Elizabeth Nightingale is Neuro Services Lead at Chiltern Music Therapy – winners of the Therapy Provider of the Year award at the 2025 NR Times Awards.
We got in touch with Elizabeth to learn more about Chiltern’s innovative Neurologic Music Therapy® (NMT™) programme which harnesses the power of music to support brain injury recovery.
“Neurologic Music Therapy is based on applied auditory music neuroscience,” Elizabeth explains.
“Essentially, what we know about how music is processed in the brain and how we can harness that to optimise functional outcomes in areas like speech and language, cognition, movement and psychosocial function.”
Chiltern’s use tailor NMT techniques to each patient on the principle that every individual, and brain injury, is unique.
Elizabeth explains: “That doesn’t mean there isn’t a robust framework around the principles and mechanisms driving why a technique works, but there’s room to design interventions specifically to meet individual needs.”
This personalised approach extends beyond clinical techniques.
The team also works closely with the patient to incorporate music that is personally or culturally relevant to them, be they an adult or a child.
Elizabeth Nightingale
Elizabeth shares the story of Hillary (not her real name) – a 34-year-old new mother who suffered an aneurysm 11 weeks after giving birth.
Hillary was eventually discharged home after initially being given little chance of survival. But she had severe apraxia of speech, leaving her with very limited communication beyond some repetitive phrases.
“She was highly distressed and agitated, finding it challenging to engage in some of her rehab therapies,” Elizabeth shared.
One of Chiltern’s NMT Therapists worked closely alongside Hillary’s speech and language therapist, applying Musical Speech Stimulation™ which uses familiar music, leaving strategic gaps for clients to complete phrases and thereby trigger automatic speech.
The choice of songs was especially poignant.
The therapists used nursery rhymes to support Hillary to sing to her new baby – music that connected her own childhood memories with the new memories she was now creating as a parent.
This technique provided a helpful structure for reorganising Hillary’s speech and allowed her to hear herself speak.
Through the SLT and NMT therapist working together, using music with motivating lyrics, Hilary embraced the exercises both during therapy and at home with her family, even without music.
Elizabeth explains: “Music provided that stepping stone for increasing repetition, endurance and engagement, and then that carried over outside sessions.
“She’s been gaining positive feedback from hearing herself speak and speaking for longer.
“Now the team are looking at supporting her with more functional phrases for meaningful day-to-day interactions with family.”
Chiltern recognises the impact brain injury can have on family relationships and dynamics.
While the patient’s goals are always front and centre, Chiltern therapists will also have broader family goals.
Elizabeth says: “Our client is our priority focus. But we look at how we can support that family piece as well.
“We think about how to equip partners, caregivers, siblings and spouses with confidence in using music functionally and socially at home.”
Winning an award in one of the most competitive NR Times Awards categories was a huge achievement for Chiltern. The organisation now has ambitions to build on this success, with a number of exciting projects on the horizon.
Spring 2026 will see the launch of a new pilot project on an NHS stroke ward.
Then, in the summer, a second NHS pilot project will focus on patients in disorders of consciousness (DOC), lead by an NMT therapist additionally trained in the Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness (MATADOC).
MATADOC enables clinicians to evaluate awareness in people with complex conditions that affect their movement, thinking and ability to communicate which make clinical assessment difficult.
Elizabeth says: “Something we feel really passionate about is making sure that someone who’s had a brain injury but doesn’t have a litigation claim or the funds to access private therapy can still access innovative rehab in the NHS.
“Developing new pilot projects, increasing awareness, and integrating knowledge about how we can be supporting clients at that stage is central to us as an organisation”
Find out more about Chiltern Music Therapy at chilternmusictherapy.co.uk
