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Adapt to Connect: An Interview With Matt Logan Working at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, Matt Logan is familiar with adapting music making to pediatric patients admitted to the hematology, oncology, blood and marrow transplant, and neuro rehabilitation units. Matt’s intention is to inspire connection, trust, curiosity, creativity, and expressivity when making […] The...

Find a Way to Make it Work: An Interview With Jodi Click A piano, guitar, and voice teacher, Jodi Click also provides music and movement sessions for young children. Adapting to children’s ability to make music a successful experience is on her daily agenda. In this podcast, she gives multiple examples on how everyone can […] The post Find a Way to Make it Work first appeared on imagine .

It’s All About Relationships: An Interview With Camille Catlett Supporting early childhood faculty across the US, Camille Catlett has her finger on the pulse in developing university programs that inform systems impacting infant and early childhood mental health. “It’s all about relationships,” she says, as infants and young children draw experiences from their environments and […] The post...

Taking Care of Yourself to Better Help Others: An Interview With Kimberly Sena Moore In her teaching, Dr. Kimberly Sena Moore stresses the importance of “taking care of yourself to better help others.” For her students, self-care has reached a heightened importance similar to identifying stress behaviors in early childhood clients. In this podcast, Kimberly […] The post Taking Care of Yourse...

Still Finding Out How People Are Impacted: An Interview With Olivia Swedberg Yinger As a music therapist and parent of two children, Dr. Olivia Swedberg Yinger voices their concern for young children under five and their parents struggling with mental health issues being forgotten in the aftermath of the pandemic. They raise the question how humans’ autonomy, […] The post Still Finding Out H...

Coping Skills Are Key: An Interview With Maddie Offenberger As a medical music therapist, Maddie Offenberger addresses children’s mental health needs during their hospital stay. Presently, many do not have the emotional capacity to understand the current events and stress responses of the adults surrounding them. She says, “If I were a young child, I would […] The post Coping Skills Are Key:...

Focus on Emotional Growth: An Interview With Jessica Heinz As a preschool teacher and music therapist, Jessica Heinz has concerns about the snowball effect infant and early childhood mental health could have on children’s life-long development. Many of her preschoolers have lacked early childhood services during the pandemic and experienced in-person classrooms and social situations for […]...

Empowering Parents With Knowledge and Content: An Interview With Katie Ross With a passion for supporting premature and medically fragile children and their families, the pandemic sparked an idea for Katie Ross to grow a business with a mission to support infant mental health through parent education and empowerment. Her company, Blooming Littles, began as […] The post Empowering Parents Wit...

Pandemic Amplifications: An Interview With Angela Adams Giving her perspective as a social worker of infant and early childhood mental health issues arising during COVID-19, Angela Adams says, “Whatever [clients] have been dealing with before, COVID-19 seems to have amplified that.” In this podcast, Angie emphasizes the impact of social isolation, the intensified mental health needs […] The...

Basic is Best: An Interview With Lyndsay Overton As a Certified Child Life Specialist, Lyndsay Overton is preparing, supporting, and distracting children of all ages during their hospital stay while also assisting their families in any way she can. Over the past two years, she has witnessed a rise in children’s mental health needs. With the […] The post Basic is Best: An Interview With Lynds...

The Power of Playing to Combat Fear: An Interview With Joanna Cemore Brigden With expertise in play and child development, Joanna has a wealth of knowledge in supporting children and parents. When asked how parents can nurture their child’s mental health, she suggests to simply play with them. In this podcast, she discusses the importance of […] The post The Power of Playing to Combat Fear:...

Frame It in a Way Children Can Understand: An Interview With LeeAnn Finnegan Having been involved with early intervention as a service coordinator, developmental therapist, and a parent, LeeAnn Finnegan knows first-hand the struggles that parents of young children with disabilities have faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She says, ”I feel like we are at […] The post Frame It in a Way Ch...

Children’s Emotional Development and Needs: An Interview With Mary Anna Walsh As a children’s mental health therapist during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mary Anna Walsh noticed a rise in the emotional needs of children due to the loss of social outlets and disruption of settings and routines. In this podcast, she speaks of how children respond […] The post Children’s Emotional Development a...

Chris Millett, MM, MT-BC Operating a University Music Therapy Clinic During COVID-19 As the clinical coordinator of the University of Louisville’s Music Therapy Clinic, Chris Millett serves young children in individual and group sessions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many clients paused services, but continued once telehealth services were offered. In this podcast, Chris talks about […] The...

Callie Cowart, MT-BC Thriving Out of Necessity: Medical Music Therapy on the Pediatric Unit During COVID19 Providing music therapy sessions in pediatrics and pediatric ICU units over the past year, Callie Cowart’s services shifted from a patient-centered to a more family-centered practice model during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing the importance of music therapy services, the […] The po...

Alexis Ruffner, MT-BC Parent Connection: Supporting New Parents and Their Infants During COVID-19 Reflecting on her music therapy work with premature infants, Alexis Ruffner noted that few things changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but her newly established Parent Connection community groups were put on hold. Over the summer, she sent pre-recorded music videos to assist […] The post Parent...

Bonnie Hayhurst, MT-BC The Value Add of Virtual Music Therapy Services The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges to the field of music therapy, and small businesses were not exempt. Bonnie Hayhurst, a music therapist in private practice, shares how she convinced families to try out virtual sessions at least one time. One of […] The post The Value Add of Virtual Music Therapy...

Edward P. Gallagher, MT-BC Getting Through the Pandemic: Flexibility, Pivoting, and Grace The profession of music therapy has a robust curriculum and solid documents providing professional guidelines and requirements. Yet, everything and nothing prepared music therapy practitioners, educators, and researchers for this global pandemic. In this podcast, Edward Gallagher offers a glimpse into the Bec...

Lisa Stinnett, BS in Early Childhood Education Just Like Normal Preschool on a Computer – Same Yet Different “Preschool is all about learning, experimenting, engaging, and hands-on activities,” says Lisa Stinnett, a passionate and dedicated early childhood educator of more than 20 years. Since March 2020, she has been connecting and interacting with her 4- […] The post Just Like Normal Presc...

Maggie Connolly, MA in Early Childhood Virtual and Technical Support: The Lifeline to Early Childhood Educators’ Frontline Work For nearly 40 years, Maggie Connolly has supported young children to learn and develop in community-based programs and through innovative leadership in university-related institutes. Now, she virtually coaches Technical Assistants who empower early childhood classroom tea...

Lauren Richards, OTR/L, SWC, CLC From In-Person to Teletherapy: The More Chaotic, the Better As an occupational therapist at Amigo Baby®, Lauren Richards usually worked with children and families in their homes, at daycare programs, in parks, the mall, or the dental office. With COVID-19, she and her team shifted to 100% teletherapy services. She […] The post From In-Person to Teletherapy: T...

Rebecca Vitelli, MEd Teaching Through the Screen Instead of on the Screen Rebecca Vitelli advocates for equitable access to high-quality early education programs for all children that support their development during the first five years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has provided remote instruction for children and their extended families; collaborated in whole group, small group, […] T...

Cara Smith, MT-BC Umoja Global Community Music Therapy, Red Bank, New Jersey  Transformation can happen in the most surprising places, even under a mango tree in a Ugandan village. In this podcast, Cara Smith tells the story of American music therapists visiting an African school who found themselves needing to adapt their clinical approach. Today, […] The post Transformation Under A Mango T...

Karen Wacks, EdM, LMHC, MT-BC Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts Samite Mulondo Musicians for World Harmony, Uganda, Africa In this podcast, Karen Wacks describes her 2013 partnership with Samite Mulondo. Together they examined the benefits of music therapy and performance on the emotional and physical health of children in Uganda impacted by war and […] The post Blending Perfor...

Dena Register, PhD, MT-BC Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand Imagine traveling around the world, stepping out of your comfort zone, and finding yourself surrounded by a roomful of children in a Thai orphanage. In this podcast, Dr. Dena Register describes how music therapy students from the U.S. and Thailand connected with children who had severe physical […] The post Culture, Connection a...