About Us
Joshua Birch
Situated in the outer-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Joshua Birch is a Registered Music Therapist who has 10 years of experience supporting young children with disabilities. After graduating from the University of Melbourne’s Master of Music Therapy course in 2015 with a high distinction average, Josh implemented the early intervention music therapy program at EACH Community Health. During this time, many parents, educators, and allied health professionals came to appreciate Josh’s genuine nature, creative use of music-based games to target a child’s goals, and capacity to quickly establish rapport with kids.
The experience and knowledge that Josh gained over this time prompted him to form his own private practice, ‘Build It Up Music Therapy’, which highlights his mission to ‘build up’ and encourage the development of children within the context of their family, place of learning and community. Josh has worked extensively with parents for several years and assisted them in navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) whilst simultaneously supporting their child’s transition from preschool to the early years of primary school.
Operating as a mobile therapy service, Josh continues to help many young children who live within the Yarra Ranges, Maroondah, Manningham, Whitehorse and Knox City council areas. During the course of his career, Josh has established strong relationships with many childcare centres, kindergarten programs, schools, and other early intervention clinicians, which has helped to see the demand for ‘Build It Up Music Therapy’ only continue to grow.
Rebekkah Birch
From a very young age, Rebekkah delighted in finding ways to communicate with people and was always eager to include others in games or community activities. Growing up in a music-loving family, Rebekkah’s own appreciation for music began very early. Willing to give any instrument a go, Rebekkah took lessons in flute, piano and vocals.
Finding pleasure in learning, Rebekkah studied Education at Monash University. The original plan was to become a teacher of German and Music; however, timetable clashes forced a choice between the two. German became the academic study and music the personal pursuit. Graduating with a combined Bachelor of Education (Secondary) and Bachelor of Arts (German), Rebekkah was offered a position in the primary school of an independent P-12 college.
Over the course of the proceeding 11 years, Rebekkah established and ran a successful primary school German program before moving into general classroom teaching. She then later worked with the learning support team to facilitate literacy and numeracy support classes. She often drew on her musical skills to facilitate learning and establish relationships within her classrooms. At all times, the focus was to foster a love of learning by equipping children with skills to communicate and actively participate within the community. Working with children who found it challenging to comprehend the mainstream education curriculum became something Rebekkah found particularly rewarding.
Now, Rebekkah’s attention is primarily focussed on being a wife and mother. Supporting Josh in the administration of ‘Build It Up Music Therapy’ is also an exciting new venture.