Coffee, Tea, and Music Therapy Jill Leonard, Board Certified Music Therapist

In this episode of the CT&MT podcast, we share clips from some of our favorite music therapy podcasts. There is so much to learn, and we love learning from colleagues.
We hope the teaser clips that you hear on this episode convince you to check out each of these great podcasts!
Music Therapy Chronicles
Listen on iTunes
Check out their website
Clinical BOPulations
Listen on iTunes
Check out the website
Able Voice
Listen on iTunes
Check out their website
Creative Therapy Umbrella
Listen on iTunes
Check out their website
 
FRIENDS FUN!
Leave a message for Mark and Jill on Speak Pipe. Answer the Friends Fun trivia question and we will send you a gift!
RECORD A MESSAGE ON SPEAKPIPE

In this episode, Jill and Mark celebrate Autism Awareness Month. The entire episode is dedicated to our conversation with Reid Moriarti and his mother, Andrea.
Reid is charismatic. He is joy in human form. Reid has autism. Reid is a musician, a content creator, a celebrity interviewer, and a podcaster. I am honestly jealous of all the cool people that he has interviewed on his podcast Talk Time, one of my favorites being Andy Grammer.
Andrea Moriarti has written two books: One-Track Mind and Radical Inclusion. I am reading her first book and can’t wait to finish it and start the next one.
Sign up to receive the Transformational Health Music Therapy newsletter for free. We’ll let you know when new episodes of the Coffee, Tea, and Music Therapy podcast are published. Plus, you’ll get advocacy articles and free resources to help you in your music therapy practice. Plus Plus you will be invited to join the free Music Therapy Happy Hour – a live hangout for music therapists who want to have real conversations about the music therapy.
Friends Fun Trivia:
If you know the answer to this episodes Friends Fun Trivia question, be one of the first three people to leave us a message on Speakpipe and we will send Andrea Moriarti’s book, One Track Mind to you as a prize!
Resources and links related to the show:
REID'S WEBSITE
REID'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL
ANDREA'S WEBSITE
BANDING TOGETHER, NONPROFIT THAT PROVIDES UNIQUE MUSIC OPPORTUNITIES TO INDIVIDUALS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
THE SONGSTREAM PROJECT: VOICES OF AUTISM DOCUMENTARY
AUTISM SPEAKS: RESOURCES FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS, AND PEOPLE WITH AUTISM
And of course, we’re on social media. Let’s connect on Instagram!

This month, we are celebrating social workers and the collaborative potential between social work and music therapy. We talk with Susie Baker, a social worker working in hospice care.
Susie admits that she had no idea what a music therapist did until she saw one in action. “It was almost like magic,” says Susie when she tells a story about how a music therapist was able to slow an anxious patient’s breathing down without ever saying a word.
We also dive back in time through one of our audio journals from 2018. Jill is frustrated by constant rejection from facilities who tell her that music is typically a volunteer role. Music therapists must continue to educate and advocate in the healthcare industry to raise awareness and understanding about the power of music therapy for positive patient outcomes.
Sign up to receive the Transformational Health Music Therapy newsletter for free. We’ll let you know when new episodes of the Coffee, Tea, and Music Therapy podcast are published. Plus, you’ll get advocacy articles and free resources to help you in your music therapy practice. Plus Plus you will be invited to join the free Music Therapy Happy Hour – a live hangout for music therapists who want to have real conversations about the music therapy.
And of course, we’re on social media. Let’s connect on Instagram!

We begin this episode by talking with Dr. Reiland Rabaka, professor of African, African American, and Caribbean Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has written multiple books and has done extensive research in the field of black radical history, black radical politics, black social movements, black feminist theory, black sexuality studies, black popular culture, black popular music, critical race theory, and decolonial theory.
Whew! That’s a long list of credentials, and you will learn within moments of listening to him on the podcast that he is passionate about his work. We had a blast talking with him, not only because of the wealth of knowledge that he shared, but also because of the gracious, open space he welcomed us into as we talked about racial inequality and music’s influence in the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s and in the Black Lives Matter movement today.
The second half of the show is dedicated to a discussion about diversity among music therapy professionals. It was fun to “cross paths” with a fellow classmate and colleague, Loretta Medeiros. We both attended Saint Mary of-the-Woods College in Indiana for our music therapy equivalency program. I had begun a conversation on a music therapy Facebook page, asking a question about diversity in the field of music therapy, and it was clear that Loretta was passionate about the subject. That led to our interview on the podcast.
She has so many great ideas to share, including ways that we can keep working toward greater diversity in the field of music therapy. We talk about the importance of connecting with our patients/clients, and how culture is a key ingredient in making that connection. We live in a diverse world, yet the majority of music therapists are white and female. Loretta and I talk through ways to think bigger and dream of what the professional music therapy network can look like one day.
Episode Links and Resources:
SCENE ON RADIO PODCAST: SEASON 4, EPISODE 7
COUNSELING THE CULTURALLY DIVERSE BY DERALD WING SUE
MUSIC THERAPY IN A MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT BY MELITA BELGRAVE
THE BLACK MUSIC THERAPY NETWORK
PETE MEYER, MUSIC THERAPIST WITH A PASSION FOR DIVERSITY IN THE FIELD
DR. REILAND RABAKA, PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER
THE HIP HOP MOVEMENT BY REILAND RABAKA
Music Credits WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED – THE FREEDOM SINGERS OH FREEDOM – THE GOLDEN GOSPEL SINGERS WE SHALL OVERCOME – PETE SEEGER THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE – FANNIE LOU HAMER LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING – RAY CHARLES  

This episode of Coffee, Tea, and Music Therapy delivers stories and advice from the front lines of running a private music therapy practice. We talk with Nikki Belshe Lanza, MT-BC, the owner of Heart and Harmony Music Therapy in Texas. Nikki recommends several books for new business owners and tells the story of turning her internship program into a staffing plan.
Jill and Mark review the book, Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. This is an important book for any new business owner to read. 
Finally, Mark and Jill dive back into the archives of Jill’s audio journal to explore the fears and hardships of starting a career as a music therapist in private practice. 

We asked, and our listeners delivered. This episode of Coffee, Tea, and Music Therapy features several people calling in and telling us their favorite Christmas music memories.
Music triggers memories and emotions unlike any other art form. It has a special connection in our brain.