Are you thinking about the next book to read? How about picking up a book on art therapy and start learning more about the therapeutic power of art! With the help of these books, you can learn about: How great works of art can help us manage tensions and confusions in our everyday life. How art can be used to both treat psychological distress and help manage physical pain and symptoms. How art can be instrumental in understanding our unexplored inner world. A number of therapeutic exercises with art that you yourself can try to start your journey of self-perception, expression and actualizati ..read more

Music inspires a variety of feelings in listener and sometimes those feelings can be expressed through another art form, such as visual art, dance, drama, writing, etc. In this blog post, we are sharing with you two fun games to play with friends and family! What you need Several pieces of blank paper Pencils and color crayons or other coloring tools Various types of music. Think about your favorite songs or explore some new music. if you don’t know what to listen to, check out our our playlist on Spotify: Game 1: Eyes closed, move your pencil, color it! This game combines exploring the fee ..read more

Since 1986, we have commemorated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the third Monday of January. President Ronald Reagan signed a bill in 1983 to create this federal holiday in honor of King after years of campaigning by activities, members of Congress, and Coretta Scott King.  On this day, we honor Dr. King’s legacy and work during the civil rights movement and we reflect on the work that still needs to be done to achieve racial equality. Dr. King said and did too much for us to include in a single post, so today we would like to focus on his reflections around the power of musi ..read more

Even as the world continues to fight off a global pandemic, the clock doesn’t stop ticking, which means… The holidays are here! This time of course brings a lot of cheer and joy. Yet, it can also bring a lot of stress and negative feelings. It really is up to us to decide which feelings we share with those around us.    So in this blog post we would like to invite you to share the holiday cheer. We give you 12 ways to do so, but of course, you can share the holiday cheer your own way.    Let’s get to it!   1 – Draw your version of a Christmas tree or other Holiday imag ..read more

Art therapy is a young discipline that uses artistic methods to treat psychological disorders and improve mental well-being. In this blog post we introduce you to the history of art therapy! Art has always been essential to what it means to be human. It is rooted in our needs to express ourselves and make sense of our experience in the world around us. Though we humans have been using arts, including visual art, to express ourselves, communicate, and to heal, art therapy didn’t become a formal therapeutic method until mid-twentieth century. In this blog post, you will read a brief introduction ..read more

Music can bring you and your loved ones a variety of benefits. As we have extensively written about, music therapists are experts at using music in all its facets to help achieve “non-musical” goals. Basically, there is a whole discipline that looks at and thinks about how music can make people’s lives better.  Because we know that music can help with problems that might be physical, such as pain. Or these problems could be emotional, like depression, psychological, such as a mental illness, and beyond. While a music therapist is the expert you want to talk to for better personalized inpu ..read more

Continuation for Art Therapy Story In our last blog post, we shared with you the first part of a story about a girl who participated in art therapy. Emily Grabo told us this story in our past livestreaming season, The Power of Stories. Here is where the first part of the story left off: “I was actually a little bit surprised  by that at first. I knew she was saying yes to our sessions and I had hoped that she was getting something from them but again, she was so quiet. She hardly said a word when we were together. And so I thought to myself,  “Oh! Let me run down to the PICU and I’l ..read more

In this blog post we are sharing with you a story from art therapist Emily Grabo. Emily Grabo is a Board-Certified Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC) and Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Ohio specializing in pediatric medical art therapy, grief and loss, substance abuse, and trauma informed care. She graduated from Ursuline College in 2014 with a Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling. She has been proudly serving families, children, and staff as the Art Therapy Coordinator at Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron, OH since 2017. This post is a transcription from a lives ..read more

Have you ever thought about the fact that you are constantly improvising? Language is perhaps the most obvious example of this. Unless you are giving a speech, you usually do not prepare what you’re going to say. You improvise it along the way! Yet, perhaps many of us would hesitate if we were asked to improvise musically. Hopefully this blog post will change your thoughts on musical improvisation. You will particularly learn about how music therapy improvisation can be so wonderful and helpful for patients.   Music Therapy Improvisation  As a music therapy process, clinical improvi ..read more

How are Florence Nightingale and Music in Healthcare related? We tell you all about it in today’s blog post!    First, a bit of background information Florence Nightingale is best known for her tremendous influence on the development of nursing. Born in 1820, she was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Her legacy includes: Laying the foundation of professional nursing Establishing the nursing school at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London The Nightingale Pledge – a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath, named in honor of Florence Nightingale The ..read more