headspace Soundscape creates connection with sound, culture and place

Created in collaboration with Traditional Owner Lann Levinge, the space provides an opportunity for young people to connect with Country through sound.

Soundscape has been developed in partnership with local First Nations leaders and is a first-of-its-kind initiative in a clinical setting.

headspace Diverse Communities Coordinator Paige Parnell said it explored how sound, stories, atmosphere and sensory experiences could help young people reconnect with themselves and their surroundings.

“Soundscape brings these ideas to life through a series of sound, music, storytelling and sensory experiences designed to help young people explore what connection means to them,” Paige said.

“The experience draws on sounds, voices, language, music and the natural environment to create moments of calm and reflection within the headspace clinical setting.

“Young people are invited to engage with the experiences in ways that feel comfortable to them, recognising that connection can look different for everyone.”

Paige said the project recognises that for some young people, spaces that are cold, sterile, overstimulating or emotionally daunting can make it harder to feel comfortable, connected and ready to engage.

“Soundscape has been created from an idea that healing, grounding and connection can look different for everyone, especially young people growing up in today’s world.

“No one in the clinical space has done this before, it’s the first of its kind, and the clinicians are over the moon that it’s happening and at its heart, the project is about broadening the way we think.”

Paige said conversations about culture and Connection to Country often focused on red deserts, open land and traditional imagery, but that was not the lived experience of every First Nations young person.

“A lot of us grew up surrounded by traffic instead of rivers, concrete jungles instead of bushland and harsh fluorescent lights instead of campfires and concrete floors instead of sand beneath our feet,” she said.

“That disconnection with nature, culture and community can leave young people feeling isolated, disconnected and lost.

“Sound carries memory, it carries emotion and culture, and it can ground us in ways words and other experiences sometimes can’t.”

“Whether it is the sound of wind or water, music, footsteps, language, a didgeridoo or community voices, Soundscape explores how sensory experiences can help young people regulate, feel grounded and reconnect.

Photo credit: headspace Upper Coomera.