Music therapist in Lot-et-Garonne, Isabelle Sagnette treats Alzheimer’s and other ailments with her voice

Every two weeks, on Monday afternoons, the France Alzheimer association offers workshops music therapy to patients and their caregivers, in this space lent by the municipal social action center of the town of Marmande.

In a very friendly atmosphere, it is a good little group which finds itself under the leadership ofIsabelle Sagnettemusic therapist who uses his voice to accompany participants.

And of course, it’s their voices that they use to work on their memory, and even their motor skills…

Lots of voice games

“I approach music with the voice, it has become my specialty” explains Isabelle Sagnette.

I work around the body, movement, breathing, relaxation. You know, music stimulates the pleasure hormone a lot. Here, in these workshops, some even remember songs from before.

The group is mixed, Alzheimer’s patients but also caregivers, with, necessarily, the presence of a volunteer from France Alzheimer. Jacqueline Noyé is faithful to the position, in these workshops born in Marmande in 2016.

“The group has changed, but the people are still there,” smiles the woman who also participates with pleasure in the two-hour sessions.

With Isabelle, the participants practice singingL’music listening, “I also make them walk in rhythm, so we work on motor skills. I use games a lot to stimulate expression, the melody of the voice.” Because the voice is expressed in a free bodyand through this workshop, both patients and carers find this freedom.

“I work in the same way with ordinary people, I simply base myself on the person’s resources.” So, if the caregiver of an Alzheimer’s patient wants to come alone, it is entirely possible… “Everyone is there for themselves, and here, the caregiver can also cut a little of this fusion that they have with helped him, he found a respite bubble » specifies Jacqueline Noyé.

Voice as a wellness tool

“And then, everyone functions to their own extent: we don’t hurt ourselves, we push ourselves a little,” continues Isabelle Sagnette.

Without any obligation of result: “I am not a singing teacher, I use the voice as a tool for well-being”. We work on our expression, our communication, music being a “excellent mediatorto work with people in temporary or lasting suffering. It touches each of us at the deepest level of our being, inevitably leading to communication, whether verbal or psychological.”

Isabelle Sagnette who can also intervene in any structure for collective but also individual sessions; his art allows you to work on problems of voice and expression. In Marmande, with France Alzheimer 47, it works.

You can join the sessions offered by France Alzheimer throughout the year (only membership is required, 25 euros per person, 40 euros for a couple), contact: 06.74.04.70.14. You can also contact Isabelle Sagnette for other interventions at 06.88.00.40.08.

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