Ann Sloboda is Head of Music Therapy at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She is a registered psychoanalyst (British Psychoanalytic Council) and music therapist (HCPC). She studied music at Oxford University, and qualified as a music therapist from GSMD in 1985. Between 1985 and 2005 she worked as a music therapist in the NHS, in adult learning disability, eating disorders, general and forensic psychiatry. She has undertaken research in music therapy with PTSD. A past chair of the Association of Professional Music Therapists, she was Head of Arts Therapies at West London Mental Health Trust for 10 years.

In this interview Luke talked to Ann about her personal development as a music therapist and, later, psychoanalyst, as well as about the development of the training course at the Guildhall School. Ann also encouraged Luke to reflect on some of his own experiences as a trainee, which led to some interesting shared reflections on the nature of training, including personal motivations for embarking on a therapeutic career. Ann discussed her own very particular experience of music therapy as a client, with the pioneering analytic music therapist Mary Priestley.