Natalie Oliveri is a registered music therapist with the Australian Music Therapy Association.
Natalie works with people of all ages to build their capacity for daily functioning and to improve their health and well being through musical engagement and activities.
Natalie seeks to understand a person’s strengths and builds on those to help them to achieve their goals. Her approach to music therapy is client-led, family-centred, informed by positive psychology, trauma theory, music therapy theory and approaches such as Greenspan’s Floortime.
In 2021 Natalie opened Creative Therapy Adelaide, a clinic with the aim to make music therapy and other creative arts therapy services accessible to more Adelaidians and beyond.
In addition to providing music therapy sessions, Natalie supports the University of Melbourne’s Master Creative Arts Therapy and Music Therapy programs, by providing placements for its masters students. She offers consultancy, information sessions and workshops. Natalie has developed a Music and Child Development workshop and provides an annual guest lecture at the University of Adelaide in the School of Public Health’s Graduate Program in Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Natalie has a particular interest in supporting NDIS participants to achieve their goals in creative and fun ways.
In 2018 and 2019, in partnership with Parks Children’s Centre, Uniting SA and Regency Green Multicultural Aged Care, Natalie facilitated an intergenerational music therapy program as part of the Paint the Town REaD initiative.
From 2016 to 2019, Natalie Oliveri worked in the role of Clinical Specialist for Sing & Grow Australia delivering music therapy services to children 0-4 years and their parents in the community. Her work took her home visiting and providing group sessions for families experiencing hardship, mental illness, those engaged with child protection services, families with children with disabilities and families that want to aid their children’s development through music.
In 2017, Natalie designed and facilitated a music therapy program for SCOSA and SPORTSMED’s Body, Mind & Wellbeing project, providing SCOSA clients with meaningful artistic and creative musical opportunities.
Natalie began her career facilitating a classroom-based music therapy program to children 5-18 years with profound and multiple disabilities at a special education centre in Adelaide.
Training and Areas of Practice
Natalie trained at the University of Melbourne obtaining post-graduate qualifications in a Masters in Music Therapy through the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music’s Music Therapy program.
In 2022, Natalie obtained Neurologic Music Therapist status, training in 20 standardized techniques that target neurorehabilitation in participants.
Natalie also has first stage training in Music and Imagery (MI) under the UoM Music Therapy course founder; Prof. Denise Grocke.
During her clinical training, Natalie has worked in youth and adult mental health and rehabilitation, mothers with psychiatric disorders and their babies, adults with profound and multiple disabilities and school-age children with profound and multiple disabilities.
In September-November 2015, she facilitated a 10-week music therapy program at Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital with the Department of Psychiatric Medicine, working primarily with adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), psychosis and depression.
During her studies, Natalie focussed on the ways music is used with women with postnatal mental health concerns – such as postnatal depression and postpartum psychosis – focusing on attachment, bonding and maternal and infant health and wellbeing. You can read the abstract of her masters’ thesis here.
Since completing her studies, Natalie has focussed on understanding how best to support people with disability, completing The Growing Space Support Coordination training in 2020. She continues to educate herself around NDIS legislation and the UN Convention on Human Rights of People with Disabilities.
Prior music and work experience
Prior to pursuing a career in music therapy, Natalie was a radio journalist with ABC Local Radio, working in rural South Australia. During her undergraduate studies Natalie completed a Bachelor of Arts (in Italian) and a Bachelor of Media (Hons.)
Having worked in rural communities and regularly interviewing farmers during the drought years, Natalie became interested in the topics of counselling for depression and alternative therapeutic interventions.
In 2012 Natalie decided to change careers. She went on to complete a Diploma in Classical Voice at the Elder Conservatorium of Music under the coaching of Peter Hopkins, conferring in 2013. That same year she completed the Qualifying Topic for post-graduate psychology with Flinders University.
In December 2015, Natalie graduated from the Masters of Music Therapy at the University of Melbourne.
Since leaving journalism, Natalie has relished the opportunity to make music every day and see the people she works with grow and change through musical experiences.