Leading Teen Assessment Center Observes Music in Our Schools Month by Introducing Music Therapy for all Students
Syracuse, Utah (PRWEB) April 01, 2016 -- ViewPoint Center, one of the top tier residential mental health facilities for young people ages 12-17, celebrates Music in Our Schools Month by emphasizing the benefits of music therapy for teens struggling with behavioral or emotional issues.
Music therapy is an established therapeutic practice that utilizes music within a therapeutic relationship to address cognitive, physical, social, and emotional needs of individuals. ViewPoint Center recently added music therapy as another way to help students lead healthier, happier lives.
“Music therapy provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words,” comments Britten Lamb, LCSW, Clinical Director at ViewPoint Center. “Music is often linked to mood. A certain song can make us feel happy, sad, energetic, or relaxed. Because music can have such an impact on a person’s mindset and well-being, it should come as no surprise that it is an effective way to help teens overcome emotional and behavioral struggles.”
According to ViewPoint Center, benefits of music therapy include:
- Improving self-esteem: A variety of studies have produced results that displayed an increase in overall self-esteem after teens undergo music therapy for a specific period of time.
- Reducing depression: Music therapy has been known to reduce symptoms of depression in struggling teens.
- Improving interactive skills: After participating in music therapy, patients have seen a marked increase in their ability to communicate clearly and hold an active conversation.
- Helping teens cope with grief: The cathartic nature of music helps teens struggling with deep emotional struggles, such as grief, work through their difficulties.
Music therapy differs from other therapies in that it allows an adolescent a forum to communicate outside of the talk therapy setting. Most adolescents can relate to music in some fashion. Many adolescents who feel confused and misunderstood find connection in musical lyrics.
“Music elicits emotions that so many teens exert a great deal of effort and energy trying to suppress,” says Judith Jacques, M. Ed, Executive Director of ViewPoint Center. “Music therapy can also make an important contribution to the team’s assessment of an adolescent, especially when working with withdrawn adolescents and adolescents who are unable or unwilling to cooperate.”
At ViewPoint Center, all patients attend music therapy for an hour and a half, two days a week. Music therapy is a recent addition to the clinical program at ViewPoint Center.
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ViewPoint Center, one of the top residential mental health facilities for teens ages 12-17, is located just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. With a program lasting 5-7 weeks, ViewPoint Center provides superior assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and stabilization for teens struggling with mental and behavioral issues such as suicidal ideation, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders. In a safe, personalized environment, ViewPoint helps teens focus on the healing process.
John Gordon, ViewPoint Center, http://www.viewpointcenter.com/, +1 617-792-4121, [email protected]
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