A new approach

Clinical psychologist Junior Tshiasuma Bamulenga has treated over 1,000 children, mainly girls, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Instead of traditional psychology, his creative approach marries Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with elements of music therapy. 

He has been working with the nonprofit Make Music Matter and World Vision since 2020 to provide an approach to music therapy for conflict-affected children in the Central Kasai region. Dubbed “Healing In Harmony,” the approach addressed mental health symptoms and psychosocial stress, including anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, self-esteem issues and more. The treatment was especially focused on getting girls to return to school. Running from 2020 to 2024, the treatment was part of the Equality for Girls’ Access to Learning (EGAL) project, and was funded by Global Affairs Canada. 

A musical revelation

The idea that music can have healing power wasn’t an immediate revelation for Junior. He began his career in traditional medicine and studied biochemistry. Two years into an internship at a local hospital he had an experience that left him changed. 

Says Junior, “I saw some doctors prescribing medicine to cure certain physical conditions such as headache and heartache, but this prescription did not work because the origins of the conditions were psychological.”

He began considering “somatization,” a process by which mental health symptoms affect the physical body through mind body connections. That was when he made the switch to clinical psychology as the best way to provide mental health support to children in difficult situations.

How does it work?

Music therapy approaches can be effective for two reasons. It can distract from negative experiences by modulating the activity of brain structures involved in emotional reactions. The therapy can also help people understand that a happy, meaningful life is possible despite negative experiences; the result is reduced or eliminated stress, despair and fear.

Junior saw how successful treatment could be with a child under his care who was exhibiting symptoms of anxiety and depression after witnessing the execution of her uncle in 2017 by a rebel group. “She failed classes, used to isolate from others, and always looked sad,” says Junior.

Following the therapy, he says she recovered, and today describes her as “happy, doing well both at school and emotionally.” 

The need, especially among girls, remains “enormous” in Junior’s region of the country. So the song he continues to sing is that projects like EGAL remain vital to improving children’s overall well-being and their continued pursuit of education.

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