Using Music in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy

There is growing evidence for the powerful role that music plays in enhancing children's cognitive, social, and emotional development. This is the first book to provide accessible ways for any mental health professional to integrate music into clinical work with children and adolescents. Rich case vignettes show how to use singing, drumming, listening to music, and many other strategies to connect with hard-to-reach children, promote self-regulation, and create opportunities for change. The book offers detailed guidelines for addressing different clinical challenges, including attachment difficulties, trauma, and behavioral, emotional, and communication problems. Each chapter concludes with concrete recommendations for practice; an appendix presents a photographic inventory of recommended instruments.

Laura E. Beer, PhD, MT-BC, ACMT, is a board-certified music therapist and is Associate Professor and Director of the Music Therapy Program at Maryville University. Since 1988, she has worked in many different settings with children with developmental and psychiatric issues and with infants in neonatal intensive care units, as well as with older adults and patients in hospice care. Dr. Beer has published on the creative use of music in research and therapy, presented internationally, and facilitated numerous trainings for caregivers for people with advanced dementia. She has received recognition for professional practice and for being a changemaker and advocate for music therapy licensure. Dr. Beer serves as Editor-in-Chief of one of the two national peer-reviewed music therapy journals, Music Therapy Perspectives.

Jacqueline C. Birnbaum, MSEd, MA, MT-BC, LCAT, is an early childhood educator, board-certified music therapist, and licensed creative arts therapist. She began her music therapy work in the 1980s in schools for children with communication and other challenges, developing and implementing music therapy programs. Ms. Birnbaum is Administrative Coordinator and Senior Clinician at the Nordoff–Robbins Center for Music Therapy at New York University. She has presented internationally on the use of creative music therapy; is a pianist, guitarist, violinist, composer, and author of published songs for therapy; and is the author of an e-book that includes video examples of her clinical work with a traumatized child. Ms. Birnbaum has served as Chairperson of the Certification Board for Music Therapists.