Announcement

In Our Community: Music Therapy

Village: How did you enter the field of music therapy?

Ross: I did theater for 20 years; I was living in NYC, and things were going really well, but I wasn’t feeling fulfilled in a lot of ways.  When I was five years old, I had wanted to be a singing doctor, so I think it was sort of my calling the whole time. I then did an undergrad training in music therapy (they have masters and doctorate as well). I already had my music degree so I didn’t have to do the music classes. It was a lot of psychology, science, clinical musician skills, counseling techniques; it’s basically a lot of training that therapists would go through, but with this extra component on top of using music as the modality to achieve the same goals. Then there is an internship of 1200 hours with three practicums; I worked with people with dementia, Parkinson’s, autism, traumatic brain injuries, and PTSD.  And then you have to study for a board exam, and then you’re credentialed.

Village: What kind of work do you do with children as a Music Therapist?

Ross: In my work at Seattle Children’s Hospital I’m “full house,” which means I’m on the medical unit, the intensive care unit, the rehab unit, and the surgical unit.  Depending on which unit I go to and which kid I go to, it all looks different.  In surgical it’s a lot of emotional processing and procedural support—surgery can be pretty scary, especially if they’re young and they don’t know why they’re there.  Music can provide a distraction to help reduce their perception of what’s going on and hopefully help the medical teams do their tasks quicker. For example, I recently wrote a song with a girl in surgical that she sang during her catheter replacement to give her strength and help her through it. In the rehab unit are some kids who maybe can’t walk anymore, or they don’t have functional movement, and music can help them meet their goals more efficiently in a more fun way. So if you have a three year old and you need them to walk over here, they might not do it.

But if I say, “hey, I have this really cool drum, do you want to hit it?” then their motivational center comes alive and they will independently move toward the drum.

And then the physical therapist or occupational therapist that I’m working with can then guide their bodies to do it correctly.

Village: What do those relationships with your young patients look like?

Ross: I have a lot of kiddos that stay in the hospital a really long time; they might be waiting for transplants or recovering from traumatic brain injuries if they’re really severe, etc.  I will also help the family grieve if a kiddo passes.  We also create legacy work; if we know a child is going to pass I can capture their heartbeat for their parents and even write a song to it, with the heartbeat as a basis of the song.

Village: What does music therapy look like in our community?

Ross: Seattle is behind. By a lot. The music therapy as a contemporary profession started in 1950 in Michigan. Accredited, University-style music therapy is relatively new. The Midwest and East Coast have a lot stronger programming and stronger funding.  And many of them licensure, which unfortunately Washington State does not yet have—we’ve been trying to get it since 2006. Anyone can say they are a music therapist. Without licensure, it’s harder to bill insurance, we can’t retain music therapists who are trained here because it’s too hard to make a living. There is a bill before the legislature now to provide licensing for this field in Washington State, which would really change the game here. As this work keeps happening, more and more people are understanding more what it means and how important it can be.

To learn more about creative art therapies at Seattle Children’s Hospital, visit: seattlechildrens.org/clinics/child-life

To support this work, visit give.seattlechildrens.org and note to direct your donation to Creative Art Therapies.