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VACAVILLE MUSIC THERAPY
Vacaville Music Therapy partnered with Pace Solano in March 2019, serving individuals at our Pace Vacaville program site through music therapy. In these sessions, Music Therapist, Brianna McCulloch, addresses group and individualized goals including social,
cognitive, and communication skills.
This program strives to provide dynamic opportunities for individuals to engage in creative self-expression and work cooperatively with their peers. Pace Solano staff members work with individuals during the week to increase the impact of the weekly groups by providing opportunities for reinforcement of goals, themes, and musical engagement throughout the week through music-listening, discussion of themes in the lyrics, and music history.
In collaboration with the program site, Brianna determines themes for sessions, which include friendship, safety, and community life, and provides a playlist of songs that apply to each theme. Staff members begin introducing the participants to the songs prior to each session in order to increase buy-in, participation, and motivation, as well as help reduce the cognitive load, which allows participants to better focus on the therapeutic goals of each session. This kind of collaboration is valuable and what makes the partnership between Pace Solano and Vacaville Music Therapy rewarding for everyone involved. In July 2019, the music therapy program expanded to include the Pace Fairfield location.
For more information on Vacaville Music Therapy, please visit their website.
Making music with the participants at Pace Solano has become the highlight of my week! We have watched the development of a richer, more collaborative social environment as we work together to make music. Music therapy has a lot of potential to foster growth, creativity, and change among people - nowhere more so than Pace Solano, where the staff is so engaged, enthusiastic, and truly happy to see their participants verbalize differently in the context of music, or move their body in a way they typically do not, or express and engage with others a new way. We are so happy to be partnered with Pace Solano, and look forward to continuing to make music together!
Brianna McCulloch, Vacaville Music Therapy