About Us
Therapy as unique as you
We know that each individual is completely different. We strive to support children and families, of all abilities. We use a humanistic neuro-affirming approach. In sessions we aim to support clients to:
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Follow their interests
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Identify and meet their needs (sensory or otherwise)
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Celebrate and leverage their strengths
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Identify goals and work toward them collaboratively
Together we use innovative thinking to tackle each problem as a team.
Sensory and emotional regulation
Goals
Music and the brain
Music therapy provides a unique pathway for people to develop skills and work on their goals in a fun, low pressure environment. By tapping into the way the music is processed in the brain, we support growth in areas where traditional therapies might face barriers. For a more comprehensive list of common goals please see the FAQs section.
Developmental growth
Social connection
Communication
MusicMel
Meet the RMT
Melanie loves working with children as she feels like a big kid herself. Her sessions are play based and activities are often joyful and silly with secret learning and hard work hidden by fun. She enjoys working closely with caregivers so the fun and learning can continue at home.
Melanie completed her master’s degree of music therapy at the University of Melbourne in 2016. She is a registered member of the Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA).
Melanie has been a practicing RMT for 9 years, she began her practice at the Royal Melbourne hospital in Neurology.
For the last 7 years Melanie has specialised in working with children and young people in the community. Starting Connect Music therapy in 2020, she feels privileged to work with families, and be part of their learning and growing journey. She enjoys providing support to families' when things get bumpy and celebrating every success, no matter the size.
Melanie is a warm, bright and bubbly therapist who is caring and passionate about the families she works with.
Melanie Hansen
Registered Music Therapist #624
B Mus (Mast. MT) MelbUni
Our Services
Discover Our Services
In person music therapy
Home visits, school/kinder/day care visits. We come to you and work together to use music as a support to achieve your goals.
In-person sessions are available in Melbourne's western suburbs.
Contact us to find out more about session availability in your suburb.
Telehealth music therapy
We have developed and collected a variety of programs, games, resources and strategies that specifically leverage the advantages of working online.
Online sessions can help overcome a variety of hurdles. Geographic, energy, mobility, scheduling and health challenges etc.
Professional development
Customised to your setting, we deliver interactive learning to teams in a variety of settings, including; allied health, nursing, schooling and early education.
Topics include:
Music and Play for emotional regulation
Neuro Affirming Practice
Music as a tool in transdisciplinary practice
Why us?
Why We Stand Out
Evidence based practice
Music Therapy is an evidence based practice and we strive to keep up with the latest research.
See the AMTAs Disability evidence summary for more detail.
Experienced therapist
Musicmel has been a practicing RMT for 9 years. In that time she has worked across a variety of settings, multi-disciplinary clinics, hospitals, transdisciplinary schools and in many different community settings. She has learnt from a wide variety of different therapist and practitioners. She is constantly pursuing new training, some have included, DIR Floortime, Play-based therapy, IFS, Neuro-affirming practice, gentle parenting and declarative language. Learning from a combination of professional sources and directly from working with families she has developed a trove of tools, stratergies, games and methods to share with her clients.
Humanistic, playful approach
We treat each person as a unique individual, who knows themselves best. Or families who know their children best. We believe the therapist job is not to come in and dictate "fixes". Rather it's to facilitate access to tools and knowledge needed to overcome challenges and thrive. Doing all of this, through play and fun, reduces pressure and anxiety.
"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning.“
-Fred Rogers