Click Here to Register for the Gather and Grow Series
Third Thursdays On-Line Monthly via Zoom
6:00 – 7:00 pm Central Time – Educational Presentation
7:00 – 8:00 pm – Networking, resource sharing, and community building
Suggested donation $20 per event.
Please feel free to join us even if you can’t make a donation at this time. If you are able to make a contribution, it will support our efforts at increasing equity for people from marginalized communities and support the amazing charities the presenters are choosing.
50% of the funds raised will be donated to a charity of the presenter’s choosing.
50% of the funds raised will be contributed to the Living Spirit Therapy Services Pay It Forward Campaign to fund grants for music therapy, early childhood music, and wellness programs for individuals from historically marginalized communities.
Schedule:
Click Here to Register for the Gather and Grow Series
November 19th : AMTA Conference! Be sure to log on for the Keynote by Dr. Emmeline Edwards from National Institutes of Health (NIH) during our regular time.
December 17th :
Presentation Topic: Social Media Marketing for the Therapy Professional
Presenter: Jaycie Voorhees, MM, SCMT, MT-BC; Director, Music Therapy Mastermind, LLC
During the networking time in December we will do an AMTA conference review. Did you know that we will have access to recorded AMTA concurrent sessions for 6 months! Let’s share favorites that we all need to make sure to watch!
See below for more details.
January 21st:
Presentation Topic: Effective Communication & Understanding Challenging Behaviors in Dementia
Presenter: Laura DeLoye, MT-BC; Alzheimer’s Association, CA Central Coast-San Luis Obispo Program & Education Manager
See below for more details.
February 18th or April 15th:
Ginny Anderson Caldwell, M.M., MT-BC will be back for a presentation on songwriting!
Details to follow.
March : GLR/MWR Conference! (time during conference to be determined): Networking and conference review. Let’s share favorites that we all need to make sure to watch!
If there any topics that you would like to learn more about or specific individuals you think would make great presenters please feel free to contact [email protected].
Previous Presentations
October 15th :
Presentation Topic: Experiences of and Practical Tips for Working in Multicultural Clinical Settings
Presenters: Carolyn Koebel, M.M., MT-BC, HPC, David Melbye, MT-BC, and Ginny Anderson Caldwell, M.M., MT-BC
Adapted Time Line 6:00 – 8 pm Central Time – Educational Presentation
See below for more details.
Click this link to watch a recording of this presentation: https://vimeo.com/470362024
September 17th
Presentation Topic: Helping Skills and Alliance Building
Presenter: Kara M. Johnson, LMFT, MSE, MEd, oncology psychotherapist at the Park Nicollet Frauenshuh Cancer Center
See below for more details.
More Details on Presentations
Click Here to Register for the Gather and Grow Series
Social Media Marketing for the Therapy Professional
December 17th 6:00 – 7:00 pm Central Time Presentation
7:00 – 8:00 pm – Networking, resource sharing, and community building
Presenter: Jaycie Voorhees, MM, SCMT, MT-BC; Director, Music Therapy Mastermind, LLC
Description: This presentation will outline essential tools & concepts for social media marketing. In a discussion-based format, participants will discover concrete ideas on how to use social media platforms to:
- Increase awareness of your brand & offering
- Discover your audience & attract prospects
- Engage with your audience in meaningful ways
- Convert your audience into loyal customers
Presenter Bio: Jaycie Voorhees, MM, SCMT, MT-BC has been a Board Certified Music Therapist in Salt Lake City, Utah since 2008. Her clinical experience includes working with children and adults with special needs, adolescents, and adults with mental health challenges, corporate wellness, and hospice. She is the Owner and Executive Director of Harmony Music Therapy where she employs 8 therapists working with special needs and mental health populations. She is also the Past President of the Utah Association of Music Therapists where she served for 4 years. Her leadership helped to double the association membership and quadruple continuing education opportunities available to members.
Jaycie combines her zest for life with her passion for music, bringing energizing and effective change to her clients and their teams.
50% of the donations raised through this presentation will be donated to The Autism Council of Utah.
50% of the donations raised will be contributed to the Living Spirit Therapy Services Pay It Forward Campaign to fund grants for music therapy, early childhood music, and wellness programs for individuals from historically marginalized communities.
Effective Communication & Understanding Challenging Behaviors in Dementia
January 21st: 6:00 – 7:00 pm Central Time Presentation
7:00 – 8:00 pm – Networking, resource sharing, and community building
Presenter: Laura DeLoye, MT-BC; Alzheimer’s Association, CA Central Coast-San Luis Obispo Program & Education Manager
Description: Explore how communication changes when someone is living with dementia, learn how to interpret the verbal and behavioral communication and identify strategies to help connect and communicate at each stage of the disease.
Presenter Bio: Laura DeLoye has worked in all levels of care with older adults and caregivers for nearly 25 years as a board certified music therapist, community coordinator, adult day center director, non-profit organization director and as a dementia caregiver education manager. She has presented about music therapy and interactions with older adults with dementia at local, state, regional and national conferences. Laura is a native of Ohio, lived for 15 years in North Carolina and has lived on the California central coast for 9 years enjoying the sun, ocean, wine and mountains.
50% of the donations raised through this presentation will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Association
50% of the donations raised will be contributed to the Living Spirit Therapy Services Pay It Forward Campaign to fund grants for music therapy, early childhood music, and wellness programs for individuals from historically marginalized communities.
Click Here to Register for the Gather and Grow Series
Previous Presentations
Experiences of and Practical Tips for Working in Multicultural Clinical Settings
October 15th 6:00 – 8 pm Central Time Presentation
Click Here for a Recording of this presentation
Presenters: Carolyn Koebel, M.M., MT-BC, HPC, David Melbye, MT-BC, and Ginny Anderson Caldwell, M.M., MT-BC
Description: This powerhouse team is together Again!! Join Virginia Caldwell, Carolyn Koebel, and David Melbye for an evening conversation around Multicultural practices in music therapy. Through musical vignettes and clinical reflections, they will share personal accounts of meeting diverse client needs through deep listening and cultural humility. Bring a frame drum if you have one, as they will add a few get up and go musical skills during our time together…
Presenter Bios:
Carolyn Koebel, M.M., HPC, MT-BC has been passionate about percussion since childhood. She holds degrees of distinction in percussion and music therapy from Western Michigan University & Michigan State. Her studies, research and interests in indigenous percussion has taken her around the globe, studying traditional drum/dance/ceremony in Ghana, samba and Candomblé rituals in Brazil, historical taiko traditions in Japan, Sufi traditions, zhikr, and Turkish and Arabic drumming in Istanbul, Andean music of the Quechua, Garifuna/Garinagu traditions of Latin America, Hindu kirtan at temples in India, and mentorship with master drummers from a host of musical traditions. She has performed concert tours and teaching tours in China since 2012, and teaches guitar & world percussion at Western Michigan University, St.-Mary-of-the-Woods College, and Kalamazoo College. She presents workshops regionally and nationally for music therapists, and works in hospice music therapy, community music therapy settings, in at-risk youth programming, and wherever the drum is called into action. She is an active performer in diverse musical settings; visit carolynkoebel.com to learn more. She has released dozens of recordings with a host of collaborators, including “Honoring the Passage:Voices from Hospice Music Therapy” (featuring Ginny & David). View the catalogue at carolynkoebel.bandcamp.com.
Virginia Caldwell, M.M. MT-BC When words fail music speaks. -H.C. Andersen Virginia Caldwell MM MT-BC is a masters level board-certified music therapist. Virginia has spent most of her career working around the Mid-Michigan area. She graduated from Michigan State University and has worked as a music therapist for over 15 years. During her career, she has worked in the areas of; Behavioral Health, At Risk Youth, TBI Rehabilitation, and End of life care. The bulk of her work has been in end of life care using music to assist patients and families come to terms with death and dying as well as managing the feelings of grief and loss to follow. Virginia’s approach to hospice music therapy is very humanistic. She believes hospice work is not a job but a privilege. “Working in collaboration with the team to address; spiritual, emotional, social and physical well-being incorporating patients and families through various music interventions and through legacy creation is the highlight of my work-day.” Virginia has had the opportunity to present locally, nationally, and internationally on the benefits of music therapy in end of life care.
David Melbye has been a board-certified music therapist since 2000. He served hospice patients for many years and currently practices privately in Bellingham WA. His studies have included music history at St. Olaf College, music therapy at the University of Minnesota, and practical nursing at Red Wing Technical College. He also writes, records and plays publicly as a singer and multi-instrumentalist. His arrangements have appeared on two Todd Rundgren tribute CDs as well as many CDs produced by Carolyn Koebel. Click Here for David’s Solo CDs
David has presented at state, regional and national music therapy conferences on a variety of topics including hospice, guitar skills, the Q chord, the Reverie Harp and his work with multicultural clients and families.
Click Here for David’s website.
50% of the donations raised through this presentation will be donated to Crescent Cove “A home-away-from-home for kids with life-limiting conditions and their families, where each moment of life is embraced and celebrated.”
50% of the donations raised will be contributed to the Living Spirit Therapy Services Pay It Forward Campaign to fund grants for music therapy, early childhood music, and wellness programs for individuals from historically marginalized communities.
Helping Skills and Alliance Building
September 17th 7:00 – 8:00 pm Central Time Presentation
8:00 – 9:00 pm – Networking, resource sharing, and community building
Presenter: Kara M. Johnson, LMFT, MSE, MEd, oncology psychotherapist at the Park Nicollet Frauenshuh Cancer Center
Description: A primer on basic counseling and connecting skills for all in the helping professions, and information on how to develop a therapeutic alliance that leads to positive counseling outcomes and change for our patients.
- Apply essential counseling skills and self-attending skills to professional situations via cases provided by participants.
- Understand situations that call for advanced skills and understand how to develop these skills.
- Define“therapeutic alliance” and identify the important predictors of this relationship.
- Identify barriers to building a therapeutic alliance.
Presenter Bio: Kara M. Johnson, LMFT, MSE, MEd, is oncology psychotherapist at the Park Nicollet Frauenshuh Cancer Center. As a licensed family therapist, she counsels patients, partners, caregivers, and families as they learn to cope with a new cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, and/or difficult prognoses. She develops and teaches educational classes focusing on critical periods in the cancer experience: newly diagnosed, after treatment, recurrence, and end of life issues. Specializing in healthy family functioning, she offers parenting support for patients who have children under the age of 18, and family communication sessions as opportunities for family members to express feelings, hopes, and fears with one another is a safe and helpful space. Kara is currently studying medical family therapy to educate on the importance of a biopsychosocial approach to medical and mental health care. She was an adjunct instructor at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, teaching human development and counseling courses. Prior to her work at Park Nicollet, she provided grief counseling at North Memorial Hospice and provided therapy in private practice.
For future educational seminars and trainings on family emotional health, grief, anticipatory loss, end of life, and talking to children about illness and death, please email
50% of the donations raised through this presentation will be donated to Open Arms of Minnesota. https://www.openarmsmn.org/
50% of the donations raised will be contributed to the Living Spirit Therapy Services Pay It Forward Campaign to fund grants for music therapy, early childhood music, and wellness programs for individuals from historically marginalized communities.
