Growing out South of Perth capacity: Welcome Anneke
To kick of 2026 we are thrilled to welcome Anneke de Rooij to the Attuned Health team.
Anneke is a Registered Music Therapist with the Australian Music Therapy Association and holds an Honours degree in Fine Art, a Bachelor of Linguistics with a minor in Music, a CELTA qualification to teach English as a second language, and a Masters of Music Therapy from the University of Melbourne. She is a Suzuki trained piano teacher and music theory teacher with more than 20 years experience.
Anneke is passionate about the capacity of music therapy to rekindle joy, motivation and memory and enjoys supporting people to follow their own inner musicality. Her goal is to expand her Music Therapy training, particularly exploring Music and Imagery techniques, and bring Music Therapy to rural areas.
We asked Anneke a few questions to help you get to know her. Please join us in welcoming her if you meet her out in the community.
What do you love about being a music therapist?
Music therapy opens up communication and connection with others in a way that feels natural, gentle and creative. I love that in music therapy, the participant and the music therapist meet in the music as equals and explore together.
Is there a specific music therapy moment that has stuck with your or shaped your practice?
The most poignant and beautiful moments I have experienced involve playing music with people nearing the end of life, sometimes with their families around. Some of these experiences were in a hospital setting, others were in residential aged care. Singing and playing the favourite songs of people in palliative care offers comfort, witnessing and acknowledgement of their life’s journey, where no other words are needed. On one occasion, a male relative said afterwards, “that’s the first time I’ve been able to shed some tears.” These experiences have taught me the immeasurable value of music for holding and expressing the tenderness of human experience.
What is one thing you wish people knew about music therapy?
That music therapy is not just about listening to or making music, it’s about people – its success relies on how the participant and the music therapist connect with each other.
What music or instruments do you like to play and listen to?
I play the piano, the piano accordion, guitar and ukulele. I listen to everything from classical piano to music from the 50s up to today. I prefer folk, indie and alternative rock, Aussie and local artists.
Tell us something we might not know about you…
I love learning traditional skills. I recently made some socks, starting with washing and combing the fleece straight off the sheep, spinning it into yarn by hand and knitting it into socks. It took over a month. As you can imagine, I’m also really fun at parties. Oh and one day I also want to have a small herd of goats.
