music therapy with LGBT clients Since June is Pride Month, I wanted to share some snapshots of my work providing music therapy with LGBT clients. Over the course of my career as a therapist and educator, I’ve worked with LGBT and asexual teens who were struggling with their sexual orientation and worried about how their […]
Just Sing, Sing a Song… We could all use a little lift sometimes. Whether the boost you seek is mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, or even intellectual, you may well find you have the perfect instrument at hand: your voice. What’s more, you’re already versed in how to begin using it. All you need for first […]
I think that many would agree that 2016 has been a challenging year. Because of this, as we get closer to the end of the year, your thoughts may be trying to figure out ways that you can make 2017 a better one for you. That’s why in 2017 I’m happy to be able to […]
We live in a sensory-dense world. Almost everywhere we go, there is sound. It can be overwhelming at times. As humans, we and our nervous systems need moments of silence in order to ground, center, and self-regulate. This helps us to come back to ourselves and our “here-and-now” experience. Yet, for those of us who […]
This past session of early childhood music classes had a deep impact on me as I feel myself coming more into my own as an early childhood music instructor. With the holiday break before winter session, I am left reflecting on the growth that happened in the classes. With each new class, I find that […]
Listen Deeply to Yourself. You Are Music. Your Life is Music I am MUSIC? My LIFE is MUSIC? Have you ever thought about yourself as a musical composition? What comes to mind when you think of yourself from this point of view? It can be a strange thing if you haven’t considered it before. You […]
Everyone experiences challenges in life because life isn’t easy. Sometimes these challenges benefit us because they can provide us with great opportunities for personal growth. Yet sometimes these challenges can prove to be traumatic. If left untreated or unacknowledged, these experiences can lead to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD can be challenging to treat. This […]
As I addressed previously in this blog post, there are a variety of ways that music can be used to enhance a person’s sense of health and well-being. Likewise, the practice of music therapy itself is incredibly diverse, with music therapists working from different orientations including: humanistic, psychodynamic, and music-centered, in addition to behavioral, medical, […]
Many times we find ourselves stuck in the past or anticipating the future. Living life in this way can result in our feeling ungrounded or distracted. It takes us away from the magic that is being in the present moment. Our ability to be in the “here and now” can help us to experience life […]
More than anything else, I have found that my belief system and worldview about people are of greatest value to me as a therapist. My clinical training at Naropa University introduced me to mindfulness practice and Shambhala. Having trust in human dignity forms the basis of Shambhala, and one of the components to this is […]