Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Wood.
Christina, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have been involved in music since being a little girl – my parents made many sacrifices with early morning piano and organ lessons, driving me to music competitions around the state, and starting to play for church in 5th grade. I also was raised volunteering in our local nursing home where my mom worked and knew I enjoyed helping others. Fast forward to making a decision for a career path and college and I wasn’t really sure I wanted to do music therapy but am so glad that I found a career path that combined my passions of helping others through music! As a music therapy student, I began being very passionate about medical music therapy and holistic approaches to healthcare from my own health struggles and supporting my loved ones in their health journey. I focused all of my research and projects on medical music therapy, chose a medical internship at Park Nicollet in the twin cities and was fortunate to pilot the first music therapy program and Children’s Hospitals & Clinics in St Paul and then expand that to their Minneapolis campus as a solo-entrepreneur. I loved providing music therapy support to children and their families and continued to pitch programs to Mayo Clinic who eventually called and said they had a small amount of funding to pilot a pediatric music therapy program within their child life program. I loved my work at Children’s in the cities but woke up one morning feeling called to do more in Rochester. I focused on transitioning the programs in the twincities from contracting with my sole proprietor business to assisting them to hire and train their own music therapists, which has grown into a very successful MT program over the years. As I began to focus my practice in Rochester and the surrounding SE MN communities I was watching my friends and colleagues burnout and work in isolation and recognized the need was much greater than what I could do on my own. I rebranded from being a solo-entrepreneur to Healing Rhythms Music Therapy, LLC in 2013 and began hiring sub-contractors. However, I realized that I truly wanted to coach and mentor the therapists so switched to an employee model. As the community learned what music therapy could offer, our team grew very organically to meet the growing needs of our communities. I purchased our first brick and mortar music therapy clinic in 2017 and we quickly outgrew that and bought and remodeled our 2nd and current music therapy clinic in 2020. It was nothing short of a miracle that we survived the COVID pandemic but our team is stronger and more resilient as a result. We continue to pivot and adjust to meet the changing needs of healthcare, special education, and other needs of the community that we serve. Our team has grown to have 11 board-certified music therapists that serve nearly 30 counties across southern and central MN. Our clinic is located in Rochester, MN where we primarily serve children and adults with neurodiversity, mental health and complex medical needs. We also provide in-home services throughout central and southern MN and have over 40 community partnerships where we contract our services into hospitals, hospices, senior living facilities, mental health agencies, daycares, and school districts to provide services. I am very proud of our compassionate team of music therapists that empower people through music of all stages of life each day. We are humbled every day to be entrusted to walk some of life’s most vulnerable moments with patients and families in the hospital and in their end of life journey or bring joy to others through music.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Entrepreneurship is constantly a rollercoaster journey and exercise in resilience! Some of our team challenges have been losing big contracts due to funding or institutional changes. Funding cuts and changes in healthcare, special education, and social services (i.e., funding for special needs populations like developmentally disabled, autism, etc). The COVID pandemic was surely a challenge and I am proud of how our team has continued to pivot and adjust and grow through each challenge that has been presented to us. We seem to continue to learn, prune, grow, and emerge stronger on the opposite of each challenge we face.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Healing Rhythms Music Therapy, LLC?
Healing Rhythms was founded with a vision to increase access to high-quality music therapy services across greater southern MN. I believe that everyone should have access to music therapy, including my friends with children with special needs in rural communities and my grandparents who were on hospice. I also believe in supporting our music therapy profession. As a solo-entrepreneur I was watching my friends & colleagues burnout and leave the profession because they were working in isolation or reporting into a large company/agency to supervisors and administration that had no idea what our scope and role is as a music therapist and were not receiving support. I wanted to share my experiences and knowledge and coach and mentor and grow a team of music therapists; I believe that is exactly what we have done over the years. Sometimes our biggest challenge is simply educating people on what music therapy is, what we can offer, who we can support, and why we bring value to healthcare or education. I believe that I have become known as a pioneer in creating medical music therapy programs, hospice music therapy programs, and designing partnerships with healthcare organizations to design music therapy programs and research to support more people in our community, increase access, and advance the knowledge of our profession.
As music therapists, music is our tool to help people. This looks very different depending upon what setting we are working in. In general, we are innovative in how we create and design community partnerships with organizations throughout the 30 counties we serve. If a school social worker says they have a desire to offer a wellness-based music event to their students, we meet and brainstorm to determine how this can happen; if a special-education teacher wants to write a grant to get services for their students, we collaborate to make it happen; if a hospice director is struggling to employ a music therapist in a rural community, we find creative ways to offer fractional staffing to cover rural communities.
Our team has developed a few niches within our practice. First being medical music therapy: both inpatient and hospice. We are honored to have been partnering with Mayo Clinic since 2007 to provide contracted-based music therapy services and complete research. We are entrusted by our patients, families, and colleagues to hold space through music in some of life’s most precious moments. While we cannot change the outcome of their medical journey, we can be fully present to hold space, share stories, provide compassionate presence, and bring joy through music while they are hospitalized. We also partner with 7 different hospice agencies to provide music therapy services to patients in their end of life journey. It is truly a privilege to support patients and their families in their end of life journey. Another niche for our practice is having a free-standing music therapy clinic that serves children and adults with disabilities and mental health needs in Rochester. Our clients love coming into our clinic, using our “Jam Room”, and exploring our instruments to make music while supporting their functional goals of daily living, such as emotional regulation, creative self-expression, and meet developmental milestones. A third niche is how we continue to strive to provide innovative programming and therapy services in partnership with school districts. This is often within special education programs, whether it is an Early Childhood Special Education setting, SUN (Student with Unique Needs) program, Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH), Alternative Learning Centers (ALC) or other unique programs that we can support students through. Finally, our team is known for educating others about the intentional use of music to promote their overall wellness and wellbeing and build connections. We love facilitating staff retreats, leading presentations and workshops, facilitating drum circles, and working with departments and corporations to design innovative workshops, presentations, and retreats to support their staff well-being, prevent burnout, and find joy and belonging and connections through music. We have collaborated with IT departments, counties, nursing conferences, educators, researchers, mental health agencies, and even drug court to provide interactive and engaging programming to staff and participants to think creatively on how to intentionally utilize music in their own lives, both personally and professionally.
Healing Rhythms continues to have a strong reputation in Rochester, throughout southern MN and our region to provide innovative music therapy programs and partnerships while supporting our staff to leverage their strengths and grow into the best clinician they can be to empower others through music.
First, it is our hope that readers are curious and learn more about music therapy and how it can benefit them or their patients or students or loved ones (visit our website: www.healingrhythmsmt.com or www.musictherapy.org). Second, we would love for people and organizations to utilize us as a resource, whether that is seeking services for their loved ones or a partnership with an organization, inquire about a unique presentation or retreat we can support. Finally, tell people about Healing Rhythms and how we are striving to support people and organizations by empowering them through music – like & follow us on FB or instagram, share our website, and refer people to us!
What were you like growing up?
As a child, I was soft-spoken, well-behaved, and a good student. I loved music, being with my family, waterskiing, snowskiing, being outdoors, playing piano, and being on the farm. Growing-up as a farm-girl I learned the value of a dollar and a hard work ethic. That instilled in me so many core values that have helped me become the successful entrepreneur and therapist I am today.
Pricing:
- Call to inquire about individual services or community partnerships. We will design and quote services to meet your individual or organizational needs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.healingrhythmsmt.com
- Instagram: healingrhythmsmt
- Facebook: Healing Rhythms
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-wood-ma-mt-bc-9285a514/
