Nicole O鈥橫alley, Assistant Clinical Professor of Music Therapy
Nicole O鈥橫alley, director of 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 music therapy program, holds in her hands a three-ring binder鈥攖he mammoth kind that can hold a ream of paper: material evidence of a program (and a philosophy) decades in the development.
Now in its second year, 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 music therapy program has 12 students鈥攁nd growing interest.
O鈥橫alley is a bit awed by it all. Creating the music therapy program was not something she鈥檇 planned or even had interest in鈥攊nitially. She didn鈥檛 want to be a teacher; she was already running a nonprofit, Hands in Harmony, managing her clinical practice, and raising two young children. A few years earlier, she鈥檇 written the standards for state laws concerning the certification of music therapy practitioners. She had enough to keep her busy.
But consulting on a program for 溏心vlog免费B站 led to an invitation to implement the five-year program in 2019 and then, at the urging of department chair Mark Conley, to teach a class. And it took just the one class for O鈥橫alley to make a startling discovery. 鈥淲atching my students grow, seeing those aha! moments鈥擨 loved it.鈥�
鈥淵ou can be compassionate and caring and data focused and scientific.鈥�
In 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 undergraduate music therapy program, students learn to use therapies that help improve the sensorimotor, cognitive, language, emotional, and/or social functioning of their clients. It is the only music therapy program in New England to offer on-campus clinical training for students, who complete 1,200 hours of clinical training to prepare for national board certification.
Music therapists are in high demand. They work in hospitals, schools, long-term care facilities, and neurorehabilitation centers. They are employed by psychiatric practices and community centers.
O鈥橫alley prizes preparedness and thoughtfulness and holds her students to the rigorous standards she sets for herself as a practitioner.
鈥淚n the first five years of my career, I had to spend a lot of time in court advocating for clients. To prepare, I would dig into the literature and make sure my data was solid,鈥� says O鈥橫alley. 鈥淚鈥檇 create reports and develop standards so high that they couldn鈥檛 be disputed in court. I believe we should teach our students how to meet those standards.鈥�
O鈥橫alley also wants her students clear-eyed about the challenges therapists face. When students begin their clinical hours in their sophomore year, it鈥檚 an emotional experience. 鈥淚 tell them, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e going to laugh and you鈥檙e going to cry.鈥� In my practice,鈥� she says, 鈥淚鈥檝e seen thousands of people; sometimes what they鈥檝e been through is so horrific that you take a piece of it with you forever. A lot of the work I鈥檓 doing with the sophomores concerns how to handle challenging situations and how to be strong clinicians in the face of such heavy work.鈥�
Every experience鈥攁nd emotion鈥攊s on-the-job training, says O鈥橫alley. And all contribute to cultivating fortitude, resilience, and self-awareness. 鈥淵ou need to be able to access feelings and emotions; you have to have deep empathy. You can be compassionate and caring and data-focused and scientific,鈥� O鈥橫alley says.
鈥淓vidence and emotion drive me. That鈥檚 the way I teach.鈥� 鈥�
鈥擬arybeth Reilly-McGreen
Photo: Nora Lewis