Please note that summer will now vary between 6 adn 8 weeks.

Our fall/spring programs begin in early September and end mid-June; our summer program begins the final week in June. However, please be aware that music therapy sessions may become available at any time throughout the year! Openings occur in our schedules for a variety of reasons, and placement is a highly individualized process.

The first step in the intake and enrollment process is to get your name, your family member’s name, or the individual you are responsible for onto our waiting list. This is accomplished by sending us a completed Intake Form (link to Intake Form). Although we have a 36-week school year session and a 6-8 week summer session, we often have openings in our schedule which occur at any time during the year. We schedule new registrants based upon the date we receive the completed Intake Form, documented information regarding preferred days and start times, and therapist experience related to the individual’s diagnosis, needs, and abilities. When we call or e-mail you to offer a session, you will be given a limited window in which to respond, often between 1 to three days. Please be ready to respond at your earliest convenience, as we will move on to another individual on the wait list if we do not hear from you by the deadline you are given. Once you accept an offer of a day and time within our schedule and a plan for financing music therapy services has been developed, an assessment date and time will be scheduled. Therapeutic programming and finalized decisions for music therapy services are determined after an assessment is conducted. The assessment provides an evaluation of the strengths and needs of the individual as observed in the music therapy setting and collected in the intake process. An initial treatment plan with selected therapeutic targets for ongoing music therapy sessions is begun at this time. Music Therapy sessions will generally start two weeks after the assessment has been concluded, so that the Assessment and Initial Treatment Plan may be developed and written.

Once clients begin music therapy services within the Center for Music Therapy, we make every effort to have them continue with the same therapist, unless a schedule change prevents us from doing so. In most cases, we cannot place new clients with a specific music therapist. Each music therapist has a unique schedule, tailor-made to accommodate the clients here and the outreach agencies served. We pride ourselves on hiring only the best and most qualified music therapists. All music therapists have completed an approved music therapy education and training program. All are Board Certified within the first year of their employment and all continue to be recertified, with ongoing participation in our Center’s and other professional development and continuing education opportunities. All music therapists are supervised by the Chair or Clinical Director of our Center, and the entire staff provides informal networking opportunities with one another, which can only enhance the experiences of our clients.

All of our music therapists travel to various community outreach partners in the Greater Cleveland/Northeast Ohio area. We focus on serving those in diverse educational, social service, medical, and recreational settings. For more information about our music therapy outreach contract process, contact Ronna Kaplan, Chair of the Center for Music Therapy.

We may also be able to provide home-based music therapy for those who have challenges accessing services within the community. Contact Anne Reed, Clinical Director of the Center for Music Therapy if you are interested in having a music therapist come to your home.