Written by Tiffany Nobes
For many people who have Huntington disease (HD), anxiety medication is a daily necessity. Vicki St. Amand’s anxiety medication isn’t a pill, though. It is music.
At Vicki’s long term care home, she has been participating in music therapy. Music therapy can be conducted in several different ways depending on the patient’s needs. For some it can be through listening to music, playing an instrument or singing a song. For Vicki, it started through song writing.
About once a week, Vicki’s music therapist, Melissa Jessop, and social worker, Jennifer Allen, visit with Vicki. During these visits, Melissa and Jennifer would connect with Vicki and allow her to share how she is feeling. Melissa would write Vicki’s thoughts and emotions down and over time, lyrics were formed. They would then choose an existing song to borrow music from and begin creating Vicki’s masterpiece.
For Vicki, music therapy just seems to make everything else that is happening go away. “I feel proud and loud,” says Vicki. “[It makes me feel like] there is always tomorrow. And tomorrow will be better.”
Since starting music therapy, Melissa and Jennifer have noticed a great increase in Vicki’s confidence. For the first song they created, Vicki insisted that Jennifer and Melissa sing while Vicki played an instrument in the background. For their second song “Let’s Live for Today”, though, Vicki wanted to sing lead.
From left to right: Vicki, Melissa and Jennifer
Original song by Amy Grant and Carole King
Although Melissa has a limited amount of HD clients herself, based on her experience with Vicki she would definitely recommend music therapy to those considering music programs for HD. “We tend to focus on a person’s physical decline,” says Melissa. “But we need to focus on the whole person including their mental well-being.” Music is extremely effective in supporting emotional expression.
If you are interested in learning more about music therapy options near you, visit the Canadian Association of Music Therapists here. You can search their National database to find someone near you.
Now there is no slowing down for Vicki. She is already planning a new song and continues to sing through her HD journey loud and proud.