Maryville receives grant for its music therapy

The Hanover Township Mental Health Board has awarded a grant to Maryville's Casa Imani and Casa Salama programs in Bartlett for music therapy.

Based on scientific evidence that supports the use of music therapy in mental health treatment, Maryville Academy has incorporated this alternative to traditional therapy into many of its programs.

"Music therapy has had a powerful impact on the young ladies at our Bartlett campus," said Sister Catherine M. Ryan, O.S.F., executive director of Maryville Academy. "Music has helped these young women to cope with trauma. It has given them a way to experience confidence, creativity and joy."

The Maryville Music Therapy Program now includes a growing repertoire of instruments, as well as individual and group singing, dancing, movement, lyric analysis, songwriting, and performing.

The program helps the young women express difficult emotions, cultivate coping skills, deal with anxiety, fear and frustration, adapt to new situations and to find peace, safety, comfort and healing in music.

The musical therapy sessions are designed to meet the specific needs of each young woman. The program has become an essential component of the specialized mental health services provided as part of the Bartlett program.

The young women attend weekly music therapy sessions. The grant from the Hanover Township Mental Health Board goes toward the salary of the music therapist, the purchase of instruments and CDs, as well as music software programs.

The Bartlett campus is home to two of Maryville's programs. Casa Imani provides pregnant and parenting teens who have experienced trauma with a nurturing home, therapeutic and educational services, and parenting education to promote the development of healthy parent-child relationships.

The Casa Salama program provides young women with intellectual disabilities and mental illness a home, therapeutic and educational services, and community integration activities to prepare them for the next phase of their lives.

"Music therapy is an excellent way for us to carry out Maryville's mission, which is to help children and families reach their fullest potential by empowering intellectual, spiritual, moral and emotional growth," Sister Catherine said.