Piedmont Music Therapy, LLC has been providing weekly treatment for the children (ages 3-11) since January 2016 because of grant funding. 

Our team is humbled to work with the families at Dove's Nest. We are passionate about offering creative and expressive arts therapy to the children as they grow. To learn more about the local organization, follow Charlotte Rescue Mission on Facebook. Please share this blog post and comment below!

We appreciated participating in the community event focused on mental health support services for veterans. Here is an overview of our table and offerings plus nearby vendors and organizations. Check out the weather ideal for an outdoor fair and 2K Roll & Walk:

Veterans Bridge Home out of Charlotte, NC has a wealth of resources and offerings for veterans.

Para Guide: Sight By Side attended and answered questions about services for veterans with visual impairment.

Dennis represented Guitars For Vets and shared information about the guitar instrument program available to veterans.

Team Red, White and Blue attended and shared about the many events organized in the community for veterans to connect.

PMT’s Table held many instruments for exploration and one of the favored ones was the one pictured drum below. The ocean drum by Remo waves all of your senses with the experience of rolling medal balls that simulate the sounds from an ocean.

Team River Runner: River to recovery was present and shared about the outdoor adventures they offer to veterans.

There were several tables with multiple staff from the VA such as telehealth coordinators and social workers speaking about suicide prevention.

We appreciated participating and expanding the offerings through introducing folks to our creative and expressive arts therapy practice.

Hopefully this recap will further connect veterans and their loved ones to available resources and supports in the community. Thanks for visiting our blog - please share this post or comment below.

We are grateful for the first-hand account of treatment provided to her students. The music therapist facilitated various interventions that included all of the clients and may have been adapted to support various learning.

Interested in group therapy options for your child or student? Contact us to learn more about this available option and thanks to all of the teachers who collaborate to provide evidence informed work!

This post is for the PMT Series featuring non-profit organizations.

At a community event honoring individuals with Rare & Undiagnosed Diseases earlier this year, we learned about an amazing non-profit that was started in Charlotte two years ago: Speed For Need, Inc. We were grateful to meet Kevin M. Young, Co-Founder & Executive Director of SFN and learn about the organization's impact areas. 

The mission of Speed For Need is to raise awareness and foster inclusion of those with special needs through participation in fitness events supported by the men of F3 Nation. F3 is a national network for met with a mission "to plant, grow and serve small workout groups fro men for the invigoration of male community leadership."

Speed For Need is receiving the first non-profit spotlight of the year because of the support they provide to so many people of various ages and diagnoses. Check out the online article by Charlotte Parent, February 2019 that features Speed For Need's Founder, Owen Farr's Father, Will Farr. 

​The respect, perseverance, and support provided through the events  is tremendous.  Photos from their races and rallies feature veterans, individuals with cancer and other disabilities that affect their physical mobility. We are proud to help in directing folks to this local beacon. Hopefully this post will benefit you or someone you know in the community that would like to safely participate in an event in one of the specially designed racing chairs while celebrating the journey of life with neighbors of all abilities. 

This post is part of the year long series Music Therapy Moments.

Let us help to put Georgia on your mind. Did you know that just across the border into Georgia... music therapists are licensed professionals? A profession that has state licensure adds another level of overview confirming the required number of hours of continuing education were met on a yearly basis. Additionally receiving services through a licensed professional may assist families in accessing treatment that insurance agencies will support. This also provides consumers or clients another method of ensuring qualified services are received and a local agency to contact with inquiries.

The Music Therapy Practice Act supports such an initiative in the Palmetto State.  S.472 and H.4150 were introduced earlier this year. To learn more about the pursuit of music therapy licensure in South Carolina, read the background through The Certification Board for Music Therapist's (CBMT) Website as this has been over a decade of advocacy accomplished by many music therapists, allied health professionals, clients and their families.

The bill is currently in SC Senate's Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee. Constituents who would like to share their perspective on the Music Therapy Practice Act are encouraged to contact their representatives. PMT Clinic assisted client families with sample advocacy letters that were created by the SC Music Therapy Task Force through the Music Therapy Association of South Carolina. Please let your family's music therapist know if you did not receive an Advocacy Paper Kit from PMT March 15 - April 1, 2019.

Later this week the Southeastern Region of American Music Therapy Association (SERAMTA) is hosting its annual conference in Columbia, SC. These two happenings have an important similarity - they will both happen in the state's capital city! April 4th will mark the 2019 Music Therapy Hill Day and this hopes to be a promising opportunity to continue the advocacy work in person at the State House. Because of the regional conference's location there looks to be a large gathering of music therapists to represent on 4/4/19. The SERAMTA Conference unites music therapists practicing and music therapy students pursuing degrees from the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,  Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands.

Our private practice encourages you to familiarize yourself with the bills (linked here by CBMT) in order to make an informed decision and share your opinion on the bill with your local representatives. Thanks for your support of this process. We hope that soon music therapists in South Carolina will be able to join one of their neighboring states with licensure protection and increased accessibility for clientele. And until then, may you enjoy Georgia on your mind.

Please share your questions or comments below!

The first community partner that we’ll highlight is St. John’s United Methodist Church Preschool located in Rock Hill, SC. SJUMC of Rock Hill offers a preschool ministry that includes a specially designed class for young children who have various diagnoses such as Down syndrome.
PMT provides music therapy group sessions led by a board certified clinician for the preschool students four times each month. They focus upon pre-academic concepts, communication skills and self-expression. Instruments and materials are brought into the classroom setting - this is described as mobile music therapy. Age appropriate interventions incorporating specific musical elements are used to optimize goals while adapting to students’ preferences and sensitivities. Documentation occurs so the therapist can track students’ progress over the preschool year. Here’s a sample of a past monthly newsletter distributed to client families:

Thanks for following this year’s new blog series on PMT Community Partners. PMT is honored to provide music therapy group services at SJUMC in Rock Hill, SC for several years. Encountering the dedicated teachers and staff, witnessing the children’s personalities and being a part of these kiddos’ earlychildhood is an honor for our private practice.

To learn more about the SJUMC Preschool Class for kiddos with special needs, contact Katie Goodwin at 803-985-5656 or Kgoodwin@stjohnsrh.org.

The series titled Non-Profit Network will feature organizations available to support fellow neighbors. These organizations have offerings that benefit our community members such as folks who are veterans, caregivers and individuals living with an illness or life altering diagnosis.

Another theme of posts this year will include music therapy truths and findings. The series titled Music Therapy Moments could vary from highlighted research findings to legislative updates for music therapy bills introduced into either North or South Carolina. Such legalization could increase music therapy accessibility through insurance reimbursement ans potentially schools as a related service under I.D.E.A.

Community Partner Feature is another wave of posts that will rotate through sites that collaborate with Piedmont Music Therapy, LLC for music therapy services, music instruction, classes or trainings.

We are committed to sharing resources and links to increase credible information in Greater Charlotte. We hope that you’ll find time to read posts in these series and share with others. Cheers to a healthy new year!

What's important for people? Being connected and supported. At Piedmont Music Therapy, LLC we often collaborate with other health and wellness professionals. We request consents to exchange information with our clients' care team members. We offer annual recitals featuring our studio musicians to provide live music through out the community settings in a way to allow the children and youth to meet elderly folks and share their musical skills.

PMT also strives to learn more about available outlets for relationship building in the communities whom we serve. With the New Year and coincidentally the weekend celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday we are excited to share an event that has been on our dream list for quite some time.

Next month we are partnering with NAMI-Charlotte to offer a FREE DRUM CIRCLE in the community. That's right... no strings attached. This dream was made more real with the encouragement of Dae-Lee when the amazingly energetic team at Creative Mornings -  Charlotte led by Matt Olin & Tim Miner  gave PMT a H.U.G. Micro Grant in November 2018. We are requesting RSVP's through EventBrite.com to help us prepare seating and enough instruments. You can also share this with your friends and social media networks on Facebook and Instagram.

PMT Staff will be on site to welcome folks and ensure people of all ages feel comfortable with the percussion instruments. Ear plugs will also be available. Providence United Methodist Church is sharing their Mission Center for the event as part of their generous outreach and commitment to NAMI Programs.  

We hope that you'll join the circle to create music while meeting new and old neighbors from Greater Charlotte. This free event hopes to further connect and support neighbors of all backgrounds. Questions or comments are welcomed below!