Holly Shirra

I’m Holly, and I’m a qualified music therapist. I use music in a diverse way to communicate with and provide therapeutic benefits to people from all walks of life. I have a substantial background in psychoanalysis to help me better understand the inner mental and emotional processes of my clients. I am also trained to use specific music techniques with clients with various neurological disabilities to retrain/improve language, cognition and motor abilities. My experience encompasses work in end-of life care, dementia, mental health, autism and visual impairment in various settings.

Music has been shown across history to be a natural way of expressing oneself. It can build connections with others, offer catharsis, open up avenues for spontaneity and help us understand our own thoughts and emotions.

On contacting me, we will talk about your needs and I will explain various approaches which include:

• Creating music original together (with or without lyrics) to help you understand and process issues in your life
• Forming a tailored program of music therapy techniques to improve language, sensorimotor and/or cognitive abilities
• Listening to music together that is meaningful to you, compiling playlists of existing music or creating artwork whilst listening to music, as a starting point for exploring inner processes

I look forward to connecting with you!