From the discipline of music therapy – inclusion by way of music

The Regens Wagner House in Treuchtlingen is an after-care centre for people with craniocerebral injuries with a residential wing and a support centre run by the Regens Wagner Absberg charity. As one of 14 regional centres of the Regens Wagner Foundation in Bavaria, the Absberg centre offers individually specific accommodation and occupational therapy as well as specialist care for persons with disabilities.

The residents of and visitors to the support centre in the Regens Wagner House are people with severe acquired craniocerebral injuries who have already received acute and rehabilitation care. Their individual resources and needs are considered in the targeted care and support they receive.

Both the residential home and the support centre offer an extensive range of services, among them neuropsychology, occupational therapy, kinaesthetics, artistic and creative therapy, and music therapy. 

Music therapy facilitates both participants‘ experience of themselves as self-efficient and their exploration of their own resources. In addition to the individual and group therapy on offer, the “Regens Wagner Band” has been part of the music therapy programme of the Regens Wagner House Treuchtlingen for five years.

The residents of and visitors to the support centre – some of them former hobby musicians – have developed a small repertoire of well-known songs together with staff and supported by musician friends, which they regularly rehearse. From time to time, they stage concerts for the general public with the aim of strengthening participation and inclusion of people with disabilities. Their regular concerts entitled “Songs for everyone” attract people with disabilities form the Regens Wagner facility as well as their families, friends, and guests from the area.

Sharing the stage with popular acts such as La Brass Banda (2014), Haindling (2015) and the Bayern 3 Band (2017) have spread the band’s reputation throughout the region, the extended home of the people with craniocerebral injuries.

The Hans Thomann Foundation supported the band two years ago by donating a mixing desk, speakers and mics. This has allowed us to prepare much more professionally for concerts.

In late 2017, the band recorded an inclusion song they wrote themselves with the title “Du gehörst dazu” (You belong). They were supported by music producer and professional musician Michael Ruff (from the band “Haindling”). The band performed this song live alongside Haindling musicians in a spring 2018 inclusive concert in the Bavarian town of Weissenburg, which attracted a great deal of attention. Reviews from all quarters were positive.

In summer 2018, the band and residents of the home recorded a music video for the song in cooperation with “Benedikt Pictures“, a Munich production company. It is available online:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWz6M7WAyV8

The Hans Thomann Foundation’s renewed support, donating instruments for our music therapy programme and for the Regens Wagner Band will allow us to expand the songbook as well as to continue proven and develop new project ideas.

In the name of our residents and the visitors to our support centre, we thank the Hans Thomann Foundation for its generous support.

Manfred Rehm
Director, Regens Wagner Hauses Treuchtlingen
Music therapist DMtG
Musical director, “Regens Wagner Band“