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The Gift of Music Therapy How musician and popstar Shawn Mendes is using his success to bring the gift of music therapy to others “I wonder what it’s like,” a lyric from Shawn Mendes’ hit song Wonder, is likely a query of many young children staying in the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario who are curious about music therapy. Thanks to Mendes, now more children will get to find out just what music therapy is like. Mendes has donated $1 million to the hospital, launching the “Wond

The More we Come Together… Reviewing “Addressing issues of mental health in schools through the arts: Teachers and music therapists working together” as a music therapist and teacher For many years, music has been incorporated into classroom learning in various capacities. More recently, music therapy has played an increasingly important role in fostering social, emotional, and academic skills among school children. But what would the impact be on student mental health if teachers and music therapists came tog

Language Matters Addressing the use of systemic language in music therapy practice in Canada As an allied health profession, music therapy in Canada has predominantly embraced the language and views towards individuals and health that are well-established within Western healthcare. A consequence of this relationship is the adoption of Euro-centric and ableist perspectives that become apparent in music therapy literature, research, and practice. Canadian music therapists Amy Clements-Cortés and Joyce Jin

Collaboration is Key Exploring music therapy research and music therapy practice and why they need to work together For Kyurim Kang, postdoctoral research fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine, music therapy research is her passion. She is driven by a desire to understand the scientific basis for the effectiveness of music therapy. In this blog post, Kang shares with readers some of the foundational research on how music activates the brain. She highlights the connection between resear

Focusing: An Internal Knowing Sarah Bell, MA, MTA, RCT-C Focusing is a type of self-awareness discovered and developed by psychotherapist and philosopher, Eugene Gendlin. His explorations on the subject began in the 1950’s when Gendlin was researching at the University of Chicago as a student of Carl Rogers. Gendlin and his team of researchers were interested in the effectiveness of therapy. They asked questions like: How do we know therapy is working or not? How does it make a difference in people’s lives? He fo

Music Therapy in the Middle East A conversation with a music therapist, psychotherapist, and advocate on practicing music therapy in the Kingdom of Bahrain In the early 2000s, no one in the Kingdom of Bahrain had heard of music therapy. Then along came Aksana Kavaliova-Moussi, a Belarus-born music therapist, trained in Canada, who changed this narrative. As the first music therapist in Bahrain, she spent ten years building up a music therapy practice from scratch. From small beginnings with local schools to eventually e

Stories from Slovakia An account of the current landscape and future directions for music therapy practice in the European nation of Slovakia Jana Halmo, music therapist, doctoral student, and researcher, is passionate about the history of music therapy in Central and Eastern Europe. This passion is evident in her well-researched and written account of music therapy in Slovakia. In her article, Halmo begins by chronicling the origins and development of music therapy practice in Slovakia, noting key leaders an

Music and Healing in China – From Ages Past to Supporting the Aging in the Present A glimpse into music therapy practice on the rise in China In this article, readers are introduced to Lin Sisi, a music therapist practicing in Beijing, China. It is a delightful summary of Sisi’s reflections and insights into her experience working with a post-stroke patient. Readers discover that thousands of miles away, in a different language and culture, music therapy continues to make a personal impact, improving the quality of life for older adults. In addition to this case e