The Power of Music in Brain Injury Recovery (with Serenna Wagner and Alice Collier)
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In this episode…
Music has a unique ability to reach parts of the brain that regular speech or traditional therapies sometimes cannot. For those who have experienced a brain injury, the rhythmic and multi-sensory nature of music can bridge neurological gaps and provide a distinct pathway toward healing. In this episode, host Cristabelle Braden sits down with neurologic music therapist Serenna Wagner and her client, Alice Collier, who has experienced a brain injury to talk about the profound impact of music therapy on recovery.
We also feature a spotlight with Dr. Ryan Harvey from The Functional Neurology Center. Dr. Harvey explains the mechanics of auditory stimulation and music, breaking down how it triggers multi-sensory integration to stimulate neural pathways without overloading a recovering patient's sensory system.
🧠 In this episode:
Understanding Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) - how specific, standardized techniques use music to manipulate brain activity, join the brain's hemispheres, and circumvent damaged networks.
A story of resilience and finding new dreams after Alice survived a traumatic brain injury from a bike accident
How matching auditory cues to visual and physical actions drives the brain's timing and sequencing networks.
How music therapy can be dynamically paired with physical therapy to make repetitive, challenging, or tedious physical movements highly motivating.
Host Cristabelle shares how music and songwriting helped her reclaim her emotions, speech and motor skills following her own brain injury.
Meet Our Guests
Alice Collier lives in Beaconsfield, a beautiful area in the South East of England. She experienced a life-changing injury in June 2020, when she was knocked off her bicycle which led to an extended time of recovery in hospital. With the support of wonderful family and friends, Alice has rebuilt a very full and rewarding life. She loves music and both listening and playing have been a very important part of her recovery. These days Alice loves to play the piano, which she started learning from scratch a year and a half ago. She also loves being a mum to a beautiful little dog called Poppy and attending flower arranging classes. Alice wants to use her passion for life to inspire others who may be struggling at an earlier stage of their recovery.
Serenna Wagner is a neurologic music therapist, opera singer and researcher based in Oxford in the UK. She is absolutely passionate about bringing both the beauty and therapeutic power of music to the clients she works with. Serenna specialises in rehabilitating speech and communication through singing-based interventions. She works with those who face challenges owing to neurologic injury or disease, aiming to promote meaningful progress as a powerful and simultaneously enjoyable and enriching part of the rehabilitation process. Learn more & connect with Serenna: thisinnervoice.com
Thank you to The Functional Neurology Center for sponsoring this podcast - The FNC offers personalized neuro-recovery programs for anyone going through brain injury and a wide range of neurological conditions. Learn more: thefnc.com
This podcast is for education and informational purposes only, and not intended for medical advice. If you need specific medical advice, please consult your physician.
