Alder Hey Children’s Charity and the Arts for Health team at Alder Hey are delighted to announce the launch of a new music toolkit called Minds Matter, designed to support any musician wishing to develop their professional practice working with children and young people with mental health conditions. 

The toolkit is the culmination of a ten-year partnership with Live Music Now, a nationally renowned music charity that trains and employs professional musicians to work in community, education and health settings. Funded by Youth Music, with support from Alder Hey Children’s Charity, the partnership has developed a strong music in health programme at Alder Hey, training and mentoring 17 musicians to work in a children and young person’s healthcare setting. Many of these musicians now deliver weekly sessions across all areas of the hospital, including the Neonatal Unit, Critical Care, in-patient wards, and our mental health residential unit. Their work supports the children and young people in our care, providing distraction from treatment, improving resilience, and developing skills which may be useful now and in later life.

The Minds Matter toolkit, which launches on 26th September with a webinar event, was designed by Georgina Aasgaard, an alumnus of Live Music Now, who has delivered music across Alder Hey for 16 years. The toolkit will offer support and strategies for working with children and young people in a healthcare setting to professional musicians, who recognise how transformative music can be.