The Music4Wellbeing Team

• Principal Research Fellow, Sidney De Haan Research
(SDH) Centre for Arts & Health
• Lecturer in Music, Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ
Church University
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health
• PhD in Music and people with dementia

Trish is by background a registered nurse, specialising in long-term conditions including dementia and Parkinson’s, and a community music practitioner. In her capacity as Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow for the SDH Centre, Trish continues to research the brain’s receptors and responses to creative arts, and the effects of the resulting body chemistry. Trish uses these research findings to design music and movement programmes that best support people experiencing the symptoms of specific health conditions and disorders.

Gemma has worked with Music4Wellbeing since 2019. She has strong administrative skills and supports the Charity Director and Director of Training in securing funding for music activities. She assists with publicity and book-keeping and manages the Music4wellbeing activity calendar.

Gemma thoroughly enjoys attending Music4Wellbeing activities to take a break from her desk and meet participants in person, and often brings along with her teenage daughters, who love to volunteer at sessions.

Charlie Hannah has been working as a therapeutic music practitioner specialising in Dementia and Parkinson’s since 2018 and now facilitates 10 regular groups around the Kent area.

He also runs choirs for Living Lively and teaches music at Stone Bay Montessori Nursery school. His children’s music teaching and original songs have reached a wider audience with his YouTube channel ‘Charlie’s Tunes’.

Charlie also performs, writes and records as a solo artist and as a member of Margate based band Itchy Teeth.

Jenny has a first-class BSc Honours Degree in Applied Health and Social Care and is a practising Speech and Language Therapist. With a love for music and creativity she completed ‘Stepping into Music’ training with Christ Church University in 2006.

Jenny integrated this approach in her work with children and parents in Dover Children Centres, nurseries and within therapy. In the last couple of years, she has explored the benefits of group singing further within our
groups.

With a passion for creating joy and connection though singing, Jenny joined the team as an Early Career Practitioner for the next stage of her musical adventure in 2021. She supports groups in Sandwich and Canterbury and co -leads the Skylarkers’ group in Deal. She has recently
begun introducing her own songs into groups.

Jon is a singer and guitarist who has worked as a therapeutic arts practitioner for the last 13 years. He has been running workshops for Music4Wellbeing for the past five years having previously worked for music charities Rhythmix and Kent Music.

After studying music at University, Jon’s first job was as an activities coordinator in a care home for people with dementia. This sparked an interest in getting elderly folk engaged in musical activities. Jon has been running dementia-friendly music workshops in care homes for the past 13 years.

Nicola is a singer, guitarist and flautist. She has trained and worked as a singing for health facilitator for Music4Wellbeing and the Sidney De Haan
Research Centre for Arts and Health since 2009.

She currently specialises in group and one-to-one music and rhythmic movement sessions for people living with Dementia and Parkinson’s and
other neurological conditions, as well as various other community music projects and performances.

Nicola is currently undertaking various further training in the expressive arts and voice therapy fields. She believes strongly in the potential for
music, movement and creativity to increase well-being, improve communication and develop self-expression within society.

Nicola Wydenbach has been working as a therapeutic music practitioner specialising in Mental Health, Long Covid and Parkinson’s since 2006 and now facilitates eight regular groups around the London, Kent and Suffolk area.

She is also interested in creative health digital solutions and is developing an app for people living with Parkinson’s called SingApp:Parkinson’s. Nicola is a trained classical singer and runs her creative health practice alongside a performing career that has seen her sing for ENO, Scottish Opera and the Monteverdi Choir.

As one of Music4Wellbeing’s longest established practitioners, Phil is an Advanced Therapeutic Practitioner and Trainer for M4W and Sing To Beat Parkinson’s.

Phil enjoys the varied musical life that his wide-ranging skill set offers. He divides his time between facilitating M4W singing groups and community choirs around East Kent, working with many respected charities and organisations such as the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and
Health, Canterbury Cantata Trust and Living Lively, and regular performance, composing and touring work. The latter includes work with bands and artists such as Yndi Halda, Will Varley, Molly’s Lips, Cocos Lovers and The Hellfire Orchestra.

Phil is a member of The Montrose Composers Club (MCC), a group set up to share, create, improvise and perform new musical works. The MCC have performed regularly at the Folkestone Profound Sound Festival and continue to develop interesting collaborations with local creatives such as visual
artist Matt Rowe and the Sacconi Quartet who have performed some of their works.

Phil’s solo project, ‘DAU’, provides him with the opportunity to explore soundscape and drone-based music. Phil studied Music Technology and Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Keele University where he started to develop his sound and creative music production skills, focusing heavily on creative applications of technology such as electro-acoustic composition and video production.

Phil has included these elements of his work in large scale, on-line community projects which have included M4W participants, myriad other amateur and professional musicians and young people from Simon Langton School, Canterbury.

Rachel joined the Music4Wellbeing as a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner in late 2022. She is a singer, songwriter and musician based in Medway, Kent. She has a BMus degree completed at Canterbury Christchurch
University in 2004 and since then, has been a facilitator of various Community Music groups and workshops within Kent.

Currently Rachel works part-time as a Voice Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) in Medway, supporting people with voice problems using voice care strategies and voice exercises to rehabilitate their voice. She has also worked as an Adult Community SLT supporting people living with various neurological conditions who may have swallow or communication difficulties.

Rachel runs a community choir in Medway which has been evolving since 2017 and delivers music and wellbeing workshops for the Dwell and Aspire projects run by Medway Community Healthcare. As much as possible, she brings music into all aspects of her life, having lived experience of the transformative possibilities this can bring.

Richard (Rich) Latham has been a drummer for as long as he can remember, but went in an African direction nearly twenty years ago. Several study tours to Gambia and Burkina Faso gave him the inspiration, knowledge and skills which he uses as Rich Rhythms – teaching traditional
rhythms in all kinds of workshop situations, performing alongside DJs in clubs, and reskinning/rebuilding djembes for clients throughout the UK.

Sadie has worked with Music4Wellbeing for over six years as a Therapeutic Music Practitioner, and has over 10 years’ experience working as a singing for health group facilitator with the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health.

In addition to facilitating general singing for health groups, Sadie specialises in singing groups for people
with Parkinson’s, chronic respiratory problems, children and adults with learning difficulties and the LGBT community.

Aside from her M4W work, Sadie is a freelance drama and music practitioner. She completed a BA in Performing Arts at Christ Church
University and an MA in Applied Theatre from the Central School of Speech and Drama. Sadie is also the co-director of JimJam Arts, a theatre company based in Folkestone known for the popular festival Folkestone Living Advent Calendar.

Simon is a guitarist, percussionist and singer working in the Kent area. After training and working as a teacher he soon migrated toward the varied opportunities offered in freelance work.

For twenty years he has worked in Community Arts and Education, leading workshops, teaching instruments and performing, currently with the band Mampama.

He devised and led the ‘Rhythms of Life’ project with the support of Arts Council Lottery Fund. This was a world percussion wellbeing project which specifically offered more senior members of the community around Canterbury the chance to enjoy the many benefits of group musicmaking.

He works with Music4Wellbeing to bring singing and percussion-based
sessions into the community.

Sue has loved music for as long as she can remember. As her brain is a sponge for song, a musical career was always on the cards, despite Sue only discovering this in her late thirties! Inspired by how running voluntary choirs and social singing groups made her and others feel, she felt compelled to spread the joy as a career.

Going back to full-time further and then higher education, Sue graduated with a first-class BMus in Popular Music at the University of Kent in 2019. She
then trained as a therapeutic arts practitioner with Sing to Beat Parkinson’s. Sue now runs four singing for wellbeing groups, including her own Paddock Wood Community Voices, which she founded during the pandemic and still runs as a hybrid session.

She plays ukulele with gusto in her groups and delights in leading others to accompany themselves on the chime bars and kazoo! Sue is also a singer-songwriter, performing with trio The Even Numbers and producing her own music.

Richard is a practicing accountant with broad experience in all aspects of accounting and financial management, with particular in-depth experience of retail, transport, and telecoms.

He was formerly financial controller for the telematics company Axscend, which is a subsidiary of SAF-Holland GmbH multi-national engineering group. Here Richard gained exposure to management at board room level.

Having been a director of Music4Wellbeing when constituted as a CIC, Richard was instrumental in its conversion to a charity in October 2023. He introduced a new online bookkeeping and accounting systems and trained M4W’s Manager of Operations to use the system. In March 2024, Richard accepted a new role as Chair of Trustees and has already shown vision that will develop M4W in an innovative way in the future.

David worked with the NHS for over 25 years, mainly in HR up to Director level with Mental Health and Learning Disability Trusts. After that spent he spent 10 years as a Director of a charity, specialising in residential and other services for people with complex disabilities.

He was involved in all aspects of running a wide range of services, including complex and specialist services. This has given him an inside into managing and developing services that provide support for people with a range of needs.

Esther has a long history in Company Directorship. In 1972, together with her husband, she established a thriving graphic design company in Hong Kong which is still in operation today. In her career, and as a bi-linguist, Esther managed renowned commercial research institutions in the Far East and worked on several social research projects for the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Esther is passionate about helping local charitable organisations. This has included over 10 years with the Soroptimist International in Hong Kong, with Friends of Canterbury Cathedral, with the Church of England Children’s Society, and The Parkinson’s Association, Inverness, Scotland. She is currently an active member of the Women’s Institute in Tankerton, Kent.

In 2022, Esther volunteered her time to regularly support M4W activity groups, including designing and improving registration and GDPR data collection and publicity strategies. With this invaluable grass roots experience, and her professional and personal credentials, Esther became a trustee for M4W in June 2023.

Esther has long-term experience of live-in caring for family members with life-limiting conditions, including, most recently, her husband. 

Emeritus Principal Lecturer and former Director of the Centre for Enabling Learning – Canterbury Christ Church University

John is a performing musician, composer and recording artist and co-director ofMusic4Wellbeing CIC.

Together with Trish, he started Music4Wellbeing over 10 years ago. John is also an author, personal construct psychologist and education consultant engaging in research and school development.

John was formerly director of the Centre for Enabling Learning and emeritus Principal Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University. Prior to that, John was Principal of a residential and day school, and family centre for students with complex and profound disabilities.

He has published a number of books and academic articles related to cognitive development, learning and the psychological dimensions of debilitating cognitive, neurological and emotional conditions.

Jane is an academic who was Head of Fine Art at Central St. Martin’s University of the Arts London when she retired.  She studied in Toronto and London and at a doctoral level in Paris.  Jane is bilingual. She has held senior academic posts at University College London, Edinburgh University and Glasgow School of Art.

In 1997 – 2007 Jane held two posts simultaneously at University of the Creative Arts Kent, building projects between Kent and various institutions in France and to further the objectives of EU plans for development of the littoral on both sides of the channel.

Jane’s research has been widely published including under Phaidon, Flammarion, British Museum Publications and Manchester University Press. Jane has wide experiences as a member and chair of many professional committees including the Arts Council of Scotland. 

Jane is an invaluable font of knowledge on partnership building and working with high-level arts organisations.