Introductions

[Julie Palmieri]

Share your professional experience with the group and what your hopes and expectations are for this course.

Be sure to come back and respond to others as well.

[Kimberly Werner]

Good morning,

I’m an MT-BC/LCAT practicing at New York Presbyterian-Weill/Cornell Medical Center in NYC. My home is in pediatrics – mostly in ICU step-down and general pediatrics, but also cover the pediatric ICU, burn ICU, and psychiatric emergency department on a consult-basis. I also work with the children of dying adults, as well as adults with developmental delays that are having difficulty coping with their hospitalization throughout the building.

Most of my work has been with children. Prior to being hospital-based, I was working in developmental preschools, and spent a year working in a restricted geri-psych unit of a nursing home.

Through this course, I’m hoping to gain some insight into working with my younger (pre-preschool age) patients, as well as some additional family-centered work techniques. I’m hoping to be able to start a community music therapy initiative, similar to some Music Together offerings that are in close by to me neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Welcome Kimberly,

It is lovely to meet you virtually. It is wonderful to learn about your work and background. It sounds like you have a strong background in working with children. I look forward to hearing your insights on the training.
-Erika Svolos

[Maggie Johnson]

Nice to (virtually) meet you, Kimberly. I too am looking forward to the family-centered techniques taught in this program, and am excited to hear more about how you will incorporate this into your work.

[Melissa Neitzel]

Hi Kimberly- it is nice to meet you! Echoing above, I am also really interested in the family centered techniques!

[Leslie Aldrich]

Hi, Kimberly! Nice to meet you.

[Katelyn Caruso]

Nice to meet you! Sounds like you have lots of valuable experience to contribute to your community!

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Hello everyone, my name is Erika Svolos. I have been the online moderator for the Sprouting Melodies training for past 9.5 years. I live in New Jersey with my husband, my 9.5 yo daughter, and our cats Moose and Sir Didymos. It is a joy to be a part of this fantastic program and to join in your Sprouting Melodies journey. I am a graduate of Marywood University, currently finishing up my graduate degree at Montclair State University. I’ve been a clinical music therapist for the past 24 years. Over that time, I have worked in a variety of settings including in-patient child/adolescent psychiatry, a private clinic for autism, a large urban public school system, private practice, a private special education high school for individuals with emotional and behavioral disorders, and a private Orthodox Jewish special education school. In August 2013 I started my own business/private practice; Music Therapy Services of New Jersey, LLC. I completed the April 2013 Sprouting Melodies online training and it was a wonderful addition to my practice. I began offering Sprouting Melodies classes in February of 2014 and I’ve truly enjoyed working with my SM families.
I will be assisting with any questions and/or technical difficulties.
You will be receiving an email with information about the online forum technology and my contact information. If you do not receive the email, please contact me at erika.svolosmtbc@gmail.com.
I am looking forward to getting to know each of you over the next ten weeks!

[Maggie Johnson]

Thanks Erika–Nice to (virtually) meet you too! Cool to learn that the online training has been around that long.

[Katelyn Caruso]

Hi Erika – Thanks for moderating! Great to hear that you have been offering Sprouting Melodies for years and and still continue to support the program.

[Melissa Neitzel]

Hi Erika- I love your cats’ names. It’s nice to meet you, too!

[Leslie Aldrich]

Hi, Erika. Nice to meet you! Thanks for being the moderator for this course and for the work you do.

[Kimberly Werner]

Hi Erika – I’m so curious about your experience in the Orthodox school. I have a large Orthodox patient population, and often find myself falling into the same few interventions that have been successful with other Orthodox patients. I’d love to expand my working knowledge of culturally sensitive & relevant content.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Hi Kimberly,

I would happy to chat with you about my work with the Orthodox community. Feel free to shoot me an email.

[Leslie Aldrich]

Hello, I’m Leslie. I started practicing as a music therapist in a hospital working with all age groups as my first job after completing internship. I practiced at the hospital for six years and then decided to open a private practice. During COVID I wasn’t practicing music therapy at all, and I took a job in hospice bereavement and fell in love. In my dream world I would keep my job in hospice and offer music therapy groups one day a week. My hope is to work exclusively with children in my practice, and I haven’t worked with clients in that population in several years now. My hopes for this course are to reinvigorate my confidence in working with children, get new and better knowledge for best practices, and boost my overall efficacy in launching some group/family sessions for kids in my area. I am really excited about this course, and excited to meet all of you!

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Welcome Leslie,

It is a pleasure to meet you. I enjoyed learning about your background in the field. I look forward to hearing how the course supports your goals.-Erika Svolos

[Maggie Johnson]

That dream scenario does sound incredible! Nice to (virtually) meet you!

[Melissa Neitzel]

Hi Leslie- It was cool to see a similar path. It’s nice to meet you! 🙂

[Kimberly Werner]

Hi Leslie – I mentioned in another thread, I’m super proud of folks that have transitioned from hospital work to private practice. Such a scary adventure! If I may, I have *HUGE* success with repertoire from Laurie Berkner & Ms. Rachel. They’re almost universally a hit with my kids under about 7, and are endlessly adaptable to flex up to about 10 or so. Ms. Rachel is.. not my favorite.. but kids love her. I don’t even mind listening to Laurie as an adult – not what I listen to in the car on my free time, but she’s very palatable as far as “kids music” goes!

[Leslie Aldrich]

Thank you, Kimberly! It was quite the adventure! I really appreciate the tips on good music. I had not heard of Ms. Rachel, so I will have to check her out!

[Katelyn Caruso]

Nice to meet you! I love seeing how music therapists can create their dream job (or dream combination of jobs!) I can second that Laurie Berkner is a hit! Although I often find myself singing those songs all day as they are definite ear worms.

[Maggie Johnson]

Hello Everyone,

It’s great to join you all on here! My name is Maggie Johnson and I live in Portland, OR. I am taking Sprouting Melodies Training for several reasons. Beth and Meredith inspire me in so many ways, and I always gain so much from hearing them speak.

I work with developmentally disabled adults, adults with neurodegenerative diseases, community mental health programs, and hospice; and I would like to strengthen my understanding of the developmental model presented in this course and in Elizabeth’s book. I also hope to be inspired to jump into the world of early childhood music therapy. Most of my work with children has been in an intergenerational context where children from two local abuse-prevention programs were brought once a month to visit two adult day programs where I provided regular music therapy. I supervise other therapists as well as interns who work with young children, and want to be able to better support their work and training and the programs at the agency I work for. Most recently, I received a referral for an autistic child (my first individual young child client) who I will meet in about a month.

I have a chronic vestibular disorder called 3PD which might prove to be a barrier for my ability to comfortably do very active movement-based work involving complex visual stimuli, but I am hoping S.M. Training will help me stretch out of my comfort zone and see what is possible. 🙂

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Welcome Maggie,

It is a pleasure to meet you and learn about your background. I think the developmental context of this training will definitely be quite applicable to your work with adults as well as strengthening insight with young children. It sounds like as you take this training it will be important for all of us to engage in considering what accommodations could assist you for your needs. I am neurodivergent and have a few co-existing conditions that make multi-sensory environments challenging. I’ve only recently gotten these things properly diagnosed so I myself and still working on what kinds of accommodations will help me. I look forward to connecting throughout the training.

[Melissa Neitzel]

Hi Maggie, it’s nice to meet you! 🙂

[Leslie Aldrich]

Hi, Maggie. It’s nice to meet you! Your work sounds so interesting. It will be fun to go through this course with you

[Katelyn Caruso]

Hi Maggie, glad to be taking this course along with you!

[Melissa Neitzel]

Hello! My name is Melissa Neitzel. I live in Grafton WI with my husband Ryan, three children Henry (6), Isla (4), Rowan (1), and our dogs Doc and Dizzy. I have been a music therapist for 7 years and am working toward a community psychology graduate degree at Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI. I spent most of my work life at a pediatric hospital setting, focusing on the NICU. I began a private practice on the side in 2022 and found so much enjoyment in the work (and being my own boss ha!) that I began to pursue my practice full time in January.

One of the ties between my hospital work and private practice wishes has been incorporating music experiences that provide bonding between child and caregiver. I want to someday use my counseling degree alongside music therapy to support parents/children. I want to be able to use Sprouting Melodies as a tool for bonding for the family, supporting the unit as a whole, and offering something unique to my community! It’s also a lot of fun working with early childhood kiddos.

[Leslie Aldrich]

Hi, Melissa. Nice to meet you! Congrats on being able to pursue your private practice and be your own boss!

[Kimberly Werner]

Hi Melissa – I’d LOVE to make the shift from peds hospital to FT private practice, but am terrified at the limited health insurance options available on the marketplace. They’re so bad (in NY), and so prohibitively expensive. Props to ya for so bravely jumping into that world!

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Hi Melissa,

It is wonderful to meet you. Thank you for sharing your work with us. I look forward to hearing your insights throughout the training. I think your goals of weaving together your background and Sprouting Melodies will be a wonderful support for families.

[Christine Wick]

Hello! My name is Christine Wick and I live in Juneau, Alaska with my husband and two dogs, Earl and Matcha 🙂 We moved up here for my husband’s work and absolutely fell in love with Juneau. I’ve been a music therapist for almost 5 years and just started my own practice last fall. Most of my experience has been working with both children and adults with developmental disabilities in both the clinic and in-home settings. Along with my private practice, I recently just accepted a part-time position providing music therapy services within a Part-C Infant Learning Program. I love working with families and I’m really excited to increase my knowledge and hone my skills, specifically within this developmental model. I’m hoping to gain more confidence when discussing and supporting specific developmental stages to be able to readily provide families with tools that are meaningful and specific to their priorities.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Hi Christine,

Welcome. It’s wonderful to meet you. Great dog names! It sounds like you have a nice background in working with children. I look forward to reading your thoughts on the forums.-Erika

[Leslie Aldrich]

Hi Christine, it’s nice to meet you! How cool to live in Alaska 🙂

[Katelyn Caruso]

Hello everyone! My name is Kate Caruso and I have been a music therapist for 4 years, and before that I was an elementary school music teacher in a bilingual school and taught K-5, complete with two special education classes and a marimba band! I cherish those memories, but I LOVE being a music therapist and using music to connect with others and help people connect with themselves. I currently work mostly with developmentally disabled adults and adults with dementia at a wonderful practice in Portland, OR.

Learning about how music can support infant in the NICU as well as the infant-caregiver bond was one thing that initially sparked my interest in music therapy, and my time as a music therapist doing developmental music sessions in a preschool was always the highlight of my caseload pre-pandemic. I am interested to continue learning (as I just love learning in general) with hopes to work with more children in the future. Looking forward to learning alongside all of you!

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Hi Katelyn,

Lovely to meet you. I love that you had a marimba band! What a cool musical experience. Sounds like you have a strong background in developmental work. I look forward to seeing you on the forums.
-Erika

[Leslie Aldrich]

Hi Katelyn! Nice to meet you. It sounds like you have such cool music experiences in your background! I love marimbas so much, what a cool time that was I’m sure 🙂

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

What a terrific group of music therapists! Thank you all for joining us in this course. We have found in the past that this course often opens up new friendships and networks across the country, and sometimes internationally.
You will get to know Meredith and me well through the videos, but here are a few other details. I’m not only a mother of three adult children and their spouses, I am a grandmother to 5 year old Max and 1.5 year old Shani. It’s been fun for me to make music with this new generation. Most of my kids work in the medical field, and I love to hear about their interactions with music therapy and music therapists in their work settings. Maggie, I also have a daughter and son-in-law who live in Portland and we try and get out there to visit several times a year.
I will pop into the forum from time to time, but meanwhile you are in great hands with our course moderator Erika. Please reach out to any of us if you have additional questions or concerns. Enjoy the course!

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