Bedside Visit
Single Session
One visit. Up to 90 minutes.
A one-off visit to the patient at home, hospice or hospital. Often requested at a specific moment of need - settling agitation, supporting rest, or making space for family presence.
Specialist music therapy for patients, families and clinical teams navigating the final chapter. Bedside, home or hospital, with the same registered clinician from first visit to last.
See What is Offered → Arrange a VisitEnd of life care is not about fixing. It is about presence, choice, and dignity - even when everything else is changing.
End of life music therapy is a separate specialism within the clinical practice. It is paced differently, staffed differently, and delivered with a particular kind of attention.
Sessions are shaped to what the patient can receive on that day - which can be a humming presence at the bedside, or a whole family singing together, or a recorded legacy track made in the final weeks.
01 / Clinical context
Research consistently shows music therapy reduces pain perception, lowers anxiety and agitation, and supports improved sleep quality in palliative populations. For many patients, it also restores a sense of identity and choice at a point when both feel eroded.
02 / Where it happens
Visits take place wherever the patient is. Portable instruments and a small speaker set travel to the room, not the other way around. Most home visits are completed in under 90 minutes from arrival to departure.
03 / Who is in the room
Sessions can be for the patient alone, or shared with partners, children, siblings and grandchildren. Some families choose to participate actively. Others prefer to sit quietly and let the sound hold the space. Both are honoured.
04 / What is left behind
When appropriate, we record what happens in the room. A song the patient chose. A message to grandchildren. A family humming together. These recordings become keepsakes that live far beyond the session, and families return to them for years.
Each structure is shaped to a different moment in the trajectory. Visits can be a one-off, a weekly rhythm, or a series that carries a family through.
Bedside Visit
One visit. Up to 90 minutes.
A one-off visit to the patient at home, hospice or hospital. Often requested at a specific moment of need - settling agitation, supporting rest, or making space for family presence.
Weekly Rhythm
Weekly or fortnightly visits.
A sustained weekly or fortnightly visit. Builds trust across weeks or months and allows sessions to evolve with the patient's shifting capacity. Most funded visits sit here.
Legacy Project
Dedicated recording sessions.
A focused series of visits to record a meaningful piece of music, voice message, family song or story - mixed and delivered as a keepsake for loved ones.
After the Loss
Post-loss sessions for families.
Dedicated sessions for families and siblings after the patient has died. Music becomes a space for integration, memory, and permission to grieve openly.
No two sessions are the same, but there is a soft pattern to the work. Here is the default shape for a bedside visit.
Quiet entry into the room, introductions, check-in with the care team and the patient's current comfort.
Gentle instrument presence, matching the patient's breath and energy. Nothing asked. Simply accompanied.
Familiar songs, meaningful music, or improvisation shaped to what emerges. Family can join or sit.
A softer close. Time for the room to stay with what was shared, without rushing out.
Brief conversation with family or clinical staff. Notes and next visit confirmed, if ongoing.
End of life care touches more than one person. Music therapy is designed to support everyone who is present - each in a different way.
Pain reduction, anxiety management, emotional expression, and preservation of identity through personally meaningful music.
A non-verbal way to be present, to participate without needing words, and to create something together that will outlast the loss.
Space for grandchildren, siblings and friends to be in the room in a held, intentional way rather than in helplessness.
Palliative nurses, doctors, chaplains and support workers gain a complementary non-pharmacological tool in their care plan.
Specialist support for families navigating paediatric palliative care, drawing on experience at Very Special Kids and comparable contexts.
Grief and integration work for families in the weeks and months after a loss. Music as a container for what is still being processed.
Legacy recordings are one of the most meaningful offerings inside the palliative practice. A favourite song sung together. A patient's own voice reading to grandchildren. A piece of improvised music that lives on in the lives of the people who loved them.
42+
Legacy recording projects completed over seven years.
Paediatric, adult & aged care contexts
Work is referred from, coordinated with, and delivered alongside the following organisations and clinicians.
Paediatric palliative care
Adult palliative network
In-home palliative support
Residential facilities across VIC
Direct clinical referral network
Post-loss family work
Shared with permission. Names adjusted where requested, to honour the privacy of the families involved.
Rodney came into the hardest week of our lives and made space for my father to be himself one last time. We still play the recording.
The nursing team noticed a measurable drop in agitation after Rodney's visits. He became a trusted part of the care plan.
He held our whole family in a way nobody else could. Without asking anything of us, just sound.
Within 24 to 72 hours wherever possible. Urgent bedside and family integration visits are prioritised, and some after-hours availability is held for acute needs. For patients with less urgent timelines, a weekly rhythm is usually arranged on a regular day to become part of the care plan.
No. The patient does not need to sing, play, speak or even be conscious. Music therapy works through presence, resonance and the patient's own preferred sound world, whatever that may be. Some of the most meaningful sessions happen without the patient making a single sound.
Yes. Family inclusion is encouraged where the patient is comfortable. Many sessions evolve into whole-family experiences, with recorded keepsakes created on the day. Children, partners and siblings are all welcome, and the pace is tailored to whoever is in the room.
Yes. NDIS Therapeutic Supports, specific palliative care packages, and private payment are all supported. Billing is arranged with the care coordinator or family prior to the first visit, so finances are never a surprise in an already difficult time.
Legacy projects usually span four to six visits. Recording is done on professional portable equipment in the patient's own room. The final mix is delivered digitally and on a physical keepsake. Video capture is available where the family wishes. Consent is revisited every session, and the patient is always in the driver's seat.
Grief sessions remain available for as long as the family wants. This is a distinct service - often combining music, somatic grounding and integration conversations. Some families engage for a single session, others for a structured series. It is always opt-in, never assumed.
Reach out directly. Visits can usually be arranged within 48 to 72 hours. For urgent needs, call during business hours and after-hours availability can often be found.
NDIS registered · Bulk-billed palliative referrals accepted · Bereavement rate available on request