Neurogenesis Charitable Trust is helping people with physical or cognitive issues rewire their brains through music.
Having recently moved into a new fulltime venue at 93a Riverlea Rd, Hillcrest, the service has been able to start a greater range of new projects and courses, helping an ever increasing number of Hamiltonians.
Neurogenesis is made up of a group of local musicians who volunteer their time to mentor people with a variety of conditions, as music can often play an important part in neurological therapy.
Dr Dave Ward-Smith, with degrees in osteopathy and biology, and currently a student of neuroscience, is the chairman of the Neurogenesis Trust.
He is able to provide his services through first hand experience, as he suffered a serious head injury eight years ago that left him in a coma for 10 days.
"I was also an amateur musician and music helped me in a lot of ways, but then the real turning point came when I had a couple of disabled friends and I found that I could connect these people to music," said Ward-Smith.
He went through the rigours of neurological rehabilitation himself, and learned the value of music both in healing and avoiding isolation.
He got into teaching people how to play music with varying physical and cognitive conditions. He taught a deaf girl to drum and a boy with Down's syndrome to play in a group.
"By hook or by crook, I got him playing in a really coherent way, and he was having good fun," said Ward-Smith.
"Basically we've got a really good place that we can operate from and I've actually been designing courses for the last year or so. We do African drumming, group stuff with intellectually impaired people, we do singing, and it's turned into a cool little thing."
As is the case with many people after head injury, Ward-Smith still has problems with fatigue and changeable emotions.
However, he said the sight of people smiling and having fun at Neurogenesis is a good one.
Barry Lafferty met Dave Ward-Smith over a decade ago when he was living in Raglan, with both of them being musicians and playing in bands together.
Ward-Smith was a bass player, while Lafferty was a drummer.
"My drumming ability causes comment as I am considerably unco-ordinated - the after effects of meningitis as an infant," said Lafferty.
After establishing the trust, Ward-Smith approached him regarding becoming a trustee.
Having previously worked as a support worker for special needs clients, he said it seemed a natural fit to become involved in this inspirational organisation.
"Only last Tuesday I was playing in the Neurogenesis band and watching the reactions of our 'disabled' audience," said Lafferty.
"It's really uplifting to see these severely impaired individuals, some confined to wheelchairs, all swept up in the music. Some of them play the percussion instruments we provide, in perfect time with my bass drum. Others dance around the room with beaming expressions."
For more information about services the trust offers, see www.neurogenesis.co.nz, email neurogenconz@gmail.com or call Dave Ward-Smith on 021 161 6151.