“Music is an expression of self in the most authentic way. Individual or group therapy is offered on a case by case basis. Every client will have specific needs so it’s important to identify this before treatment begins”.
The idea of music being able to “heal” us has been around for quite some time. In the past, listening and singing along to a jazz album by Herbie Hancock has been a comfort to me when I needed to rebuild broken pieces of me.
The music therapy discipline goes as far back as 20th century post World War and II, when a group of local musicians traveled to Veterans hospital around the country and played music in an effort to bring comfort for those who had suffered physical or emotional trauma from their participation in the war.
The positive responses continued to bear an influence on this type of intervention which has now become clinically and evidence-based, practiced by credentialed professionals in the wonderful world of alternative therapy.
Originally geared towards those who had some type of disability, music therapy has expanded as a service to all individuals. I thought it would be nice to offer our readers a different perspective on music.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Ms. Julissa M. Perez, LCSW, MT-BC who is both a Clinical Social Worker and Therapist with over ten years of experience as a clinician.
She is a trained Music Therapist who believes that, “musical therapy is about connecting with the deeper part of yourself and using music as modality.” Having worked closely with a closer look into how it used to tread a variety of issues whitin the LGBT community. As Ms. Perez states, “we’re so stuck in our heads all the time, but music really transcends us. Once we are able to move into the music, a lot of the magic happens.”
By V. Bella
Ikons Magazine – Volume II, Issue V
Currently Providing Therapy via Telehealth 