September 2019 marks the 4th birthday of Sound Expression’s clinic at North Ryde. So I decided to reflect and look back at our Youtube videos, our website news, our Facebook and Instagram posts – I can’t help but smile and feel rather proud of what we have achieved over those 4 years.

One of the most important things in life is to have a sense of purpose. If you know what you stand for, if you are clear about what your purpose is, you won’t lose focus. Both Rob and I have always been clear with our vision and our sense of purpose for starting Sound Expression. We are passionate about helping people, in particular people with disability and in our work, our vision is to provide a professional and friendly service to the community. We hope the parents, carers and colleagues have seen this reflected in all that we do.

We work very hard to achieve this and when we see the milestones that our clients are accomplishing, we see that all the work is truly worth the effort.

I remember the 1st day the clinic opened in September 2015 – I opened the door to the clinic and sat all alone. No local network, no client base to start with; just me and 3 empty therapy rooms. It had to be built from scratch!

Fast forward 4 years, we now have more than 160 clients come to our clinic each week, we have expanded to have 5 music therapy rooms and we have a team of 6 awesome Registered Music Therapists, an amazing administrator, 2 extremely dedicated volunteers, and many Masters Students hungry to learn the craft of being a music therapist.

So, when I see a busy reception area, when I see that our staffroom has no spare desk, when I hear music permeating from our therapy rooms, I smile on the inside. I know that somewhere at the clinic a child is learning to use his voice to communicate. I know that someone is learning to regulate themselves by beating a steady rhythm to the music of his therapist. I know that a child is working very hard waiting for their turn to play their instrument in a group session. And I know the parents are proudly listening in to those achievements made by their children.

Thank you for letting us be part of your children’s lives and helping them to reach their full potential.