M&R at the 9th European Music Therapy Day in Cesena

For the 9th European Music Therapy Day, the “Bruno Maderna” Conservatory in Cesena organized a music therapy conference on November 18 and 19. Alberto Balducci was invited, along with Jacopo Camillini and Sara Tosolini, to speak at the conference, to present M&R and share the work done in the August 2022 music therapy internship (completed by Sara and Jacopo at the El Jalil camp in Baalbek).

Alberto introduced the project to the audience, explaining its genesis and activities, and speaking about the civic and social situation of the Palestinian community, while Sara and Jacopo expounded on the music therapy work done with the children of El Jalil. Starting from an account of the daily living conditions in the camps and their persistence for 74 years, Alberto introduced the audience to a recent research by a United Nations agency reporting that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon “described unsafety as a pervasive psychological experience” (UNDP, 2020, “Nothing and Everything to Lose: Results from a Qualitative WhatsApp Survey of Palestinian Camps and Gatherings in Lebanon”). This experience of “unsafety” allowed for the introduction of the concept of “safe space” (in a broad sense, both physical and psychological) that is essential for any situation that allows for a therapeutic journey. The concept of “safe space” was then further explored by Jacopo and Sara in their description of their own human and internship experience, showing how music provides us with many powerful tools that make it possible to create safe spaces even in the most difficult situations, where we can meet, be ourselves, and walk onwards together.