Newcastle Music & Art Therapy

13/04/2026

🎼 It's World Music Therapy Week! 🎶

From 10–15 April, we’re inviting you to connect with music therapy. Here at Newcastle Music & Art Therapy, we have 6 amazing registered music therapists who are ready to help you reach your goals and improve your life through music.

Music therapy is a research-based allied health profession delivered by registered music therapists. It supports people of all ages with communication, movement, cognition, wellbeing and more - across hospitals, schools, aged care, disability, mental health, community settings and more.

Unlike music lessons, which focus on traditional learning, music therapy is about building your skills and abilities. Our main focus is on having a safe space for you to experiment, be curious and express without fear of judgment or expectation. We can support you to work on your mental health, mobility, and cognition, and to enhance your every day life.

If you'd like to find out how music therapy can help you, get in touch with us by 📧 emailing info@newcastlemusictherapy.com.au or ☎️ phoning 0490 361 628. You can also 🌐 visit our website or Australian Music Therapy Association.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION 🖼️
A registered music therapist holds up a tambourine, just as a music therapy participant raises their hand to hit the tambourine. White text reads “connect with music therapy” and “world music therapy week”, with the Australian Music Therapy Association logo in the bottom left

23/03/2026

🎨 Attention artists! 🎨

Would you like to submit an artwork for Australia's most inclusive art show?

The Incognito Art Show is a not-for-profit organisation supporting Australian artists. But the Incognito Art Show isn’t an ordinary art sale. Every A5 artwork, regardless of artist, is sold for just $100.

The twist? The identity of an artwork’s artist will remain anonymous at all times. Only once an artwork is bought, will the artist’s name be revealed to the buyer on the back of the artwork.

The profits from the 2026 Incognito Art Show sale will go towards funding programs at Studio A, The Art Factory and Access Arts, which all support artists with disabilities.

🖌️ Newcastle Music & Art Therapy have 12 x A5 artwork cards available for our clients, and anyone else who wants to participate, to use to submit their artworks. Just let us know, and we will give you an artwork card and help you with the submission details.

For more info about the show and its' history, visit https://www.incognitoartshow.com/

IMAGE DESCRIPTION 🖼️
A photograph from the Incognito page. A wall of A5 sized artworks, displayed alongside each other - a sea of colour and shape. In the foreground are two women with their backs to us, one mostly hidden behind the other, who wears a black shirt with "INCOGNITO ART SHOW" written in white font in a circular shape.

10/03/2026

➡️ An important decision from the Federal Court that all of our NDIS participants should know about - this is from Team DSC:

"The Federal Court has said that the NDIA must look at the whole person when making funding decisions, including sometimes considering the impact of impairments that don’t meet the access criteria.

"When the NDIS Act was updated in late 2024, two new requirements were added to the reasonable and necessary criteria. Firstly, a support must be found on the “in” list and not on the “out” list of the NDIS Supports Rule. Secondly (and most crucially to this article), for a support to be funded, it must arise from the impairment(s) that meet the access criteria. This means people with multiple disabilities might have some impairments that are eligible for the NDIS and others that are not.

"For planning purposes, the NDIA have previously argued that they will only consider funding supports needed as a result of the person’s eligible impairment(s). However, the Federal Court found that the NDIA should also look at the interaction between eligible and ineligible impairments."

You can read more at the link below:

The Federal Court says the NDIA can consider the impact of impairments that don’t meet the access criteria when deciding whether to fund a support. Chris explores the implications of this ground-breaking case.

02/03/2026

🎶 Check out our Director, Registered Music Therapist Susan Ashley-Brown, in action at Summit Abilities! 🎶

Susan played, danced and sang with their school holiday group - and to be honest, we can't tell who was having more fun!

Thank you to Summit Abilities for hosting, and to all of the group members for sharing their musical talents with us!

🎸🎹🪘

We run groups for all ages and all abilities, from early childhood through to aged care. No two groups are alike - even our in-house programs are individually tailored to the needs of each group.

You can choose to have a music therapy group like this one, or an art therapy group - or combine both art therapy and music therapy into one group for the best of both worlds!

Get in touch today to find out more - call 0490 361 628 or email info@newcastlemusictherapy.com.au

25/02/2026

SPOTLIGHT ON: Group Music Therapy and Art Therapy sessions!

We offer group art therapy and group music therapy programs for disability providers, schools or organisations looking for creative group initiatives. You can even get the best of both worlds with a combined music therapy and art therapy group!

☀️ Seasons of Change 🍂 is our aged care program, facilitated by our Registered Art Therapists. It's framed around J. William Worden’s “Four Tasks of Grieving”, and runs across the four seasons - Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. We can also add a music therapy component, facilitated by one of our Registered Music Therapists.

🎒 Creative Kindys 🏫 is our school readiness program, which combines music therapy and art therapy to help kids get ready for "big school". We tailor our program to suit both the needs of your kindys and your organisation or childcare centre.

✏️Scribble & Hum 🎶 is a combined music therapy and art therapy program aimed at kids 5 and under and their parents/carers. Creativity, mess and self-expression are key elements! Our activities are aimed at creating and nurturing positive parent/carer-child relationships.

💭 We can also design a custom program that fits your group perfectly. You can chat with our therapists about what your needs and preferences are, and we will tailor a program for you!

If you're interested in a group for your organisation, email us on info@newcastlemusictherapy.com.au or call 0490 361 628.

25/02/2026

In the creative therapies space, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups:
the music therapists, who instigate the earworms;
and the art therapists, who get the earworms stuck in their heads.

These are their earworms.

(Full disclosure - the art therapists often contribute their own earworms to the fray, and at least one admin is a dirty rotten earworm generator…)

VIDEO DESCRIPTION 📹
A black screen, with the above caption appearing as if by typewriter. The Law & Order “dun dun” noise plays, followed by 9 “earworms” - Spice Girls “Leader of the Gang”, Dusty Springfield “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself”, the THX sound, Kenny Loggins “Danger Zone”, Rent cast “Seasons of Love”, the Wassup commercial, Eiffel 65 “Blue”, Romper Room “Bend and Stretch”, Rosé and Bruno Mars “APT.”

17/02/2026

Behind the scenes in a music therapy session!

What does a music therapy session look like? And what's actually happening to improve health outcomes?

Let's look through the microscope with clinician Rebecca Eager RMT NMT.

At AMTA's 50th anniversary event, Rebecca took us inside some of her real-life music therapy sessions. She talked us through some of the specialised techniques that registered music therapists use to help their patients with self-regulation, movement, communication and more.

And now you're invited to view this terrific presentation that uses everyday language and real-life case studies to show some of the ways music therapy changes lives.

Thanks to Rebecca for sharing your work and expertise, and to your patients for sharing their stories.

📹 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt3CYBDkZ94


📷 Rebecca Eager holding her guitar and smiling at the camera. Text: "What does a music therapy session look like? Behind the scenes with Rebecca Eager NMT RMT." AMTA's 50th anniversary logo.

02/12/2025

🎶 Why choose Music Therapy? 🎶

Music Therapy is NOT a music lesson! We individually tailor your session so that you can use music to work on your goals in a supportive, therapeutic environment. It's not about learning an instrument; it's about building your everyday life skills and expressing yourself through the musical process.

We currently have spots available for individual Music Therapy here at our Warners Bay clinic. All you need to do is fill out our referral form here: https://bit.ly/NMAT_MTReferral

IMAGE DESCRIPTION 🖼️
An infographic that says "10 ways Music Therapy can support you" in the bottom right corner, with 10 coloured bells under the "10". There are 10 black outline boxes that each have an image and word inside.
The first row says "Communicate and interact with others" above a microphone, "Get motivated to move" above a yellow tambourine, and "Help you function in your daily life through practicing skills" above a colourful xylophone.
The second row says "Use music to help you feel better" above a purple tongue drum, "Understand, express and regulate emotions" above a djembe drum, and "Creative self expression" above a green ukulele.
The third row says "Access shared music experiences with others" above a collection of percussion instruments, "Express thoughts and feelings through songwriting" above a smartphone, notation paper and headphones, and "Improve thinking skills" above a compact MIDI keyboard.
The fourth row says "Self confidence through musical achievements" above a blue tom drum and drumsticks.

01/12/2025

🎨 Why choose Art Therapy? 🎨

Art Therapy is about more than talking and painting. In your individually tailored session you can work on building everyday life skills, express yourself, and work on your goals in a supportive, therapeutic environment.

We currently have spots available for individual Art Therapy here at our Warners Bay clinic. All you need to do is fill out our referral form here: https://bit.ly/NMAT_ATReferral

IMAGE DESCRIPTION 🖼️
An infographic that says "10 ways Art Therapy can support you" in the bottom right corner, with paint covered hands showing 10 fingers behind the title. There are 10 black outline boxes that each have an image and word inside.
The top row says "Communication" with an image of a head silhouette with scrunched up paper flowing out of it, "Self advocacy and choice" with an image of papier mache, and "Fine motor skills" with an image of knitting needles and pink wool.
The second row says "Executive function skills" with colourful buttons underneath, "Social connection" with an image of an art diary showing a collage, and "Sensory processing" with an image showing two jars of slime.
The third row says "Challenging perfectionism" with an image of charcoal underneath, "Emotional regulation" with a green paint splat beneath, and "Creative self expression" with an image of a clay figure.
The fourth row says "Distress tolerance" with an image of colourful plasticine.