The Longest Goodbye — A Case Study

Abstract

This article is a case study of a client whom I shall call Simon. He attended music therapy with me for four years. In this paper I aim to explore the concept of containment and the provision of a safe, facilitating environment, illustrating in the case material how integral they are to my work as a music therapist. Using the material, I demonstrate how Simon moved from being chaotic and uncontained in his self-expression to a place where he was able to explore his feelings and share them with me.

From early on in the music therapy with Simon, ‘ending’ became a dominant theme. I aim to explore the reasons why endings were so significant, how Simon responded to endings and how we negotiated the all-important ending of our therapeutic relationship.