Q&A: Christina Lydon

CL: I had always studied music growing up, and I worked in different, related areas until I qualified in 2007. At that point, you had to be 25 to start the music therapy course, so that you had gained life experience and done clinical training, though there is no age restriction now. I had worked as a support assistant on a psychiatric ward, a teaching assistant in a special needs school and I also worked with adults with learning disabilities. I then worked in Hampshire with the charity Key Changes before starting my training course at the University of Roehampton.

I currently work at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in their child development service in London, alongside doing freelance work in nurseries, children’s centres and schools, particularly through the organisation School Readiness. There is a handful of training courses in the UK. Alongside clinical experience, the key thing you need is musical skill and the ability to improvise in order to respond to children’s interactions, whether that’s verbally or by using instruments.