From uprooting to replanting: on post-trauma group music therapy for pre-school children

The paper presents a case study of short-term music therapy intervention administered to three groups of pre-school children in the aftermath of a forced evacuation from their homes. The setting relates the effects of the unilateral Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and the post-trauma treatment of the evacuees. The group treatment process is described in the context of Uprooting to rePlanting (UP) model and the broader Basic Ph model of Group Coping developed for dealing with community stress. Initial results point to the role of music in building post-trauma resilience and in reducing the vulnerability of pre-schoolers to traumatic events. The case study highlights the use of music therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment with young children and stresses the way in which the community and family fabric can be harnessed in order to strengthen the coping of the individual.