Marianne Rizkallah
Director | Head Music Therapist
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Marianne qualified as a music therapist from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2013 and received further training in psychodynamic psychotherapy from the Tavistock Centre in 2018.
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Marianne has experience working with adults, adolescents and children with a wide range of mental health needs, including
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depression
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anxiety
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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
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eating disorders
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attachment issues
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autism
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social, emotional and behavioural difficulties
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early trauma
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Marianne is a registered supervisor with the British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) and served as BAMT's Vice Chair of Trustees from 2019-2022, sitting on the Board from 2016. She wrote the national guidelines for working as a music therapist during COVID-19, which were adopted worldwide.
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​Marianne lectures regularly at the Guildhall School and the Institute for Contemporary Music Performance. She is published in the British Journal of Music Therapy and Approaches Music Therapy Journal. Through NLMT, Marianne provides regular training and CPD for healthcare professionals. She began a PhD at the Guildhall School in September 2023, exploring power dynamics within 1:1 music therapy with anxious adults.
Priya Vithani
Senior Music Therapist
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Priya qualified as a music therapist from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2019.
For NLMT, Priya runs our new South London clinic based in Blackheath, and has worked with a wide variety of patients with mental health concerns and autism, ranging across the lifespan. She is Stroke Lead for NLMT, and was the main clinician in NLMT's collaborative pilot project with University College London NHS Foundation Trust, working in the homes of patients living in the community after experiencing stroke or neurological impairment.
Priya also works as a music therapist in a school, working with children and adolesents with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Rivka Gottlieb
Senior Music Therapist
Rivka has 20 years' experience as a music therapist, qualifying from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2004. She has worked with a wide range of ages and conditions, including several years in a mainstream secondary school providing music therapy for young people with mental health concerns and autism and running music therapy groups for a charity supporting women who have experienced domestic abuse.
Rivka is a registered mental health practitioner with the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM) and works with professional musicians, performing artists and students struggling with issues relating to anxiety, depression, performance anxiety, stress, interpersonal dynamics, trauma, PTSD and eating disorders.
Prior to qualifying as a music therapist, Rivka trained at the Royal College of Music and The Juilliard School as a concert harpist.
For NLMT Rivka undertakes service management, utilising extensive project management and communications experience, as well as clinical supervision, and carrying out clinical work with adolescents and adults.
Marina Emmanouil
Music Therapist
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Marina qualified as a music therapist from the University of the West of England (UWE) in 2021.
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Marina sees individuals in NLMT's Temple Fortune clinic, working with both children and adults with mental health concerns across the lifespan.
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Marina also teaches on the Interactive Music Making course, as part of NLMT's Associate Partnership with Music as Therapy International, and has a particular clinical interest in working with Early Years, as well as mental health.
Friederike Saunderson
Music Therapist
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Friederike qualified as a music therapist from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2022.
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For NLMT, Friederike runs music therapy services and projects for older adults living with dementia and their carers, including singing groups and new work with residential care staff as well as patients.
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Friederike also has experience working with adults with mental health concerns including schizophrenia and psychosis.
Sinziana Vrabie
Music Therapist
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Sinziana qualified as a music therapist in 2023, graduationg from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
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Sinziana has experience working with people with autism, profound and multiple learning disabilities, challenging behaviour, acquired brain injury using Neurologic Music Therapy techniques, and Parkinson’s disease. She facilitates a weekly Singing for Memory group, offered to older adults living with dementia and their carers, and at the other end of the lifespan, works with an early child development assessment team.
Sinziana is also part of a graduate scheme, working with adoption.
Shimona Thevathasan
Music Therapist
Shimona qualified as a music therapist from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2023.
Shimona has experience working with a variety of client groups including children with special educational needs and adults with complex neurological disabilities.
For NLMT, Shimona runs a weekly Singing for Memory group for older adults living with dementia and their carers.
Shimona also works as a music therapist in a child development service as well as in a special education company that connects SEN specialists with education providers.
Saphia Amer
Administrator
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Saphia works with all NLMT service users with regards to paperwork, invoices and any practical needs that may arise through the course of music therapy.
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Behind the scenes, she also plays a vital role in looking after NLMT's clinicians and taking care of all administrative matters for running the business.