Welcome

Welcome and thank you for expressing your interest in the mission of Nordoff and Robbins.

I’ve had the privilege of being Chair of Trustees here for a year now, having been on the board for four years previously. Witnessing the impact that our music therapists have and the people they help - some of the UK’s most vulnerable - is a massive honour for me. We are on an ambitious road and, although we have challenges ahead, it’s genuinely an exciting time to be considering joining the Charity. Music therapy can be transformational. I know sometimes these words get overused, but it’s true. Music therapy is not a nice to have. Our Therapists saved the life of Ruby, who at 14, was sectioned and suicidal. Patsy who was nonverbal at five years old said her first words to her mum in a music therapy session after a long and hard year working together. Ed, who after a horrific life-threatening car accident was told he would never walk or talk again due to his brain injury, found a way to do both through working with one of our music therapists. Music in the hands of a Nordoff and Robbins trained therapist can be the difference between surviving and thriving. Don’t just take this from me, watch Sophie’s story and you’ll see how it has impacted her and her family.

The research behind music and health is clear. Music can be, and should be, used as a transformative tool for health and wellbeing for individuals and communities. We must make sure that music therapy is at the heart of this decision making, and we will add our voice wherever we can.

The long-term consequences of the pandemic and unrelenting demand for our services, means we need to grow our impact and our income without growing our infrastructure if we are to meet the challenges ahead. We have been fortunate to have built up strong financial reserves in the past and a large percentage of these have been used to help us be able to continue to invest in the music therapists of the future as well as be available for those we serve, ensuring need continues to be met through the pandemic and beyond. To meet the demand, we have been working on remodelling our services over the past 18 months and this has informed our next steps.

Our new strategy focuses on working with the wider music for health ecosystem. We want to see music therapy firmly established as a recognised, integrated and accessible form of health care.

In response to our organisational strategy, we understand the income we will need over 5 years to deliver on our next strategic plan. We have gained this understanding by conducting an in-depth piece of research to create an income model built on our past performances, our supporters, the external market and testing areas of potential. You will see more on how we plan to increase our income later in this microsite.

We are searching for our next CEO to help us bring our new strategy to life. The “in tray” for any new CEO is both challenging and exciting. We’re looking for an engaging CEO who wants to use their skills to help influence both the day to day lives of our clients and the health systems they engage with.

If you like the sound of this challenge and this interests you, please read on and go to the application page to find out next steps. 

Thank you,

Emma Banks
Chair of Trustees, Nordoff and Robbins