March is Music Therapy Awareness Month. As some of you may know, I am Board Certified music therapist in Canada who founded Hellokoo while taking time away from Music Therapy. This month we are going to bring together music and poetry to celebrate these two artistic outlets that provide us with so much. In honour of Music Therapy Awareness Month, Ash and I want to focus our prompts and writing on music.
What is Music Therapy?
Music therapy is a discipline in which Certified Music Therapists (MTAs) use music purposefully within therapeutic relationships to support development, health, and well-being. Music therapists use music safely and ethically to address human needs within cognitive, communicative, emotional, musical, physical, social, and spiritual domains.
-Canadian Association of Music Therapists
September 2020
As we celebrate the two year anniversary of Hellokoo, I cannot help but reflect back over the past few years. I didn’t know when I left work for spring break, 2020 that I might never return to my music therapy practice. Who could have predicted spring break with the kids would turn into a long couple of years at home together? I was a music therapist with no way to see my clients and my young children now needed me at home to be their stability in these uncertain times. Without music, I was lost. I needed a creative outlet and a way to process all that was happening. I started writing “quarantine haikus” to document my new life. The beautiful thing about the haiku structure is that it provides a safe container to express and explore my thoughts. This is very similar to the musical container that I provide for my clients as a music therapist - allowing them to express and explore emotions while I hold them the music.
So here we are two years later. I haven’t returned to music therapy. I have continued writing haiku and found the desire to share my love for writing and build a haiku community. Even my children have started to write and design their own haikus. I could not be more proud that my love for words and creative expression has inspired them.
Just as music therapy has had a huge impact on my life, so too has Hellokoo had positive impact on my creative growth. I am grateful for the writing community and online friends that I have made. I would be truly lost without you. Thank you for reading, commenting and sharing your work. Did you know that over 6000 Hellokoos have been written and Hellokoo is now being taught in high school English classrooms! People all over the world are using hellokoo prompts and connecting with each other.
Let’s continue to grow this supportive community by providing a safe and welcoming place to write, read, laugh, cry, be vulnerable, honest and have fun!
Looking forward to reading what the upcoming music prompts inspire from you.
To learn more about music therapy please visit https://www.musictherapy.ca/about-camt-music-therapy/about-music-therapy/ and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I am so grateful to have you in this community. (Who knows, you may even get to hear me sing one of these days…)
With Love,
Naomi