Mosaic Music Therapy & Neuro-Rehabilitation Services
In 2011, I founded a music therapy clinic in response to lack of service availability to communities in Monmouth and Ocean counties in New Jersey. Music therapy services in NJ appear to have been established within geographic areas in proximity to academic institutions with music therapy programs of study. Prior to 2018, Montclair State University offered the only academic music therapy program in the state, specifically in the northeast region. When I explored accessibility in central New Jersey, music therapy services appeared nonexistent, with the exception of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization level of care. Consequently, I felt the urgency to develop a clinic-based music therapy practice in central New Jersey that would allow individuals of all ages and backgrounds to participate in our unique therapeutic modalities. Doing so required patience and perseverance, especially while creating a sustainable healthcare service that is not yet covered by traditional health insurance.
My first client could not afford services. I provided therapy without charge and continued our weekly, pro bono music therapy for the following ten years while securing alternate funding sources at the local and state level. Establishing the clinic presented many financial and logistical challenges, which reinforced my perception of the need for music therapy in this community to benefit individuals with various socio-economic backgrounds. Consequently, these challenges highlighted additional, existing barriers preventing community access to music therapy. Participants have traveled a thirty-mile radius to access our clinic and many have sustained involvement for multiple years.
In addition to offering music therapy, Mosaic provides a unique service intended to support individuals recovering from acquired brain injury or traumatic brain injury. Throughout my training at NYU and the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy, I continued to integrate my expertise as a certified brain injury specialist into my music therapy practice, noting how the natural connection between music and neurological functioning offered a therapeutic pathway to restore cognition. In practice, I utilize a person centered and music-centered approach to neuro-rehabilitation, allowing participants to strengthen core components of cognition, such as attention, auditory processing, memory, in addition to executive functioning skills, such as organization, and planning. This modality allows participants to gain increased meta-cognitive awareness through a collaborative, therapeutic music-making experience.
In its twelfth year of operation, Mosaic Music Therapy & Neuro-Rehabilitation is founded upon a humanistic perspective and provides person-centered, strengths-based therapeutic experiences that are tailored to each participant. Mosaic currently serves over 75 participants weekly in our clinic, in addition to providing music therapy services to specialized schools and hospitals in our surrounding community. Individuals served include children, adolescents and adults who are neurodiverse, developmentally different, recovering from traumatic brain injury or acquired brain injury, developing speech and language abilities, relearning gross and fine-motor physical abilities, coping with psychological stressors, individuals with learning disabilities such as ADHD and auditory processing challenges, in addition to adults coping with dementia and memory loss.
The link below will direct you to Mosaic's webpage, which describes the services my clinic provides in detail. Please click on the link below to learn more:
