SHARJAH HUMANITARIAN CITY GRADUATES THE FOURTH BATCH OF ITS CADRES WITHIN MUSIC THERAPY PROGRAM
Her Highness Sheikha Jameela bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Vice President of Supreme Council for Family Affairs & Director General of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS), is very proud of SCHS specialists, trainers, and supervisors who managed to develop their educational skills and achieve good results with persons with disabilities according to the best practices worldwide within Music Therapy Program.
This happened when Her Highness Sheikha Jameela gave graduation certificates to the Fourth Batch, which consisted of 17 specialists managed to pass Music Therapy Program. SCHS has been organizing this program since 2013, in collaboration with the University of Iowa from South Korea. The number of specialists who passed this program successfully has reached 61 from SCHS different sections and branches.
The Director General of SCHS has confirmed the importance of developing persons with disabilities motor, social, lingual, and educational skills in order to improve their quality of life and grant their active participation and integration into society. Therefore, SCHS has been organizing this program in order to train its cadres on music therapy techniques on the hands of the best specialists from the University of Iowa from South Korea.
Her Highness Sheikha Jameela said, “SCHS has based the sustainability of the program on training SCHS workers to use music therapy techniques in the training of persons with disabilities. SCHS workers are serious. They have perfected the bases of music therapy in order to become one of the main ways to train and empower persons with disabilities”.
She directed her sincerest thanks to Iowa University specialists who took part in the program since its beginning six years ago by providing their expertise in working with persons with disabilities. Special thanks went to SCHS workers who achieved good results and success.
Professor Jim Heung Lee, Music Therapy Specialist from Iowa University, is very happy with this cooperation between SCHS and the university, which serves persons with disabilities. Both organizations have been sharing experiences since the beginning of the program.
Professor Jim has confirmed that this cooperation between the university and an Arabian organization is a first. Nevertheless, the cooperation is not restricted only to serving persons with disabilities; it includes training SCHS workers to achieve the sustainability of the program.
Ms. Khadija Bamakhramah, SCHS Follow-up and Planning Officer and General Supervisor of Music Therapy Program, has pointed out the importance of Music Therapy Program in developing students with disabilities sensory, cognitive, and motor skills. The program aims at offering the best services to students with disabilities according to the best practices worldwide by incorporating music therapy techniques as the most advanced therapy ways.
She mentioned SCHS leadership in this field by the incorporating of Music Therapy Program within its work methodology since 2013 and providing suitable environment in order for its specialists to perfect music therapy techniques in order to develop persons with disabilities capabilities in every area of life.
Ms. Khadija Bamakhramah has praised the unlimited support of Her Highness Sheikha Jameela bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Director General of SCHS, to program’s teamwork. This has contributed to the sustainability of the program all these years by using music therapy techniques to train students with disabilities, develop their capabilities, and empower them. The total number of students with disabilities who benefited from the program over the six years has reached 262.
According to Ms. Bamakhramah, SCHS is hosting the eighth batch of Iowa University master’s degree students who are offering students with disabilities training via music therapy according to the best practices worldwide. In addition, they have been training SCHS staff on music therapy. More than 27 students with disabilities benefited from the program since its beginning.
She said, ”Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services is organizing a short Music Therapy Program from January 23 to 29, 2019 in collaboration with Iowa University. The program would benefit more than 76 specialists from SCHS. The program includes workshops and evaluation sessions for the performance of SCHS staff”.
Finally, graduates directed their sincerest thanks to Sheikha Jameela, who has been and still the main supporter for any work that might benefit persons with disabilities. They hope to achieve the sustainability of the program in a professional and systematic way that grant benefiting persons with disabilities as much as possible.``