Supporters Day 2008

12 August 2008

The Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre was full to overflowing this month for its annual Supporters Day event.

There was a great turnout, and the 50 or so people present were privileged to a wonderful talk by Stephanie Keys, whose son Joshua recently completed therapy at the Centre.

The group also heard from Board chairman Campbell Smith, who spoke of the many people who help the Centre - from the Foundations and Trusts who give annual grants, to the musicians who play at the gala fundraiser and those who supply items for the annual auction. Campbell also mentioned the many people who give of their time, goods or services, or who make regular donations to the Centre - without them Raukatauri could not function.

Stephanie Keys spoke about the transformation of her son through music therapy, and there were some moving clips shown of Joshua and his therapist Claire Molyneux working together.

Joshua is autistic, and Stephanie said that at the start of therapy he had limited verbal skills, could not make eye contact with anyone, including herself, could not concentrate, and could not carry out simple tasks such as turn-taking.

By the end of therapy all that had changed. To see footage of Joshua "jamming" with Claire, talking, smiling and fully engaging with her, seemed nothing short of miraculous.

The event ended with participants taking home a small thank you instrument from Raukatauri.