This year, I was able to join a new service and I chose to join Music Therapy with Apex Harmony Lodge. What the service does, is to find songs from the 1950s and onwards that were popular in Singapore and then present them in a certain way to some of the dementia patients that they converse with at the Lodge in hopes of stimulating some sort of memory or cognitive response to the music. Being a part of this service, I have felt as though my skills of conversation have been heavily improved and I have understood how different people may require different forms of communication in order to exchange ideas and messages. From going to helping out in a day care, to a cerebral palsy centre, to an old age home, and now to a dementia home, I have been able to understand how when we converse with different people the manners and methods of our communication change and adapt in the necessary manner in order to ensure that we fit in with the environment we are in as smoothly as possible and I think this is an extremely important skill.
2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
The biggest challenge for me this year, was that I had never experienced communicating with someone who unfortunately suffers from dementia. What made it even harder was that we were online due to the pandemic, and it was quite hard at some instances to keep the concentration of the client with us. Saying this, however, our adaptability was tested and we were able to come up with some interesting solutions to the problem posed to us. For example, if the client was not responding to the song we were playing, I would pick up a guitar and then start to sing and play along. This elicited a much more active response from the client and it showed that there was space for adaptability and change in our plans, and that sometimes spontaneity can be the best solution. It also showed me that there is always a possible solution in the face of challenge, and that to persevere through a challenge to find a solution is a crucial character to have, something very transferrable across my life.
6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.
When I joined this service, the one thought I had in my mind was that initiatives like this were crucial in reducing inequalities that our world still faces. I feel as though certain groups of people, especially those who may be underprivileged or suffering from illnesses/old age, are susceptible to certain forms of discrimination and stigma and have witnessed this myself in our society and in other societies. Being able to take part in such an initiative means that I can do my best to try and bridge the generational gap experienced between the two generations and understand that the first step to defeating social inequalities is by taking the effort to communicate and connect with those of different backgrounds.
