The Otakar Kraus Music Trust (OKMT) has been based in the London Borough of Richmond for over 30 years and is dedicated to helping some of the local community’s most vulnerable people, from toddlers with developmental delays to elderly people with dementia, through the provision of music therapy.  

Music can reach everyone, no matter the challenges they face, and music therapy has a remarkable ability to enhance communication, social interaction and emotional well-being. 

People with additional needs, disability or long-term health conditions experience isolation and exclusion, made worse by the Covid pandemic and cost-of-living crisis. OKMT provides positive, inclusive music therapy groups for toddlers in Children’s Centres, for children and young people with additional needs, adults with learning disabilities or neurological conditions and elderly people with dementia, helping them to express themselves, bond with others and have improved mental well-being. 

OKMT also runs OK Music School and Band, OK Youth Choir and OK Ukulele Group, teaching 90 children and young people with disabilities to play instruments or sing, and perform in public concerts, gaining huge confidence and pride. Their parents also form a supportive community. 

OKMT is currently providing over 3,500 one-to-one or group music therapy sessions for 500 people. With growing need in the community demand is high and they rely on fundraising and donations to continue their work. 

For more information and to find out how you can help, please visit their website