Music Therapy Tools for Mental Healthcare

Delivered Friday, deployed immediately.

FIFTEEN brand new FLEA ukuleles ($3,300 retail value) bolster music therapy at Cincinnati Children’s College Hill campus. Superior quality, durability and vibrant colors make them ideal instruments for groups as well as individual therapy sessions.

Dale Rabiner, owner of DHR Guitar Experience in Oakley, generously sponsored this ukulele set and dedicated use.

Jenn Seley, MA, MT-BC, CCLS is holding a concert FLEA ukulele with Aloha Plum designer finish. Jenn transitioned from the hospital’s Main campus to College Hill site several years ago. Her role is fully dedicated to psychiatric patient care.

Why devote a large set of premium grade instruments to this specific campus?

• College Hill campus serves nearly 2,100 patients annually. A 3-story expansion began in 2015 with the new wing alone able to serve 10 in-patients (7-8 day average stay) plus 30 residential patients (120 day average stay) at a time. It made the hospital’s College Hill campus the largest pediatric psychiatric treatment center in the country.

• The campus doubled up on music therapy last summer with the addition of therapist Anthony Borzi, MA, MT-BC. Cincinnati Children’s now has seven full-time music therapists – plus interns – serving patients at Main, College Hill and StarShine hospice.

• Shortly after starting this role, Jenn told me that playing a colorful premium ukulele in this setting sends an extra esteem-building message to patients: I’m worth it.

Please consider making a contribution to our ongoing “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe. Steady growth beyond the base goal brings more holistic music therapy to those in critical care settings.

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

THANK YOU Kathryn Bruno, MT-BC for brightening lives!

Two brand new FLEA ukuleles with cases are being donated to Kathryn Bruno, MT-BC in honor of her music therapy impact at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and her present role at Eating Recovery Center Cincinnati.

Our direct instrument donations (supported by sales proceeds) are not traditionally “counted” toward GoFundMe and sponsorship goals. However, we’re stretching beyond limits to recognize Kathryn’s special impact and collaborative relationship.

Seeing is believing. In this video (May 2011), young Milosh is in ICU awaiting a heart transplant at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He responds to a music therapy session led by Kathryn, who engages a guitar-strumming nurse and musical mom in the process.

Fast forward 2 years (August 2013), beyond the heart procedure. Milosh is home, enjoying a FLEA ukulele gifted to him in honor of his beaming smile and spirit.

Beyond asserting positive impact on patients and families, Kathryn has a skill of sharing what Music Therapy is all about with the general public. CLICK our prior post where she visits Cincinnati’s local NBC studio to explain her pediatric hospital role. Along with music therapist Mimi Sinclair, Kathryn enages the host in a lively demo.

Since April 2016, Kathryn expanded beyond pediatrics to lead the music therapy program at Eating Recovery Center in Cincinnati. ERC is the nation’s largest network for treating eating disorders; they also treat mood and anxiety disorders.

Emotional coping is involved with any life-threatening disease or physical impairment. Mental health can also pose a “front and center” challenge. Music therapy adds to other interventions to create successful outcomes. Please CLICK and read a blog co-authored by Kathryn, telling how music therapy responds to this mindset:

‘I’m hopeless,’ I sobbed to my therapist, ‘I’m never going to get better’ … I was convinced that nothing was going to change.

Talking openly, becoming aware and seeking helpful interventions for mental health is often blocked by stigma in our culture. We hope this post and Kathryn’s continued music therapy successes help chip away that stigma.

Please consider making a contribution to our “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe. Soaring past the goal will bring more holistic music therapy to those in critical care settings.

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

Dayton Children’s Hospital – Music Therapy In Action

It was an honor last week to connect area sponsors and support Lindsey Steinbrunner, MT-BC with versatile instruments at Dayton Children’s Hospital. Lindsey is a board certified music therapist and graduate of University of Dayton’s program.

The five donated instruments are ideal “tools” for music therapy. They would not be possible without the generosity of Dayton area sponsors: Together We Fight and Hauer Music. Please click on their names to see, share and support their missions.

Together We Fight provides newly diagnosed cancer patients with colorful totes packed with care items. Hauer Music helps everyone bring music into the world –– offering virtually any musical instrument, accessory and lesson you would want plus a stage.

Dayton Children’s captured the event on their website, along with area news stations:

Lindsey and instrument sponsors also shared their programs via live studio appearance on “Living Dayton” at WDTN (NBC affiliate) – CLICK on photo to watch:

Please consider joining this heartfelt cause. Making a contribution to our “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe will bring more holistic care to those in critical care settings:

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

Tuning Out Chemotherapy with Music Therapy

If it makes you feel good and you’re doin’ it, it doesn’t really matter. Just keep doin’ it. –  cancer care and music therapy patient

Take 2 minutes and see how Music Therapy “tunes out chemotherapy”.

Brian Schreck was my lightning rod connection to bring a whole bunch of FLEA ukuleles to music therapy at Cincinnati Children’s. He’s back in Louisville, inspiring children and adults with his magic at Norton Healthcare.

Couldn’t we all live a little more by the music and motto expressed by his patient?

 

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Wanna’ PLAY or PLEDGE a FLEA® ukulele? Visit www.truejoyacoustics.com to learn more plus connect to Amazon and eBay listings. Purchases are convenient, secure, delivered FREE (continental USA) and backed by Buyer Protection Programs on these two well established e-commerce stores.

Email me at info@truejoyacoustics.com if you would like to sponsor a donation of one or more FLEA ukuleles to the music therapy program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It’s easy and will certainly bring joy to your heart as well as many kids spending weeks in a hospital.

Greg, TRUE JOY ACOUSTICS

THANK YOU Jill McBride of Forza Marketing, Lina and Elena

External sponsors (businesses + individuals) help us accelerate ukulele donations to reach even more hospitalized children at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

We thank Jill McBride, president of FORZA MARKETING for her support of a brand new instrument going into Music Therapy. It brings our cumulative donations to 61 FLEA ukuleles at CCHMC. Each and every ukulele touches many patients and families.

Visit Jill’s business website at www.forza-marketing.com if your organization is looking for top-notch public relations, marketing, event management and social media expertise. Jill and her team led a terrific workshop last Fall (Cincinnati Business Courier event). Attending it helped me refine a very successful PR campaign for our program: local TV news, several metro area newspapers, even a national trade journal spotlight.

Reaching our golden 100th ukulele donation goal is now even closer. Contact me soon if you want to be the one who leaps us to 100. It will be special!

What can one little ukulele accomplish? My words are no match for photos and words shared by an appreciative mom (Lina) of a CCHMC patient (Elena). Whether exploring the ukulele’s expressive capabilities alone, or smiling as your dad jams away, it enables special moments and memories.

Elena exploring a FLEA ukulele. Photo shared with permission.

Elena & Dad – a FLEA Ukulele breakfast jam. Photo shared with permission.

Lina chose to share her family’s story with the world by publishing a terrific product review on Amazon:

We are very pleased with the “purchase” (*ahem, officially it came from Santa Claus) of a beautiful red finish True Joy Acoustic Flea Ukulele with the Music Maker kit. Our six-year old daughter had a rather emergency surgery (thankfully, it all went great!!) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital followed by a 10-day hospital stay there. On one rather boring day in the Neurosurgery floor, we heard this … CLICK HERE TO READ LINA’S FULL STORY ON AMAZON

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Wanna’ PLAY or PLEDGE a FLEA® ukulele? Visit www.truejoyacoustics.com to learn more plus connect to Amazon and eBay listings. Purchases are convenient, secure, delivered FREE (continental USA) and backed by Buyer Protection Programs on these two well established e-commerce stores.

Email me at info@truejoyacoustics.com if you would like to sponsor a donation of one or more FLEA ukuleles to the music therapy program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It’s easy and will certainly bring joy to your heart as well as many kids spending weeks in a hospital.

click to visit our website

Bloggers, visit us on: WordPress (True Joy Acoustics – Community), WordPress (Ukulele Shops), Tumblr (Ukulele Shops) and Blogger (Ukulele Shops). Comments and connections welcome!

Greg, TRUE JOY ACOUSTICS

Individuals Sharing their Greatest Gift – Ukulele Therapy

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our retail mission serves ukulele players on a national scale. Sales proceeds help us drive a steady donation of FLEA® ukuleles into hospital music therapy programs –– the heart of our community mission. External sponsors (businesses + individuals) help us accelerate donations to reach even more hospitalized children.

INDIVIDUALS can make a world of difference. Even if hundreds of miles away. Among children “stuck inside of four hospital walls” where days are filled with tests, procedures, waiting and hope. The music therapy program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center also reaches children via StarShine home palliative care. This post recognizes several individuals “giving a portion of thyself”.

Herb Eichen generously sponsored a full set of 4 FLEA ukuleles. One ukulele gets shared and played by many children, one at a time. Ukulele sets greatly extend the reach, plus they enable patient + family ensembles! Click on the story below if you want to discover just how powerful that can be.

Herb’s gift is made in honor of Ms. Mindy Heithaus. Mindy is a friend, an actress, a recent discoverer of the fun and expressive power of playing ukulele. She provided the inspiration for Herb to extend that joy to many children and families served by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. This joy will resonate for many years to come.

Melanie and Bob Gallagher topped off this donation round with a 5th ukulele. It too has already “gone to work” and signifies our cumulative donations reaching a milestone of 60 FLEA ukuleles. Reaching our Golden 100th ukulele goal is within sight! Contact me soon if you want to be the one who leaps us to 100. It will be special.

Karen Krueger’s family chose to purchase a new FLEA ukulele for Elias Wendland, a little boy featured in the story below. Special child, special family. They are an inspiration for how a family can work together via the power of ukuleles and music therapy to create joy. With Karen’s generosity, Elias will now have his very own ukulele.

CLICK HERE or the IMAGE to read the Cincinnati Enquirer story about Elias and his family. The newsprint edition featured a 3 PAGE story on Christmas morning, extra special!

I deeply appreciate Janelle Gelfand writing this heartfelt story. You can tell her also at jgelfand@enquirer.com.

It is an honor and privilege to help these individuals connect and share their “greatest gifts” via these little instruments. What kind of world could we live in if everybody followed their lead –– whether ukuleles for music therapy or any similar act of kindness.

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Wanna’ PLAY or PLEDGE a FLEA® ukulele? Visit www.truejoyacoustics.com to learn more plus connect to Amazon and eBay listings. Purchases are convenient, secure, delivered FREE (continental USA) and backed by Buyer Protection Programs on these two well established e-commerce stores.

Email me at info@truejoyacoustics.com if you would like to sponsor a donation of one or more FLEA ukuleles to the music therapy program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It’s easy and will certainly bring joy to your heart as well as many kids spending weeks in a hospital.

click to visit our website

Bloggers, visit us on: WordPress (True Joy Acoustics – Community), WordPress (Ukulele Shops), Tumblr (Ukulele Shops) and Blogger (Ukulele Shops). Comments and connections welcome!

Greg, TRUE JOY ACOUSTICS

Everybody Has A Story – Vanderbilt Music Therapy Project

Image from website of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt

Inspirational stories of Music Therapy are produced and shared at growing frequency.

Not just news headliners , e.g., congresswoman Gabby Giffords’ remarkable recovery from gunshot trauma, but stories of everyday folks facing crisis with music.

They enable an inside glimpse of what it’s like to be a child and their family facing a difficult health challenge. How sheer musical power can create connection, expression, hope –– even physical and spiritual healing –– during such times.

Here’s one featuring Jenny Plume, music therapist at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Her Everybody Has A Story program enrolls the help of Nashville stars. Patients write their own songs with Jenny’s help, then watch their music come to “star power” life in the studio with Amy Grant, Alison Krauss, Faith Hill, Vince Gill and others.

Watch and share this 7″ video. Feel and share the inspiration!

True Joy Acoustics proudly donated the Red FLEA ukulele shown in the video (at :30) to Jenny’s pediatric hospital program a couple years back. Still going strong!

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Wanna’ PLAY or PLEDGE a FLEA® ukulele? Visit www.truejoyacoustics.com to learn more plus connect to Amazon and eBay listings. Purchases are convenient, secure, delivered FREE (continental USA) and backed by Buyer Protection Programs on these two well established e-commerce stores.

Email me at info@truejoyacoustics.com if you would like to sponsor a donation of one or more FLEA ukuleles to the music therapy program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It’s easy and will certainly bring joy to your heart as well as many kids spending weeks in a hospital.

click to visit our website

Bloggers, visit us on: WordPress (True Joy Acoustics – Community), WordPress (Ukulele Shops), Tumblr (Ukulele Shops) and Blogger (Ukulele Shops). Comments and connections welcome!

Greg, TRUE JOY ACOUSTICS

THANK YOU BiOWiSH Technologies

Imagine a routine trip to your children’s doctor to check out and treat acute symptoms. But results are not routine, they forewarn a crisis. Immediate and extended hospital care required. Hardly a time to think about taking up a musical instrument.

Yet, music offers power to cope, nurture and heal –– especially when guided by music therapy professionals. Music instills normalcy and an expression of feeling. It counterbalances the confinement of illness, dreading tests and treatments, waiting.

That conundrum sums up the True Joy Acoustics mission. We leverage our sales proceeds to donate FLEA ukuleles to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. At no added cost to purchasers. And without bothering parents nor hospital budgets as their resources focus on the health crisis.

FUN STRUMS is a program that invites individuals and businesses to accelerate such donations. We thank the following organization for their heartfelt support:

BiOWiSH Technologies

Please click on name above to learn about their comprehensive research and biotechnology applications for Environmental Management, Agri-Business and Consumer Products.

Brian Schreck, MA, MT-BC (music therapy coordinator at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center) and my son Chris –– posing with three brand new FLEA ukuleles and accessories sponsored by BiOWiSH Technologies

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Wanna’ PLAY or PLEDGE a FLEA® ukulele? Visit www.truejoyacoustics.com to learn more plus connect to Amazon and eBay listings. Purchases are convenient, secure, delivered FREE (continental USA) and backed by Buyer Protection Programs on these two well established e-commerce stores.

Email me at info@truejoyacoustics.com if you would like to sponsor a donation of one or more FLEA ukuleles to the music therapy program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It’s easy and will certainly bring joy to your heart as well as many kids spending weeks in a hospital.

click to visit our website

Bloggers, visit us on: WordPress (True Joy Acoustics – Community), WordPress (Ukulele Shops), Tumblr (Ukulele Shops) and Blogger (Ukulele Shops). Comments and connections welcome!

Greg, TRUE JOY ACOUSTICS

THANK YOU to Individuals Sharing Ukulele Joy

Our retail mission serves ukulele players on a national scale. Sales proceeds help us drive a steady donation of FLEA® ukuleles into hospital music therapy programs –– the heart of our community mission. External sponsors (businesses + individuals) help us accelerate donations to reach even more hospitalized children.

Individuals can make a world of difference. Hundreds of miles away from their own home. Among children “stuck inside of four hospital walls” where days are filled with tests, procedures, waiting and hope.

It is there where strumming away on a colorful little instrument with a music therapist at your side brings a special joy.  Learning a simple tune. Creating a song for mom to let her know how much she means to you. True music played on your own time and terms –– not the endless monotone of a monitor going beep, beep, beep, …

Brian Schreck, MA, MT-BC (music therapy coordinator at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center) and my daughter Sarah –– trying out FLEA’s sponsored by individuals

Thank you to an anonymous donor in the Northeast. A highly trained vocalist sponsored a FLEA ukulele in honor of a health practitioner helping her regain her voice due to elusive illness. She discovered the expressive power of ukulele while her voice was hindered, and our hospital donation program via the powers of Google.

Thank you to Brad Boydston in Arizona. He ordered a concert FLEA on Amazon. The ukulele arrived fine thanks to much internal cushioning, but the external carton appeared to be part of a crash test of some sort. The only such mishap encountered after shipping hundreds of FLEA’s across the USA. The shipper took responsibility and issued a credit. But rather than scrapping his original instrument for a replacement to avoid any hidden risk, Brad chose to direct those funds to a hospital ukulele donation. He transformed a one-time mishap into a crescendo of musical smiles at CCHMC.

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Wanna’ PLAY or PLEDGE a FLEA® ukulele? Visit www.truejoyacoustics.com to learn more plus connect to Amazon and eBay listings. Purchases are convenient, secure, delivered FREE (continental USA) and backed by Buyer Protection Programs on these two well established e-commerce stores.

Email me at info@truejoyacoustics.com if you would like to sponsor a donation of one or more FLEA ukuleles to the music therapy program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It’s easy and will certainly bring joy to your heart as well as many kids spending weeks in a hospital.

click to visit our website

Bloggers, visit us on: WordPress (True Joy Acoustics – Community), WordPress (Ukulele Shops), Tumblr (Ukulele Shops) and Blogger (Ukulele Shops). Comments and connections welcome!

Greg, TRUE JOY ACOUSTICS