AMTA Awards Wilson Trust Music Therapy Grant Award
American Music Therapy AssociationBarbara A. Else
Wilson Trust Music Therapy Project
National Coordinator
American Music Therapy Association
301-589-3300
Wilson Trust Music Therapy Project
Patti Catalano
Local Media Contact
Regional Manager
American Music Therapy Association
425-444-6893
AMTA Awards Wilson Trust Music Therapy Grant Award to MultiCare Health System
SILVER SPRING, MD – 11/17/2021. The Wilson Trust Music Therapy Project, a project of the American Music Therapy Association is pleased to announce the awarding of a $27,500 matching grant to the MultiCare Foundation for its music therapy initiative to increase music therapy services to infants on the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. This award will significantly increase the effort provided by a board-certified music therapist over the next three years to offer expanded NICU music therapy services. This grant is matched thanks to generous donations received from various individual donors.
AMTA’s President, Deborah B. Williams noted the association is “thrilled to see MultiCare’s Board Certified Music Therapist offering much needed services on the NICU unit to patients and their families. Thanks to the Wilson Trust Music Therapy Project, AMTA is able to partner with MultiCare’s Foundation to make this award and continue services during the pandemic. This is an important and much needed service delivered by a clinician with advanced training working with premature infants and as part of the team at Tacoma General Hospital.”
Tacoma General is the only hospital in South Puget Sound with a level IV NICU, providing the highest level of care possible for critically ill infants. The Tacoma General NICU is nationally accredited in neonatal transport services and provides transport for more than 700 premature infants each year.
This grant will add additional staff to provide music therapy services which can support the development of sensory skills, enhance communication development and build positive bonds. Music therapist Catherine Clements explains, “I really believe music therapy in the NICU is so important. Music therapy literature shows that infants can not only gain weight faster but also be discharged sooner with music therapy services! Getting your baby healthy and home is truly my top priority.”
About the Wilson Trust Music Therapy Project
The Wilson Trust Music Therapy Project is a project that evolved from a generous donation made by Seattle-area benefactors to AMTA in 2010. AMTA received this donation as a legacy gift from the Eleanor and Raymond Wilson Charitable Trust to advance access to quality music therapy services to those in need in the Puget Sound area. Mrs. Eleanor Wilson was a passionate advocate for music and the environment.
The Wilsons lived in the area and supported numerous music and arts programs in the greater Seattle Area. To date, the Wilson Trust Music Therapy Project has funded professional development grants and technical assistance for music therapists; provided student practicum support at Seattle Pacific University, location of the first music therapy degree program in Washington State; and supported matching grants for music therapy services at Seattle Children’s, Snohomish County Music Project, University of Washington Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center Foundation, and ChildHaven.
About MultiCare
MultiCare is a not-for-profit health care organization with more than 20,000 team members, including employees, providers and volunteers. MultiCare has been caring for our community for well over a century, since the founding of Tacoma’s first hospital and today is the largest community-based, locally governed health system in the state of Washington.
MultiCare’s comprehensive system of health includes numerous primary care, urgent care and specialty services — including MultiCare Indigo Urgent Care, Pulse Heart Institute and MultiCare Rockwood Clinic, the largest multispecialty clinic in the Inland Northwest region.
MultiCare’s network of care includes 11 hospitals:
About the American Music Therapy Association
Headquartered in Silver Spring, MD, the American Music Therapy Association is a nonprofit educational organization representing music therapists. AMTA’s purpose is the progressive development of the therapeutic use of music in rehabilitation, special education, and community settings. The mission of the American Music Therapy Association is to advance public awareness of the benefits of music therapy and increase access to quality music therapy services in a rapidly changing world.
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