Kirstin Robertson-Gillam

Speaker

Kirstin is a registered general and midwifery nurse, a Registered Music Therapist and registered psychotherapist, Tier 1 WorkCover provider. She holds a PhD MA(Hons), Bachelor of Arts (psychology and ethnomusicology), a Masters in Counselling, and a Masters Honours degree in Music Therapy Research and is a lecturer at the University of Western Sydney. As a music therapist, Kirstin has extensive experience in disabilities, palliative care and mental health and has pioneered many positions which are still running today in NSW across these fields. Kirstin was on the organising committee for the first music therapy course in NSW at UTS, has been an instrumental member of the AMTA National Council, National Education Committee, three-time Chairperson of the NSW AMTA Branch, and has taught as a casual lecturer at UTS and UWS Nordo" Robbins course over her illustrious career. To add to this, Kirstin is a regular conference presenter, article and book writer (in both English and Japanese!) Kirstin currently combines her music therapy practice with psychotherapy counselling as a private practitioner in North-West Sydney. Her experience in the mental health field is where her current Choir Therapy program is based, having worked first as a nurse in this field and then as a music therapist and counsellor. Her MA (Hons) in Music Therapy Research researched the e"ectiveness of choir singing for reducing depression in people with severe dementia, and her PhD researched the e"ects of her Choir Therapy Program on depression in middle aged community dwellings adults. Within this study, Kirstin assisted Dr Leon Petchovsky in a small trial (N=9), using QEEG technology for assessing brain changes as the result of choir therapy program. View Krisin publications page at http://www.kirstinrg.com/MyPublications.html