Our projects

Since January 2025, a new music therapy program is being offered to members of the Montreal Shira Choir  Developed in partnership with the Institute,  its goal is to contribute to the wellbeing of participants, under the guidance of a music therapist from the Institute. In January and February, an individual music therapy session was offered to each choir member interested in music therapy, and weekly group sessions started in March 2025. 

We thank the Montreal Shira Choir for their trust and we congratulate them for their music therapy initiative. 

The National Music Therapy Institute  has concluded a parternship with Parkinson Québec for a pilot project beginning in January 2026. A series of 12 weekly sessions based on the concept of Drum Circles, are offered at the Institute to a group of adults living with Parkinson's Disease.  

The National Music Therapy Institute had the privilege to contribute to the documentary Tous en choeur. Produced by Sphere Media and led by Gregory Charles, it shows the impact of music for people living with Alzheimer. The television broadcasting started on October 8th, on Ami-Télé, and the 8 episodes can be seen online (in French) on  AMI+ . Enjoy watching this touching production about the beneficial impact of music for people living with Alzheimer's. 

The National Music Therapy Institute collaborated on the 6th episode, aired on November 12th 2025.

To watch the episodes, click here:   https://amiplus.ca/tous-en-choeur?app-config=ami-teledocs

To better see the image, click here

Located in Montreal, the Association québécoise des personnes aphasiques (AQPA) offers support and services to people with aphasia, and also to their caregivers through the Service d’aide aux proches d’une personne aphasique (SAPPA).

With the pilot project (September 2023 - March 2024), the organization could witness the benefits of music therapy for dyads composed of persons with aphasia and their caregivers. In April 2024, music therapy has been integrated in their offer of services for caregivers.

A speech therapist from AQPA and a music therapist from the Institute work as a team, and use music to provide moments of well being and sharing, of verbal and nonverbal communication, of listening and support.  The sessions are held in person, at the Institute, on a weekly basis. 

Note: the project is temporarily suspended after loosing the financial support to offer this new service. 

 

Located in Montreal, the Association québécoise des personnes aphasiques (AQPA) offers support and services to people with aphasia, and also to their caregivers through the Service d’aide aux proches d’une personne aphasique (SAPPA).

After hearing an enthusiastic testimony from a caregiver having benefited from music therapy services offered by the Institute, discussions led to a partnership between the 2 entities, and to the development of this pilot project.  Since September 2023, group sessions have been offered in person, at the Institute, to dyads composed of persons with aphasia and their caregivers, in addition to online sessions devoted only to the caregivers. In the context of this project, a speech therapist and a music therapist work as a team and use music to provide moments of well being and sharing, of verbal and nonverbal communication, of listening and support. 

Offered to a limited number of participants, and for a period of 8 months, the objective of a pilot project is to give them the opportunity to experiment music therapy “hands on”, which provided AQPA concrete information to evaluate its potential benefits. 

It was such a positive experience that they included a special report and testimonials about this project in their 2023-2024 Annual Report, that you can read (in French) here.

This project represents a 2nd collaboration with Hay Doun.  In the context of a series of Wellbeing Workshops through the Arts, a music therapy discovery session was offered to a group of children and their parents.  They participated in a variety of musical activities, guided by Maryse Trottier, certified music therapist.  The main goals were to give them an opportunity to express themselves, socialize and share relaxing and fun moments, thanks to the music.

La Maison Bleue’s mission is to reduce social inequalities by helping pregnant women living in vulnerable situations. They promote and foster the development of small children, from the mother’s womb until the age of 5. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute reached out to La Maison Bleue to propose a pilot project offering free online music therapy services. Even though potential challenges like internet access and technical issues might have limited participation, the experience has  proven to be a success. It has helped participants see the beneficial impact of music therapy, opening the door to future projects when in-person services are once again available.
 

Autisme Montréal is a non-profit organization that strives to improve the lives of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as well as those of their family members.

In July 2020, the Institute concluded a partnership with Autisme Montréal, launching its 1st pilot project with free online music therapy services, offered to autistic children, adolescents and adults. Two music therapists from the Institute provided individual music therapy sessions, on a weekly basis, one based in Montreal, the other one in the area of Quebec city. Starting in May 2022, participants from the Montreal area were given the choice to continue online, or come to the Institute.

In August 2023, the pilot project ended when Autisme Montréal could not obtain funds to sustain this new service - an important challenge for many non-profit organizations. Individual sessions continue to be offered online, for participants able to cover the costs.

Located in Montreal, Autisme sans limites (ASL) provides services to young adults with autism. In the fall of 2020, ASL reached out to the Institute to explore music therapy services for their clientele.  In the context of COVID19 pandemic, an online group session was offered in March 2021. This participative workshop, led by two of the Institute’s music therapists, gave the organization and a dozen of their clients the opportunity to experience and discover the potential benefits of music therapy.  

In May 2022, the "Introductory workshop" was offered again, in-person, at the Institute.  Then, on March 2025, it was with share enthusiasm that we welcomed them again at the Institute, to offer them our new "Discovery workshop - Demystifying music therapy". 

The Institute is proud of its 1st collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine, of the University of Montreal.  In the context of the renewal of their program, we developed an online lesson about Music Therapy in Palliative Care, producing videoclips that were integrated in a module about Interdisciplinarity in Palliative Care.  This course was offered during the Winter 2025 session to students in their 1st year of studies in medicine. Thank you to Dre Nguyen and Dr Marquis for your interest towards Music Therapy and for your trust! To find out more about music therapy in palliative care.

In line with its mission of raising knowledge and understanding about music therapy, the Institute has developed a participative workshop with the objective of demystifying music therapy.  Lasting 90 minutes, the workshop has 3 parts: after a short introduction about music therapy, the group is invited to participate in musical activities inspired from group music therapy, and to discover the literature/research that supports the use of these types of interventions with various populations.

The contents of each workshop is adapted in relation to the profile of the participants, the objectives to be reached, and the context in which music therapy could apply to their clientele.

This workshop has been offered to organizations such as:  Chapitre francophone de l'International Association for Social Work with Groups ; Carrefour St-Eusèbe; Centre Communautaire Rendez-vous 50+ ; Autisme Sans Limites; students from classes in Career Counseling, in the context of UQAM's Master program; Association des Neurotraumatisés de l'Outaouais; Montreal Shira Choir;. 

To see a description of the workshop, click here.

The Institute offers a percussion workshop for music therapists, in collaboration with Baratanga. Led by Louis-Daniel Joly, this training provides a unique opportunity to integrate or deepen the use of percussion instruments in clinical settings with diverse client populations. The 1st edition takes place January 18th 2026. Limited places are available for this bilingual workshop, offering continuing education credits.  

For more information about upcoming dates and registration modalities, visit our website page about Events and workshops.

This workshop, initially developed for music therapists working with the Institute, was subsequently offered to students in the Music Therapy Master’s program, in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies at Concordia University. Two groups of 10 participants, including 2 faculty members, participated in the 2.5 hour-long online workshop.

In 2019, the Institute concluded an agreement, renewable on a yearly basis, with the Association québécoise de musicothérapie (AQM), who becomes our first institutional member.  Under the terms of this agreement, they can have access to our premises for their Board meetings and other administrative reunions.  Additional specific agreements can also be concluded to hold educational workshops and other activities offered to its members.