In contemporary Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) which is a field of practice, adaptations of The Bonny Method of GIM (the original GIM method) are becoming increasingly important and more widely practiced than the original method in many European countries. These adaptations of The Bonny Method make effective work possible with clients who often have complex needs and a physical, psychological or emotional vulnerability that makes The Bonny Method itself, as a powerful form of depth psychotherapy, unsuitable and even contraindicated. 

The GIM adaptations that have been developed involve the core elements of The Bonny Method (and associated techniques) being modified, sometimes simplified, as well as developed and expanded, where elements may be separated out or combined in new ways. This course teaches a range of techniques that represent supportive or resource-oriented GIM Adaptations which can potentially benefit the physical and mental health of clients with diverse needs in many different settings. Included are music breathing techniques, progressive body relaxation with music, and directed music imaging. More detailed information about these techniques is set out below.

Potential outcomes for clients include:

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• enhancing mental health and wellbeing generally, including managing anxiety, stress and depression. 

• managing the ongoing impact of abuse and trauma, including PTSD.

• developing inner resources and coping strategies that promote emotional regulation and stress reduction.

• regulation of the autonomic nervous system (e.g. through activation of the parasympathetic nervous system to counter flight-fight-freeze responses and reduce stress hormones).

• addressing performance/activity/task related anxiety.

• pain management.

• managing chronic health conditions.

• increasing heart rate variability, cardiovascular regulation, reducing blood pressure, improving oxygen saturation and lung function, reducing chronic inflammation etc.

• healing of body, mind and spirit.

• enhancing cancer care and treatment.

• boosting the immune system.

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There is an emphasis on the way the techniques taught and their core elements can themselves be adapted and combined in different ways to meet the needs of diverse clients, including children and adults, in both individual and group work. Suitable clients are those able to follow the therapist's verbal guidance to engage with the techniques taught. Adapting some of the techniques to make them accessible for clients who may struggle to understand such guidance, including non-verbal clients, will also be discussed, though there will be limitations in what is possible with such clients.

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It is important to be aware that the course will not equip therapists who enrol to practice The Bonny Method of GIM, nor to practice Supportive and Re-educative Music and Imagery (SMI & RMI), these also adaptations of The Bonny Method for which separate training is available. SMI & RMI are psychotherapeutic methods used in combination to address the complex psychological and emotional issues which often underlie client's mental health struggles. The supportive techniques taught on the GIM Adaptations course are not intended to facilitate depth psychotherapeutic work. Rather various techniques are taught that music therapists and others can incorporate and adapt within their existing therapeutic practice to support client wellbeing, physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual, and in this way help make client's mental and other health issues easier to manage. 

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The course trainers, all experienced music therapists additionally trained in GIM and MI, are:

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• Martin Lawes, Course Director

• Helen Wallace-Bell, Assistant Course Director and Independent Music Breathing Practitioner

• Carine Ries, Qualified Yoga Teacher