[Stephanie H Morris]

Hi, Jordyn! Glad to have you in the class. I’ve never done work with children in a hospital. Nationwide in Columbus is the closest thing and that’s over an hour’s drive.
Looking forward to hearing everyone’s input on this class.
Stephanie Morris

[Stephanie H Morris]

Hi Maureen, Maura, Shannon,
Its good to meet all 3 of you! Sorry my introduction was so long! This will be GREAT!
Enjoy!
Stephanie

[Stephanie H Morris]

Hi! I am Stephanie Morris and I live in Athens, OH. I am so very excited to take this course and become a SM Provider. I got this opportunity because one of my colleagues who had been filling this role for our company moved out of state, so the company owner, Erin, asked me if I wanted to do this. I did not hesitate and said “yes!”
I’ve had 2 different careers in music therapy, but also done other things outside MT. I graduated from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC back in 1982! YIKES – I’m old! I worked as a music therapist at an acute psychiatric hospital for 2 years, but really did not like my job. I worked mostly with adults, had other duties as a music/recreation therapist, but mostly I think it was my boss, who was VERY good at intimidating me turned me off music therapy. She saw me as an “entertainer” and really did not understand music therapy at all. As a young adult, I really didn’t have the skills or knowledge to advocate for my field or a true understanding of how I needed to educate her and others on what music therapy was all about. Several years later, I worked as a music therapist at a farm…a school for learning disabled and emotionally disturbed teenage boys. Wow – that was crazy. While I finally got a program going after I started in the shop with sawdust floors and my guitar, they only wanted me 2 days a week the next year. Entrepreneurship was so foreign at that time and I needed a full time job since I was a new mother and was helping support my family. Fast forward several years…2002 and I decided to become a music educator. What a joy that was teaching elementary music K – 5th grade. I did that for seven years, but then had to move due to my husband’s work. At that point, I couldn’t find a teaching job so Louise Steele (Markland) invited me to become the graduate assistant at Ohio University. I had been out of the field for 25 years! I studied, pasted the CBMT exam and finished my thesis in 2014. I started working for Central Ohio Music Therapy, LLC in 11/2012. I work a lot with individuals with disabilities, dementia and Alzheimer’s. I also see hospice patients and do some wellness groups in my community. Moving into the field of early childhood is going to be an interesting challenge and yet an exciting one since I have raised 2 boys, one of whom is on the Autism Spectrum.
My husband is a bassoonist and teaches theory bassoon (of course) at OU.
I look forward to meeting everyone and am excited about this course.
Stephanie Morris
I am the Internship Director for the company and since 2013, founded and direct the Athens County Community Singers, a “choir for all voices,” for those with and without disabilities. The choir is a non-profit organization and also supports Beacon Singers, a transitional choir for students with developmental disabilities who attend Beacon School here in Athens which is supported by our local county board of developmental disabilities.

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