About Attuned Music Therapy

Helen Dowthwaite NZ RMTh

Helen Dowthwaite, NZ RMTh, is a New Zealand Registered Music Therapist and director of Attuned Music Therapy. She has practised as a music therapist since 2012, working across various community settings including special education, aged care, palliative care and private practice. Throughout her career Helen has developed and established music therapy roles within organisations and community services across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Helen previously served as Executive Officer of Music Therapy New Zealand, contributing to national advocacy, professional development and strengthening the visibility of music therapy practice. Alongside her clinical work she also provides clinical supervision for music therapists, supporting reflective and sustainable practice. She has a particular interest in supporting practitioners with lived experience of disability, chronic illness and neurodivergence, and in fostering more inclusive approaches to professional participation within the field.

Her work is informed by social models of disability, anti-ableist and inclusive practice, with a growing interest in the role of music in supporting nervous system regulation, fatigue, pacing and participation for people living with complex chronic illness, invisible disability and neurodivergence. Following a period of serious post-viral illness and dysautonomia, Helen is now gradually returning to practice, integrating lived experience with professional knowledge.