Central Queensland Music Therapy

Central Queensland Music Therapy Using music as a tool to help you improve your health and wellbeing, change and develop your neuro-pathways, and achieve your goals

We are pleased to be hosting a placement student here at CQ Music Therapy this semester! Read an introduction from Mel b...
07/08/2026

We are pleased to be hosting a placement student here at CQ Music Therapy this semester! Read an introduction from Mel below, and say hi if you see her around 👋🎨

“Hello, I’m Mel. I’m an Art Therapy Student, completing my final semester of my Master of Mental Health Art Therapy at the University of Queensland. This is my fourth placement, where I continue to grow my skills and experience in mental health and therapeutic settings.

“My journey into art therapy has been shaped by a lifelong love of creativity, teaching, and supporting others. I hold a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Fine Arts) and a Master of Teaching, with nearly 24 years of teaching experience. As a teacher, I saw how powerful creativity can be in building confidence, connection, and emotional wellbeing.

“My therapeutic work will combine:
• my experience as an educator
• a caring, person-centred approach
• a safe, warm, and non-judgemental space

“During a uni lecture this semester, we were asked to choose a flower that represented our final placement journey. I chose a sunflower for the warmth, positivity, and support I have experienced with Jess and Eliza already. I feel encouraged and confident as I continue to grow personally and professionally in this final stage of my learning journey, alongside such inspiring therapists.”

Term 3 is here! We hope you enjoyed the school holidays and aren’t too tired as you settle back into a regular routine t...
17/07/2026

Term 3 is here! We hope you enjoyed the school holidays and aren’t too tired as you settle back into a regular routine this week 🤩

Our holiday highlight was Nhulundu’s Pop-up Playgroup! One of our registered music therapists, Eliza, set up a space as part of the event, where children and families got to explore some exciting instruments, make music together, and enjoy socialising and playing with new friends 👫🪇

We love facilitating connections through music, especially with our local community. And it doesn’t get much better than doing this work outside in the sunshine ☀️

An obstacle course in Music Therapy? But where are the instruments?! 🎸🎹🪇🪗🪘Music therapy is not always music-based. Somet...
30/06/2026

An obstacle course in Music Therapy? But where are the instruments?! 🎸🎹🪇🪗🪘

Music therapy is not always music-based. Sometimes our participants need sensory input, in various forms, to feel regulated in order to engage at all. Music therapists are trained to support their participants’ sensory needs, using music and other resources!

Other participants might feel nervous to come into the session room! So for this particular session, we set up an obstacle course as a fun and motivating way to get started.

And of course, Jess had to test out the “funness” first 🏃🏻‍♀️🪜⭕️

The participant gave it the tick of approval and came right into their session, eager to try out instruments and sing along in familiar songs, working on their communication and social skills!

Maybe next time we will create a new obstacle course together! If we do, we’ll be sure to share more pictures 😁

🔦 Instrument Spotlight: Xylophone and Glockenspiel 🎶Do you know the difference between the xylophone and the glockenspie...
09/06/2026

🔦 Instrument Spotlight: Xylophone and Glockenspiel 🎶

Do you know the difference between the xylophone and the glockenspiel?

While both instruments are played in much the same way, a xylophone is made with wooden bars while a glockenspiel has metal bars!

Both come in a range of sizes - some are small enough to fit in a tote bag (perfect for mobile music therapy sessions) and some are as long as a piano (these ones need a special stand on wheels just so that they can be moved around).

Playing the xylophone or glockenspiel is great for fine and gross motor skills, such as hand dexterity to grip the mallets, and bilateral coordination to play the intended notes, especially when using both hands at once!

These instruments can also be used in call-and-repeat activities, to work on memory or social skills, as well as for improvisation and self-expression through music.

28/05/2026

The life of a mobile music therapist… who also has sessions in clinic! 🚗💨

Who needs a gym membership when you have to load yourself up like a pack horse for work, and you’re always on the move?! 😂

But it’s always worth the effort so that all of our participants have the same access and opportunities, regardless of whether they come to see us in the office, or whether we travel to their homes, schools or community centres for their sessions! 🎸🪘🪗🪇🥁🪈

As Registered Music Therapists, we see how music can make a difference in our participants’ lives every week. But did yo...
21/05/2026

As Registered Music Therapists, we see how music can make a difference in our participants’ lives every week. But did you know there’s actual science behind HOW and WHY music works?

Music is the only thing that engages both sides of the brain at once, and is a powerful tool for creating and strengthening neuro-pathways, which we need in order to:
• learn and remember new things
• recognise and understand our emotions
• understand language and social cues, and to communicate with others
• coordinate our hands, feet and muscles to move our bodies in the way that we want
• take in the world around us using our senses

How wonderful that something as enjoyable as music can also be beneficial across so many other areas of our lives!

⭐️👋🏼 We can’t believe that our Open Day was almost three weeks ago already!🎶🎉 What a fantastic day meeting some new comm...
30/04/2026

⭐️👋🏼 We can’t believe that our Open Day was almost three weeks ago already!

🎶🎉 What a fantastic day meeting some new community members, including other allied health professionals, and to celebrate World Music Therapy Week.

🍪🪗 Visitors toured the office, played lots of different instruments, and shared in some tasty treats. Our favourites were the personalised GF & DF sugar cookies - a big thank you to Charlotte at Bake me Happy for these creations!

🏆☕️ Congratulations to the winners of our lucky door prizes as well! We hope you enjoy a cuppa on us when you get the chance.

🙏🏼🚪 A very big thank you to some of the wonderful local businesses and schools for helping to support and advertise our event. We love the sense of community and support in Gladstone!

15/04/2026

A Symphony of Skills Part Six: Music Therapy for Sensory Needs

Sensory dysregulation can result in behaviours that are often labelled “naughty” or “disruptive”. Music therapists are trained to understand the real underlying cause, and to help participants to become regulated again, or to communicate their needs in order to be supported in their regulation.

Music therapists can do this by encouraging participants to:
• Use fidgets
• Take advantage of different seating options (e.g. chairs, cushions, bean bags, wobble boards, etc.)
• Take “brain breaks”
• Play particular instruments for regulation
• Play, listen to, or hum along to repetitive melodies or rhythms

Without first being regulated, people cannot learn new things or engage with openness and curiosity. When music therapists support participants’ regulation, this allows them to then learn and develop other skills, such as cognitive, communication, social, emotional, and physical skills - each of which have been explored in a previous video in this series.

We hope you have enjoyed this series, and learnt about the different ways that music therapy can target real life skills. For the final time, we wish you a happy World Music Therapy Week!

14/04/2026

A Symphony of Skills Part Five: Music Therapy for Physical Skills

Activities such as bean bag toss and bilateral drumming, as well as learning the correct technique or playing instruments that require both hands simultaneously (e.g. guitar, piano, accordion, recorder, etc.) are great ways to work on:
• Fine motor skills
• Gross motor skills
• Bilateral coordination
• Balance
• Strength
• Range of motion

Physical skills are important for most day-to-day activities - from walking up and down stairs, opening a door for yourself, or moving objects around in a space, to preparing and eating a meal using cutlery, or completing personal hygiene tasks, such as brushing your teeth or showering. Music therapists are trained to support their participants to become as independent as possible in these physical skills, as this translates directly to their daily lives.

Tune in tomorrow for the final part of this series to learn how music therapy can support sensory needs!

13/04/2026

A Symphony of Skills Part Four: Music Therapy for Emotional Skills

In music therapy sessions, we can use activities such as empathy drumming, Zones of Regulation and body scan resources, songwriting, entrainment, and playing or listening to specific instruments, to target:
• Emotional understanding
• Emotional processing
• Emotional expression
• Emotional regulation

Being able to understand the physical feelings in our bodies that come with various emotions, helps us to be able to label and communicate our feelings. When we know what we are feeling, we can do something about it, or ask others for help. Music therapists can help participants to become independent across these emotional skills.

Tune in tomorrow to learn how music therapy can target physical skills!

Address

3/111 Toolooa Street
Gladstone, QLD
4680

Telephone

+61493294405

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