OUR TEAM
KIMBERLEY WADE
Registered Neurologic Music Therapist
Director & Founder of Southern Music Therapy
Kimberley is the Clinical Director and a Registered Neurologic Music Therapist. She is also the Founder of Southern Music Therapy.
In 2007 Kimberley completed her Masters in Music Therapy in Wellington. She has worked in a variety of disability settings including special education, aged care, and adult mental health. After gaining some confidence within the profession, Kimberley felt drawn to working clinically with people with neurological conditions. She received further training in Neurologic Music Therapy, vocal psychotherapy as well as continuing courses in music and neuroscience, and communication specific courses.
She has a real drive to inspire people to use music to assist in ‘finding their voice’; encouraging them to communicate, express themselves and reach their potential.
Kimberley works with individuals, small groups and provides consultation in long-term rehabilitation services and the community. She is the song leader for the Cantabrainers choir and provides workshops and in-services promoting and educating caregivers, clients, and professionals about music therapy.
Music Therapy is a growing profession, and Kimberley looks forward to the new projects ahead, continuing to promote music therapy and developing the music therapy practice so that people can access Music Therapy.
In 2021, Kimberley was presented with one of the New Zealander of year, Local Hero Awards, for her work in Canterbury. Both for establishing her own private practice offering music therapy sessions for people with disabilities as well as co-founding the Cantabrainers Choir.
JENNY LEE
Senior Registered Music Therapist
Jenny Lee joined the Southern Music Therapy Team in January 2017.
Since young, Jenny has always enjoyed playing the piano and making music.
While studying at Victoria University majoring in music composition, Jenny attended a few national music therapy conferences, as well as doing voluntary work in rest-homes and camp for children with disabilities. She felt drawn to the nature of work in music therapy. In 2007 Jenny completed her Masters in Music Therapy training in Wellington. Since then she has been working as a music therapist, mainly with children and adults with Neuro-disability. She received further training in Neurology Music Therapy, and the FloorTime Approach for children with autism.
Jenny has experiencing working in both New Zealand and Singapore.
She is a talented pianist and has a key interest in improvisation.
She likes working as a team, co-creating programmes with other therapists. She also enjoys working alongside staff and caregivers, sharing ways of using music to create a calming environment and to promote therapeutic relationships.
In her spare time, Jenny enjoys going to cafes, hiking, traveling, and doing voluntary work.
Jenny is an asset to the southern music therapy team.
MAY CLULEE
Senior Registered Music Therapist
MA(Music Therapy) PGDip(Bicultural Professional Supervision) BSc
NZ Registered Music Therapist
May is originally from Singapore and grew up in a rich, multicultural environment. She was inspired to study music therapy after being involved in her mother’s stroke journey, and received a Masters of Arts in Music Therapy from Anglia Ruskin University in 1999. She is an experienced therapist, and has worked with individuals and groups across a wide range of ages and settings. May has a bicultural professional supervision qualification, and provides individual supervision to music therapy students and registered music therapists. She is also on the editorial team of the New Zealand Journal of Music Therapy.
May has a lifetime of working in the disability sector and strongly advocates for disabled people to live well. She is interested in how music transforms individuals and communities, breaks barriers and builds safe, inclusive spaces where all people experience belonging.
May has had a rich portfolio career over the years, including roles as a foster parent, teacher aide, piano tutor & library assistant. She lives with her husband, their dog and 4 hens in North Canterbury.
吳美珠
VALENTINA MUGA
Registered Music Therapist
NZRMth
Certified Yoga Teacher
Valentina Muga completed her Music Therapy Master's from the University of Barcelona while doing her placements with SMT in a variety of settings. She had a key interest in assisting Cantabrainers Choir and facilitated and researched the pilot project of the Hohepa Choir for her final thesis, studying "The role of a community choir for people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities".
Coming from a family of musicians, Valentina played piano and sang from a young age. She is now an NZRMTh working with a variety of groups, therapeutic choirs, and individual clients living with Intellectual Disabilities and Brain Injury.
Her sessions can include mindfulness techniques, such as simple breathing activities and movement. She also offers the option of Music Therapy sessions in Spanish for those who come from Spanish-speaking countries.
In her free time, she loves making pottery, yoga, swimming in the ocean, and dancing.
RENATA KUSWANTO
Registered Music Therapist
DiplMus (performance), BMT, MT-BC
NZRMth
Neurologic Music Therapist
After completing her undergraduate degree in Music Therapy at Georgia College & State
University in the United States, Renata flew miles away to start her dream job as a Music Therapist with the Southern Music Therapy team starting in January 2023.
Renata earned her board certification and received Neurologic Music Therapy training in 2022. Throughout her music therapy academic study, she has worked with children and adults with Neuro-disability, intellectual disability, and developmental delay. She completed her internship at University of Alabama in Birmingham working with the majority of patients in acute care and inpatient rehabilitation. Working as a music therapist has encouraged her to keep progressing in her clinical musicianship, therapeutic relationships, and collaboration with other professionals.
Renata is very enthusiastic, energetic and determined to utilize music in various approaches to best fit the clients’ needs. She believed that learning experience can happen everywhere and from everyone and she cherished every relationship made with other people.
ESTHER SIMPSON
Music Therapist
MMusTher
BMus (classical performance) BA (psychology and linguistics)
Neurologic Music Therapist
Esther joined the team in November 2023 as a music therapist after spending a year with Southern Music Therapy as a student. She has experience in working with children and adults with intellectual disabilities and autism, as well as people living with brain injury and neurological conditions. Esther is particularly interested in stroke rehabilitation and worked in post-acute stroke rehabilitation, as well as working with people living with stroke in the community. In 2023, Esther travelled to Hamburg to complete her training in Neurologic Music Therapy, and completed her thesis titled “A Symphony of Movement: The impacts of a music therapy movement group with orchestral musicians in a stroke rehabilitation setting.”
The trombone is Esther’s primary instrument, and she loves finding new and creative ways to bring this into both individual and group sessions. She is delighted that she is able to bring together her passion for music and her love of people into her work every day. She welcomes every opportunity to create new connections with others and embraces that every day is a day to learn and grow!
Esther loves pretty much everything and enjoys playing in a brass band, surfing, hiking, dogs, and spending time with friends and family.