Bringing music therapy to local whānau

Aotearoa’s largest music therapy provider used its HealthCarePlus Grant for Good to bring its therapists together for training, and the ripple effects are reaching more than 800 whānau a week.

Raukautauri Music Therapy Trust provides subsidised music therapy for people with disabilities or mental health conditions across Northland, Auckland and Hawke’s Bay. For example, a 43-year-old stroke survivor, who can’t speak as a result of the stroke, but can still sing. Helping him find that connection between what’s locked away and what can still be expressed is the kind of work the Trust does every day. And it’s why this grant from HealthCarePlus’s Grants for Good program mattered so much this year.

With the grant, the Trust brought its therapists and support staff together for two professional development days. Dr Carolyn Ayson from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington headlined the event, with presentations on post-ableist approaches to music therapy, and how working to move beyond a deficit view of disability can improve each client’s dignity and agency.

The work at Victoria University is an important one for Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust, as it offers the only Master’s in music therapy in the country, and produces just six graduates a year. Bringing together long-standing therapists and new clinicians is a rare and valuable opportunity to compare notes. Staff travel from as far north as Kerikeri and Whangārei to Hawke’s Bay in the east.

“It’s the greatest thing to actually have a collective learning space,” says Amanda Piper-Randell, Chief Executive Officer of Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust. “Our sessions together on 29 and 30 January 2026 strengthened the whole organisation in ways that just can’t happen over email or Zoom.”

The impact is immediate, with shared knowledge and practices supporting the work in the therapy room. Every client referred to Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust goes through a full consultation with their whānau and support network, with the aim of handing over as much agency as possible to the individual. That might mean a six-year-old with profound autism can count to ten and back for the first time, or an adult using their one half-hour a week session will make every decision in the room about how the session will run.

For an organisation supporting more than 800 whānau every week, a well-supported workforce is crucial. Amanda says, “Supporting a skilled, resilient workforce is essential to delivering ongoing, high-quality, accessible care.” The training successfully fed into how therapists manage the emotional demands of the work, supporting wellbeing and endeavouring to reduce burnout across the team.

For a Trust with 20 years of trusted service, HealthCarePlus is delighted to support Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust.

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