Alex Maguire is Senior Music Therapist at Broadmoor high security hospital specialising in working with high dependency and intensive care patients. He has presented his work at numerous conferences and has contributed to the books Forensic Music Therapy (JKP 2012), 'Forensic Arts Therapies –Anthology of Practice & Research', (FA Press 2016), 'Working Across Modalities in the Arts Therapies: Creative Collaborations' (Routledge 2017) and 'Violent States and Creative States; from the Global to the Individual' (JKP 2018).

The Broadmoor Hospital choir for both staff and patients, which he co-founded, has been commended in the Arts and Health Awards, and performs widely at hospital functions, as well as providing a Christmas visiting service to the intensive care wards. Alex has presented at the IAFP Conference in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2020. He has a parallel life as an improvising jazz pianist performing and recording in Europe and further afield.

This episode includes two interviews conducted by Alex with his colleagues Dr Gwen Adshead and Dr Claire Wilson.

Gwen Adshead is a consultant psychiatrist and group analyst. She is currently the responsible clinician for a high security ward in Broadmoor Hospital for severely personality disordered patients. She has published widely and is known for her work with both offenders and victims. She is a keen singer and art lover, recently featured on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

Claire has worked in the NHS as a psychologist for over twenty years. She is currently Lead Psychologist in the Integrated Group Therapies service, which provides mental health restoration and risk reduction work for the men detained at Broadmoor. She has contributed to research articles on the prevalence of violence in institutions and on the evaluation of therapies designed to help reduce risk.

Maguire, A and Merrick, I (2012) Walking The Line: Music Therapy In The Context Of The Recovery Approach In A High Secure Hospital in Adlam, J Odell-Miller, H and Compton-Dickinson, S (eds.) Forensic Music Therapy. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Maguire, A and Robertson, C (2015) A Healthy Community Living Skills Group in a high security hospital. Mental Health Practice 19, 1, 24-27

Maguire, A and Merrick, I (2016) From Let It Be to It Must Be Love: the development of a choir for patients and staff at a high secure hospital. Arts & Health, 9:1, 73-80

Maguire, A (2018) Treat Me Nice – Music Therapy and Extreme Violence in Adlam, J Kluttig, T and Lee, B (eds.) Violent States and Creative States. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Maguire, A Guarnieri, M Mindang, M and Thomas, D (2016) The Internal Bomb in Rothwell, K (ed.) Forensic Arts Therapies. Anthology Of Practice And Research. London: Free Association Books

Maguire, A. Bose, S. Ferrito, M. Mindang, M and Ware, A (2018) Into The Labyrinth; working with Bizarre, Unspeakable and Extreme Violence in Adlam, J Kluttig, T and Lee, B (eds.) Violent States and Creative States. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Maguire, A and Mindang, M (2018) Not What It Says On The Tin; a family awareness group in a high security hospital in Colbert, T and Bent, C (eds.) Working Across Modalities in the Arts Therapies; creative collaborations. London: Routledge.