It was an interesting week last week, a sort of first week back after the festivities and a challenging week for me. I had to attend a hospital appointment I am fine but needed a procedure completing. What was interesting was that throughout the procedure the consultant and nurses were using music as a way of ensuring that the situation was not as stressful as it might have been. Another example of how when music is used well in everyday situations it can be used as a therapeutic intervention.
Along with the usual music memory sessions we held our monthly trustee meeting. It was an interesting meeting, particularly the discussion around social prescribing and how we place ourselves in the best position for medical staff to prescribe The Forget Me Notes project as a form of support and treatment. We have always taken the view that everyone is welcome and that is still the case and I hope it always will be, however it is important that we enable professionals the chance to see our services as credible treatment spaces. We decided that we should begin to talk about professional referrals and self-referrals in order that we place ourselves in the best place to receive future participants.
I declared at Zoom Choir this week that Jam was not my favourite food, so when it came to indoor choir one of our members brought me some cherry jam that she made herself. I had to try it but not in a traditional way with toast, I got some vanilla ice-cream and used it as a topping. It was beautiful, the sharp taste of the jam alongside the ice cream. While music is therapeutic so is creating community and exchanging conversations around ordinary everyday things (like jam). Isolation is an awful thing it can make people seriously ill and so whatever we can do to make people feel a part of something that is what we must do. I have mentioned before that we have a saying “Once a Forget me Note always a Forget me Note”. The saying is all about belonging and whether you are a volunteer, a carer, a person with a lived experience of dementia, a member of staff or a supporter: if you want to you can belong.
They tell me that today is blue Monday - it is supposed to be the bluest day of the year. If this is how you feel maybe you could look up Forget me Notes if you live in Edinburgh, if not then there might be a choir for you in the place where you live. Singing together can be such a wonderful chance to build friendships and experience a sense of belonging. One of our members used to say, “I am more than myself when I sing in the choir”. Well for me that feels like being a part of something, it feels like community.
See you next week.