Lecture @ symposium “Disabled people in prisons”, Dortmund University of Applied Sciences
How do people with disabilities who are deprived of their liberty fare? Are they granted the rights in prisons that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities demands? According to this, “persons with disabilities who are deprived of their liberty as a result of proceedings shall be guaranteed the equal enjoyment of the guarantees provided for in international human rights law and shall be treated in accordance with the purposes and principles of the present Convention [1], including through the provision of reasonable accommodation” (Article 14 (2) UN CRPD).
As part of this symposium, I will be giving a presentation on music therapy for the disabled in forensic psychiatry entitled “Empowerment instead of exclusion: music therapy for the disabled in forensic psychiatry”.
Radio feature: How offenders find new hope in faith with music
Spirituality as an essential element of being human plays a central role in psychotherapy. Music can open up new aesthetic spaces of experience that directly benefit the success of therapy. DLF Broadcast Germany Culture, a public broadcaster, made a programme about my work. In the programme on 27 October 2024, I talked about how offenders find new hope in religion and the role music plays in this. The programme is available as a podcast )in German):
Deutschlandradio Kultur "Neugeboren"
Lecture @ International Music and Justice Inquiry Network/University of Iowa
The International Music and Justice Inquiry Network: IMAJIN Caring Communities is a global group who meets monthly to network & share practices and research with music-making in prisons. I'm looking forward to my lecture (Zoom, via University of Iowa)
December 19, 2024 at 11 AM Central (Chicago USA)/ 6 PM Berlin, Germany).
Sandra Sinsch: “Music offers in the Uchtspringe (Saxony-Anhalt) forensic psychiatric hospital: Conditional factors for strengthening resources and promoting participation, social learning and cultural education”
ICPA Correctional Excellence Award goes first time to Germany
The ICPA's commitment to promoting and supporting best practice principles and guidelines in the penal system worldwide is also reflected in the ICPA Awards, which have been presented annually since 2006 for outstanding achievements in the prison system. Achievements are recognised in several categories, that promote humanitarian approaches and professional penal measures and stand for excellence in this professional field.
The following criteria must be met in order to receive an award
- Compatibility with the values, goals, visions, standards and priorities of the ICPA
- Concept/project/achievements in the relevant award category are unique and innovative
- Concept/project/achievements are of great international appeal, inspiring for others and
- inspiring and transferable into their practice - there is a wow factor
- there are demonstrably positive results and impacts
ICPA guidelines and standards are: United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Bangkok Rules, European Prison Rules, International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Kyoto Declaration of 2021 on the Promotion of Crime Prevention, Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law.
The award not only went to Germany for the first time, but also to music projects in the penal system for the first time. The award ceremony took place on September 4, 2024 as part of the ICPA annual conference in Singapore.
Presentation@ SIMM-posium in Kopenhagen
Information SIMM-posium Kopenhagen
SIMM is an international network of researchers and organisations examining the social impact of participatory music-making in different cultural contexts.
The 9th SIMM-posium will be hosted from 5.-7.11. 2024 in Copenhagen. SIMM has traditionally focussed on music in the context of custodial measures. I am delighted to have received an invitation to give a presentation on how I am implementing community music in forensic psychiatry in the third research cycle. (logo source: SIMM)
"Potential applications of the Qur'an in culturally sensitive music therapy" - presentation @ International Conference Psychology and Music – Interdisciplinary Encounters in Zagreb
There are many good reasons to integrate the Qur'an into holistic and culturally sensitive music therapy. I am therefore looking forward to my presentation in Zagreb in October.
The button opens the website of the conference, which will take place at the University of Zagreb.
Freiraum - Community Music in Magdeburg
There are (still too few) music programmes in prisons, but when people are released or in open prison, there are no more opportunities to continue being musically active here in Saxony-Anhalt. For this reason, I am delighted to come up with ‘Freiraum’. The community music workshops in Magdeburg are aimed at people who have been released from prison, are in open prison or have been linked to forensic aftercare following the end of their placement in a penal institution. Here, they are given a free space with music for the first time or again and are supported in finding their place in society. In the long term, the space will gradually open up, with family, friends and colleagues on board at the beginning. Thanks also to the partners and sponsors LVKR e.V. Saxony-Anhalt, FRAP Saxony-Anhalt, the Ministry of Labour, Health, Social Affairs and Equality of Saxony-Anhalt and the federal programme Demokratie leben! of the German Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
MDR national radio choir goes forensic psychiatry (03/04 2024)
When everyone says it's impossible, you just have to do it. It took me almost a year to plan and realise this project together with Ekkehard Vogler from the MDR state radio education department. Then the time had come. One of the best professional choirs in Germany performed for and together with forensic patients. It was the first project that ever came about in this area and yes, the realisation was quite a challenge.
MDR state television made a four-part documentary out of it, and there was also a report in the national news. If you know German, check ARD Mediathek to watch it.