Australian Aboriginal youngsters are involved in drumming to foster belonging and communication skills.
An Australian therapy approach using hand drums is making its presence felt in the area of mental health, particularly with young people from indigenous communities. The program DRUMBEAT was developed by Holyoake, a leading drug and alcohol treatment service, and explores relationship issues. Holyoake has a strong philosophy on the importance of healthy relationships in determining healthy lives. The DRUMBEAT program is modeled around that premise and uses the hand drum to engage disaffected young people and increase social competence, leading to a reduction in social isolation.
The DRUMBEAT (Discovering Relationships Using Music, Beliefs, Emotions, Attitudes & Thoughts) program draws much of its success from the drum itself, which seems to have a magnetic attraction for young people. Once young people are engaged and having fun, the learning strategies are easily applied. Of all instruments, the drum is one of the most easily mastered. As a group, the participants play a strong rhythm together almost immediately. This is important, for with many young people, perseverance is non existent, being linked to failure. Gaining success in playing the drum quickly increases their confidence. This is developed from week to week until, in the final session of the program, the group performs in public.
The DRUMBEAT program arose out of frustration with cognitive-based interventions that required participants to have a high level of confidence and good language skills in order to discuss their life situations with a trained group worker. These types of interventions were often particularly shaming for young indigenous boys and girls and miserably failed to engage them. In DRUMBEAT, much of the learning is experiential and achieved just through hitting the drum and learning to work co-operatively with others. The group mimics many of the interactions that young people face in their everyday lives. Communication skills, problem-solving skills, empathy, and tolerance can all be explored through the drum circle in a safe and non-threatening way.
This form of learning parallels traditional Aboriginal teaching styles and has become even more relevant due to the increase in cognitive dysfunction associated with drug and alcohol misuse. Recent research in brain chemistry has shown the limitations of cognitive approaches to behavioral change for people with dual diagnoses, and trials of DRUMBEAT with these groups have supported the program’s potential to engage and transfer learning where traditional approaches have failed. The DRUMBEAT program also has been widely used with refugee groups from Africa who suffer language barriers and cultural isolation and have often had traumatic experiences in their homelands.
With the support of government education and health departments, the DRUMBEAT program has been spreading across Australia and into the most remote regions of the country where many of the most vulnerable young people are found. An accredited training program for professionals working with young people at risk (12 to 24 years old) has been developed, and over 260 professionals from a wide range of disciplines have been trained. The program itself is being run in schools, mental health services, drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities, juvenile prisons, youth centers, and police and citizen clubs, from Sydney to Alice Springs, Christmas Island to Halls Creek, and many other places in between.
