News

As beloved patients near end of life, harpist Clare Steward brings music to their ears.

The certified healthcare musician plays the harp each Thursday for palliative care patients, families, and staff at Mount Druitt Hospital in Western Sydney Local Health District.

Clare says often when the very first note is struck the people in the room will start to cry.

“It’s really important to understand that those tears are already there. People can have really big responses to music, but the emotion already exists and it’s okay to share that emotion with the people in the room.”

The musician says she is honoured to be invited into people’s lives during such a private time.

“My work is about providing support for what is happening in the moment. It’s not about what the person might need moving forward or what has happened in the past, it’s about what is happening now and supporting that.”

Clare was one of the volunteers who participated in a program developed by Peter Roberts from Roberts Music, and Registered Music Therapist Lucy Morgan, teaching people with no experience how to play the reverie harp and use it in the palliative care space. For more info on how you can incorporate this into your service click here.

You can listen to the delightful and soothing sounds of Clare playing the harp and speaking of her work in this short video [2min 13 sec].

This news was originally published in The Pulse.