This article describes three research projects that utilise a range of research approaches to investigate the benefits of music therapy as support for young people experiencing both bereavement and migration. Two of the research projects utilise formal action research principles in their design, whilst the original project employs a phenomenological approach to data analysis. The authors propose that the nature of adolescent grief and loss demands a participatory orientation, regardless of the formal research methodology utilised. Within this article, Kurt Lewin's approach to action research is used to retrospectively organise the cycles of learning that have become apparent to the authors in reflecting on this series of research projects. Following the provision of contextual information, the five steps of action research are explained as: the "identification of the problem" of adolescent grief in schools; the "fact finding" that was undertaken with regards to the literature; the "making of an overall plan" to address the problem; followed by the three cycles of "action" that are represented by the various projects; including an "evaluation" of each project. The three cycles indicate that although opportunities for freedom and control were an essential part of the process from the perspective of the young people, the degree to which the various groups worked towards community change was less than anticipated, with the adolescents choosing to focus on their own needs in each case. The authors conclude by describing a fourth research cycle currently under way that attempts to more thoroughly work towards community change through the provision of more appropriate timelines and stronger relationships with the school community. (Contains 1 note.)