Doing it together: Collaborative research on goal-setting and review in a music therapy centre

Abstract

The Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre, established in 2004, is New Zealand's first dedicated music therapy centre and provides music therapy for children and adolescents with special needs both at the Centre and through its Outreach programmes. This paper describes a collaborative research project undertaken at the Centre during 2010-2011. Action research was used to investigate the Centre's process of goal-setting and review in music therapy for children and adolescents with special needs. The collaborative research process and benefits of action research for the organisation are outlined, with a summary of the main findings and outcomes of the project for each cyclical phase. The paper concludes with a discussion that reflects on the impact of the project.