This Dry July, we’re aiming to raise $40,000 to fund a music therapist for patients receiving treatment for cancer at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.

Music is incredibly powerful. It can lift our mood by activating our brain's 'feel-good' endorphins. Studies have also shown that music therapy can improve anxiety, depression, and pain, enhance coping, and reduce physical and emotional stress for people with cancer.

Music therapy comes in many forms. There’s live music, where patients and families can listen, sing along, dance if they feel inspired, and even play music. Music improvisation involves using instruments anyone can play. There’s also songwriting and music relaxation. Music therapists also offer supportive listening and counselling to those who want to talk about the thoughts and feelings elicited by music.

Music Therapist Clare Ocallaghan has always had a passion for music. She came from a family of St Vincent’s nurses but was drawn to studying music therapy and social work, even helping to bring it to Caritas Christi in the late 80s.

Clare has seen music therapy offer so much to patients, families, and staff. “Patients react to music in many ways. Sometimes, they’ll lie back and close their eyes. They might sing, tap along, hold hands with family members, or even cry or talk about precious memories.

“A patient once said, ‘Music can express messages and feelings, so I feel less alone. I feel that someone understands what I’m going through.’ I thought that was pretty powerful!”

Click here to watch a special moment with Colin, a palliative care patient at St Vincent's.

Occasionally, music therapy can have a profound effect on a patient.

Clare recalls one day when she was playing Italian songs in a Day Oncology Ward. “In the distance, I could see a man in his early 50s mouthing the words of the Italian songs. I went over to talk to him, and he said he used to have singing lessons over the phone with a person from Italy. I invited him to sing. He said he hadn’t sung since he’d been sick. When he started to sing, we discovered he had the most beautiful Italian voice! As people clapped, the biggest smile spread across his face as he realised he could still sing.

“Every time he came in for therapy, he would sing. He got more and more confident. He was very talented, he reminded me a bit of Andrea Bocelli. When his health improved, he put on a massive fundraiser and sang to raise a lot of money.

“Music Therapy provided him with a space to celebrate his ‘music self’ and to reconnect with the person he was before his illness.”

Please help us bring the joy of music to patients undergoing treatment for cancer at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.