Specialty: Music Therapist, Pediatrics
Education/Training: BA, Music Therapy
Certifications: Board Certified Music Therapist
Year of Certification: 2004
Years at MGHCC: Since 2013

What drew you to your specialty? I have always loved playing music in every capacity and on every instrument. I started on trumpet in 4th grade, but once I discovered the guitar in 8th grade I fell in love with it! From the beginning I have always enjoyed the community and social aspects of playing music over the technical side of it. This stuck with me throughout music school where I discovered the beautiful field of music therapy.

What is your favorite part of your job? My favorite part of my job is connecting with a child or an adult during a time when they needed it most, bringing a bit of happiness or joy into a difficult situation.

What would you like to tell patients and their families about integrative therapies and your specialty? Music therapy is for all ages from infant to adult. If you love listening to music, then you can love to play it too. Music therapy isn’t the “scary music teacher” forcing you to practice for hours. Music is the opportunity to make a new friend while singing together, to surprise yourself on an instrument you’ve never played before, or to express yourself through a song. It’s the job of the music therapist to make playing music a fun and enjoyable process, regardless of any experience. Music therapists carefully adapt, teach, and create music so that anyone can engage and benefit from its intrinsic expressive, communicative, and healing properties.