1984) and as an instrumental and vocal tutor (Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music, 1982) as well as regularly performing as a jazz singer around London.
Lucy then trained as a music therapist, obtaining an MA from Roehampton University in 2007, and since then she has worked as a Music Therapist with a wide variety of clients in many different settings including schools and community settings. Lucy has extensive experience of enabling people (including those with learning and/or mental health difficulties) to express themselves through music in a therapeutic setting.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Outreach Service
Lucy is a music therapist, flautist and pianist. She completed her Undergraduate degree in Music at the University of Birmingham, including a year abroad studying in Montpellier, France. She completed her MA in Music Therapy in 2019 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Whilst training, Lucy's clinical placements included a specialist school for children with visual impairment and an NHS child development service, working with children under 5 with social communication difficulties and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Lucy also worked with adult inpatients in a psychiatric unit, with diagnoses including personality disorder, psychosis and bipolar disorder.
Lucy is experienced in working with children with a range of disabilities and communication needs, using music to support their communication, expression and holistic development. She has particular experience working in early years settings, taking a developmental approach to her music therapy work. She enjoys working collaboratively with parents, supporting them to take tools from music therapy into their child's everyday life. Lucy also works as a music practitioner with The Amber Trust, working with families of children with visual impairment and complex needs. Aside from her music therapy work, Lucy teaches flute and piano to primary and secondary school students.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Outreach Service
Maja studied piano and music teaching for primary and secondary schools in Split, Croatia and then worked for several years in a primary music school teaching piano before training as a Music Therapist at Nordoff Robbins, completing her Masters degree in 2006. Maja went on to work in a variety of settings with individuals and groups of children, adolescent and adults ranging from mainstream with social and emotional difficulties to people with autism, special educational and physical needs and mental health difficulties. Maja joined Richmond Music Trust in 2013 to deliver Music Therapy as a part of the Short Breaks Programme aimed to support children and families in Hounslow.
Maja has also facilitated short courses for Nordoff Robbins and supervised Music Therapy students on clinical placements. Maja particularly enjoys working with younger children in mainstream educational settings. Maja believes that each individual has a unique relationship with music that helps build interpersonal relationships and can support each person in fulfilling their potential, leading to a better quality of life.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive
- Company Secretary
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Briar Road Twickenham and Outreach Services
After completing his MA in 2013, Muhamad worked briefly as a freelance Music Therapist, providing music therapy services to elderly clients with mental health conditions, adults with learning disabilities and children with special needs in the London and South East areas. He also worked as a volunteer for the children's charity CORAM, providing music therapy at a SEN school in North London.
Since joining RMT in 2016, Muhamad has been providing Outreach Service therapy to clients in the South West London areas as well as working at the RMT Music Therapy Studio in Twickenham and at the Children's Centre in Hounslow. His current clinical work covers a range of clients from adults with complex needs and mental health issues to children with autism and learning disabilities. Muhamad is currently training to become a qualified Vocal Psychotherapist and is scheduled to complete this specialised music therapy course at the end of 2020. Apart from the trumpet, piano and singing, he also plays the ukulele.
As Brass Team Leader, Neil is responsible for overseeing and developing all aspects of RMT brass tuition, its related ensembles and the Wider Opportunities programme. He considers it a great privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to the outstanding work within Richmond Music Trust.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Briar Road Twickenham and Outreach Services
Olivia trained as a Music Therapist at Roehampton University in 2001, having first completed a music degree at Kings College London, and having worked for several years as a one-to-one learning support assistant in a school for children with special educational needs. Her main instrument is the flute, but she particularly enjoys working with drums and percussion. Though she is classically trained, she also draws upon musical influences from different countries and cultures, and especially loves the musical styles of South America.
Over the years Olivia has worked as a Music Therapist in a variety of settings. She has been working for the NHS since 2004 in a medium-secure forensic psychiatric hospital, working with adult offenders with mental health conditions. Through this she has gained extensive experience of working with people suffering from a range of mental illnesses, particularly psychosis, schizophrenia, and depression, as well as personality disorder. This forensic work has fostered her interest in and knowledge of complex trauma, as well as dual diagnosis (drug addiction) and systemic family work. She is particularly interested in how trauma impacts physical, mental, and emotional development, and she uses a trauma-informed model in much of her work across different client groups.
Alongside her NHS work, Olivia has been working for Richmond Music Trust since 2008, and is predominantly based at our Twickenham service, running individual sessions for both children and adults with a range of disabilities and/or emotional needs. She also works as part of our outreach programme, currently offering attachment-focussed therapy sessions to several adopted children in their homes. During her time at RMT she has worked in many different settings: in schools (both mainstream and special needs), hospitals, and in residential and private homes; she has experience in working with a wide range of different client groups, including children and adults with autism and other learning disabilities, children with emotional/behavioural challenges, adopted/fostered children and their families, and adults with Dementia and other mental illnesses.
Job Titles:
- RMT Music Therapist, Briar Road Twickenham and Outreach Services
Rosie is a music therapist and classically trained clarinettist and saxophonist. She graduated with a degree in Music from the University of Manchester in 2016, and has subsequently worked in a variety of roles including as a teaching assistant for young people with autistic spectrum conditions, as well as a residential support worker for adults with complex needs. She has also worked as a Musician in Residence at a school for children and young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.
Rosie qualified with an MA in Music Therapy from the University of Roehampton in 2021. At her clinical placements she worked for the NHS with adolescents with moderate learning disabilities, and in a school for students with social, emotional and mental health needs. In addition to working with Richmond Music Trust as part of the Briar Road Saturday music therapy team, Rosie also works in two primary schools. In these settings she supports children who are affected by issues including anxiety, bereavement or trauma, as well as children who are neurodivergent.
Job Titles:
- Development Manager ( Vocal )
Originally from Ireland, where she completed her BMus before studying with the Irish Chamber Orchestra as part of her MA in Classical String Performance, Tara is an upper strings teacher who has worked for many schools and various music services including Kingston, Merton, Hounslow and the Tri-Borough hub. As a founding member of the Irish-based Amoroso string quartet, Tara is passionate about chamber music and bringing this into music education. With 10 years' experience, Tara teaches in 1:1, small group and whole class settings as well as directing String Chamber orchestras and other orchestral ensembles.
Tara brings her string teaching and arts admin/management experience to her role with RMT, and as the newest Team Leader, she looks forward to further developing our string ensembles and Wider Opportunities teaching.