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 [email protected].

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!