A Soundtrack for Life Our lives are punctuated by a diverse array of melodies, each song serving as a sonic bookmark for significant chapters. The first dance at a wedding, the rhythm of a road trip, or the lullaby that cradled us to sleep – these musical imprints become a personalized soundtrack for our journey through time. But how does it work? In this episode we explore how music functions in our brain, specifically the ability of music to evoke emotions and how this has strong implications for our memory. Email musicalhealththepod@gmail.com to get a copy of the transcript References Castr ..read more

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Amanda Henley. Amanda is a board certified music therapist, researcher and educator in the state of Indiana. She also serves as the Indiana Task Force for Music Therapy Advocacy Chair. Amanda and I sat down to talk about the music therapy and art therapy licensure protection bill that is up this legislative session. This is the closest they have been to passing this bill in years and the task force could us all of our help to reach out to local representatives to tell them about the importance of title protection for both therapists and those they ..read more

On this months episode, Caitlin sits down with songwriter and therapist, Monica Metzler.  Conversation centers on grief, songwriting and all the magic in between.  Forest Veil is the solo work of Portland, Oregon multi-instrumentalist/producer Monica Metzler. Following the echoes of her elusive muse, Forest Veil makes mystical psych-folk that maps the emotional terrain of humanity and its place in the cosmos. Melding a voice that sounds like smokey quartz with psychedelic guitar riffs and enigmatic lyricism, Forest Veil’s sound evokes a haunting nostalgia for other worlds. Though sh ..read more

For today's episode I had the chance to interview Toronto based music therapist and business owner, Miya Adout. Her company: Miya Music Therapy provides music therapy for people of all abilities. In the episode Miya talks about her company and a service that is near to her heart: senior mental health.   Website: www.miyamusictherapy.com  The Sunshine Link Website: www.thesunshinelink.com Find them on Social Media: IG: https://www.instagram.com/miyamusictherapy/ FB: www.facebook.com/miyamusictherapy  This Month Musical Health is shining a spotlight on music in mental ..read more

Ashley Scheufler is a senior music therapist at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City where she has been employed for almost 12 years.  She works with a wide range of pediatric patients and specializes in chronic pain syndromes, cardiac, and pulmonary diagnoses.  Ashley has participated in several research initiatives at her facility and served as a music intervener in studies funded by the NIH, COG, and the National Institutes of Nursing Research that focused on children undergoing treatment for cancer.  Her latest research endeavor, “Comparing Three Music Therapy Interventi ..read more

This Month I will be covering topics on the use of music in pain. Today’s episode is covers some general information on how humans process and experiences pain and introduces some common uses of music to alleviate pain. Link to session transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dd8JHt6X3wvC0HPy6U_2CX7bL58ypNcUjWpvqpOsK7M/edit?usp=sharing --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/caitlin-krater/support ..read more

On today’s episode I speak with Jenny Kaufman, music therapist on the Heart Center and Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. We discuss what it is like for patients on the heart center and the music based interventions used in Jenny’s work with these patients. Jenny is an accomplished music therapist with nearly 8 years of pediatric medical music therapy experience and advanced training in NICU music therapy as well as Neurologic Music Therapy. All proceeds from the playing of this episode will be donated to https://www.childrensheartfoundation.org/ Email: musicalhealththepod@gmail.com for full tra ..read more

February is designated as American Heart month and This week is Congenital Heart Defects Awareness week. CHD is the world’s most common birth defect, impacting 1.3 million infants every year world wide. Today's episode highlights a music therapy study which focused on the use of a music intervention called entrainment and the impact of that intervention on the physiologic measures for infants in cardiac intensive care. This month musical health will be donating proceeds to the children’s heart foundation which fund CHD research. All month the podcast will be covering topics related to heart ..read more

Join me in this episode as we explore all things spiritual, chaplaincy and of course music! Featuring special guest Maggie La Rocque, M.Div Maggie is a staff chaplain at Riley Hospital for  Children at Indiana University Health.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/caitlin-krater/support ..read more

This episode covers the topic of music and spirituality. This episode explores the definition of spirit and the multitude of ways and explores how we can cultivate our spirituality through music not only in ourselves but also those we work with. Some resources used for today’s episode: Aldridge, D. Music Therapy and spirituality: A transcendental understanding of suffering. Music Therapy Today, 2003 Barton M, Watson T. Inner Spirit: Investigating How Music Therapists’ Experiences of Their Spirituality May Be Relevant to Their Work. British Journal of Music Therapy. 2013;27(2):40-51. doi:10.117 ..read more