music for emotional atmospheres
Hello I’m Donna and I create music and soundscapes exploring emotional atmospheres for visual media.
I’m a therapist and music producer and am fascinated by how we process our feelings. In particular, those moments when something shifts our emotional state. Particularly how sound, movement and visuals can combine to help with this shift.
Music can create space for these shifts in ways that words sometimes can’t.
I have worked in mental health for over 25 years as an accredited therapist (CBT, EMDR, Brainspotting, Occupational) and although I have written a book on my theoretical views about how to process emotions, I often find myself drawn to the sensory world and non verbal methods of processing how I feel personally. Running alongside my clinical work I have been using music and journaling as my main methods.
In 2022 I decided to return to my music studies and after several short courses, I completed a Master’s in Music Production in 2024. It didn’t feel like a departure from my therapy work, it felt like deeply learning another language that would help me in my search to understand emotions.
Sometimes feelings are more than words. They are sensations and movements in space and a dynamic response to a wider atmosphere. Little psychogeographical systems. As much about the space around us, as they are about the feelings within us.
My Story
Capturing atmospheres: My lifelong search
I’ve been searching for ways to capture fleeting atmospheric moments for many years. Those times when the way that you feel is not only inside you, but is also connected to how the sky looks. It’s in the way that the trees stand skeletal and bare as the ghosts of old plastic bags hang limply off of them.
During one of the darkest times in my life, when I lost someone close to me, music combined with movement and visuals created powerful atmospheres that I felt helped me in ways that talking therapy could not. I experienced moments where even as I felt low and alone, I could be lifted towards awe wonder, and could be carried into that special state called ‘flow’.
My psychological and psychotherapy training makes me see now how feelings are never just one thing. They are complex and interwoven.
Sometimes the bittersweet is where the expansion happens.
I am using this knowledge as I come full circle back to music and movement. Music has been something I have always studied in the background but now I am starting to use it to share my understanding of emotional atmospheres.
This is my work. I am still learning, still refining and hopefully getting better.
My Work
Atmospheric Compositions, Bilateral Music & Flow State Soundscapes
I create music for psychological states, drawing on my therapeutic understanding and my music production training.
Bilateral Music for Brainspotting & EMDR Therapy
Soundscapes that understand the technical requirements of trauma therapy, whilst honouring the emotional complexity needed for processing. I know what it’s like to sit do this work, and I compose music that supports this process.
Understanding Bilateral Music
Explore the science behind bilateral music in therapy, including my research findings and practical applications for emotional processing.
Flow State Soundscapes
Download the extended pack here
To guide you into flow, help you to stay on track through the struggle phase of flow, and relax into the recovery phase post-flow. Music designed to facilitate focus, creativity, and the conditions where flow can emerge. Because sometimes we need help accessing those states where we do our best work.
Atmospheric Compositions
Visual and sonic explorations of psychological states. Morning forest drives paired with music I’ve composed for specific emotions and states of being. Because emotions are rarely just one thing. They’re complex, layered, and often arrive as a mix. Sometimes feelings need their own soundtrack.
Weekly Newsletter
Sent every Monday with updates on flow, bilateral music, emotions and music and new releases and findings.
Therapeutic Audio & Journaling
Master Your Emotions with CBT, Expressive Writing & Therapeutic Audio.
A comprehensive course on using writing and sound to process how you feel. I blend CBT techniques and therapeutic audio with the history and practice of journaling and expressive writing.
Ortense Blue – Original Music
Explore my songwriting and artistic music alongside therapeutic audio experiences.
What drives this work
I am fascinated by:
Awe & Atmospheres
Tthat feeling of being part of something bigger, and how it can help us. Also, the intersection of sound, movement, visuals and the space we are in. How they combine to shift our psychological state.
Flow states
That state were we are fully absorbed. Where there is a timelessness and a selflessness that means we feel less self conscious. Where our actions feel effortless, and we can enhance our practice and performance.
Emotional processing
How we move through difficult feelings and come out the other side. How to create space for and accept complex emotions.
Work with me
Get in touch
Whether you’re a therapist looking for bilateral music, a business seeking flow state soundscapes, or a wellness platform developing audio content, I’d love to explore how we might work together.
I also welcome conversations about awe, flow states, the connection between psychology and music, and creating content that helps people feel less alone.
My Background
Therapy
- Accredited CBT Therapist (BABCP / NCPS)
- EMDR Therapist
- Brainspotting Therapist
- Journal Therapist
Earlier Training
- Qualified Occupational Therapist
- PG Diploma Integrative Arts for Health, Education & Community Settings
Music
MMus Music Production & Songwriting
Author
‘Do I Need to See A Therapist: How to Manage Your Emotions And Make Therapy Work For You.
Why I do this
A note about my forest drive videos
I create the morning drive videos and music compositions to share my expression of these feeling states. But I have had some beautiful feedback from people who have felt that these resonated with what they are feeling.
This is why I do this.
“Somehow your music gave me new courage”
“Wonderful so peaceful what a way to start the day”
“Morning vibes that bring hope”