MENTAL HEALTH – ESCAPE GLOBAL

G R I E V I N G W I T H H O P E

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Escape Global

Olayemi Afees Akanni has a strong Muslim background so the possibility of being immersed in music was quite slim, his background in music is one from learning lots of songs by listening to the radio. The radio and his school assembly ground was a major influence in his music life, then when he eventually went to church.

He shared how he felt cheated being the last born of the family for over 10 years until he was displaced😅, he always felt unloved because he wasn’t pampered. He started having thoughts of death in such moments, he’d somehow begin to hum a tune when those thoughts surged in, it helped him bounce back from such state.
He didn’t understand how music was helping him walk through dark questioning seasons until he got into the Tertiary institution.

In His words ‘I used to fear calls from home’, things weren’t okay at home and he tried to avoid receiving calls except if it came from his Father and this was because he knew that his Father had the ability to manage conveying a critical situation in speech.

His sister and Father were challenged health wise, His father had issues at work and his sister’s marriage was close to falling apart. Everything came falling like a pack of cards, he had to skip tests, was thinking of committing suicide at the thought of everything happening but thankfully he didn’t.

It was first his elder sister who died on New Year’s day and it felt like everything came crashing, he was numb and just couldn’t understand what was happening. You’d think that was just it, his father was ill and his leg was about to be amputated, his father didn’t want it, he backed his Father who once carried him, such painful sight to behold and that was the last he saw him. He died!
Olayemi had to walk through the season of losing two loved ones, he grieved with hope with music that reassured him and made him see the bigger picture.

He also shared with us how Songwriting helped him through tough seasons.

I think his story is one worth listening especially if you are walking through grief. Kindly click the link below to listen 👇👇

https://anchor.fm/mercy-kay/episodes/G-R-I-E-V-I-N-G-W-I-T-H-H-O-P-E-ek17qf

I always look forward to reading from you.
Thank You 💚

S H E W R O T E

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Escape Global

One experience that stood out for me in a mental health hospital was that of an autistic child who I would love to give the fictional name, Amina. Amina was a child of 10 years who had lived with autism since she was a year old. Week-in, week-out, she came with her mum to the Hospital to see the doctor, get medications , attend educational therapy and what have you.

So this day, she came in sobbing and I had so much empathy on her that I would have shed a tear. Her mum said to me, “She likes covering her face whenever she steps into a room filled with people but I discouraged her from doing this which led to an outburst of tears”. This scenario is common with children with this disorder because of their poor social skills.

I’m sure you might be curious as to what happened next, how I was able to manage an autistic child who was sobbing, knowing the struggles of children who live with this ailment…

Research on music therapy shows that listening to music engages sub-cortical and cortical areas of the brain. Music has been shown to stimulate the brains’ primary engine of human capacity, exercises attention, evokes emotional response and stimulates the central nervous system. It also appears to activate the human mirror-neuron system, supporting the coupling between perceptual events (visual or auditory) and motor actions (leg, hand, or vocal or articulatory actions).

At one time, theories of human brain development argued that there was little or no growth of brain cells after age 30 but recent studies of music and the brain have shown this view to be erroneous. The brain is a plastic organ and music has the power to shape the brain’s development into later life. The implication of these findings is huge. Providing opportunities for people to experience music in many settings can have a profound impact on their healthy development.

Music has long been recognized as a powerful force in rehabilitative treatment, used clinically to address impairments in motor function, language, cognition, sensory processing, and emotional disturbances that can result from brain injury. It has been used successfully to induce cognitive repair in patients with stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, or traumatic brain injury. Indeed, music has the potential to “fix” the brain, by providing an alternative entry point into a “broken” brain system to remediate impaired neural processes or neural connections.

Back to my story, I went on to administer music therapy to this young girl. I switched on the music on my phone and she began loosening up, then I picked up my guitar and started singing. Before I could say jack, her eyes were dried and she reached for a pen and began writing. For autistic children, writing is usually a challenge so you can imagine how much my heart leaped with joy when she began writing herself.

You can imagine that her mum tried using non-musical tones to communicate what she wanted her to do and it turned sour but at the sound of music she not only did what she wanted her to do but she did more by writing.

Amina returned home happy and I returned curious about this aspect of Therapy and eager to raise an awareness of it’s potency.

This is #TheDiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist, Episode 10

In view of what has been happening in recent weeks across the nations of the earth and the instruction to stay indoors to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, #TheDiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist will be on hold. We strongly believe this will end soon.

Please remain obedient to every rule given by our individual government authorities.

I look forward to reading from you and catch you soon!

C O N C E N T R A T I O N

Posted on March 17, 2020March 17, 2020 by Escape Global

I was at the hospital last week and it was closed down because the management thought to fumigate the hospital.
Every disappointment is truly a blessing, I have been wanting to share with you one of my experiences in the hospital where I had a patient who almost dislocated my arm.

I have this strong love for autistic children. I remember feeling the warmth of the embrace of a particular autistic child in my church, I must tell you I loved her immediately. There was this aura of peace she carried.

Well that’s not even the gist, I had a session with an autistic child in the hospital and honestly I was lost for songs or activities.
He was one child that had a very strong grip, you couldn’t just beat him to getting his body calm, he’d struggle with you.

If you know children living with autism, you’ll know that this comes with aggression that is common with the mental disability.
He also had difficulty in concentrating, so I could hardly get him to focus because it felt like something else needed his attention.

I figured out that I was not going to get his attention easily so I started by beating a rhythm because I was told he loved drumming, I did this repeatedly and honestly you will think he wasn’t listening or paying attention until he played the exact rhythm back to me without me asking and that was the bonding point for us.
He did the rhythm repeatedly and we transited into singing.

I did a song in his name letting him know that He is a gift from God and it was beautiful, he slowly calmed down and gave me his full attention. His mum was with him and she was so impressed, the song sent a message to her thatsaid regardless of the health challenge of her son, it doesn’t change the truth that he is a gift from God to the family and the world.

One thing I learnt from this session is this; producing a simple rhythm and hoping for him to reproduce it helped him concentrate. If this is continuous and consistent, he would be able to concentrate always and learn concentration in other aspects. Asides from the administration of Music Therapy helping patients calm down, it helps focus and concentration.

I am committed to doing this anytime and any day because the transformation I see always is priceless.

This is the #DiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist, Episode 9

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