Music is what feelings sound like // Music Therapist // Lifestyle Session

I was so excited when Channing contacted me to schedule her lifestyle session! Channing and I first met during freshman year of high school (I’ll spare you all of the embarrassing photos I could dig up of us haha). We have since attended opposite high schools and colleges but every time I see Channing it’s right back to freshman year chatting about weekend plans in the hallway. It’s like we never skipped a beat, and this Sunday in the city was no different.

Anyone that knows Channing can appreciate her passion and dedication to her career and helping people. She is currently a full time Board Certified Music Therapist at The Jimmy Fund Clinic and a supervisor to Berklee’s undergraduate music therapy students at Tufts Floating Hospital for Children. (Just for definition: Music Therapy is the application of music as an intervention to address non-musical goals such as promoting healthy coping skills, self-expression, socialization, redirection from experiences of pain, and relief from anxiety.) In addition, she is getting her Masters at Berklee College of Music for a Masters in Music Therapy and Research. In this program, she is researching the relationship between music therapists in the community and in-patient settings.

During her work at the Jimmy Fund Clinic, she realized there was no uniform platform in which families could locate Music Therapists in their local area after being discharged home. So, naturally, in her “spare” time she has endeavored to create MusicTherapyReferrals.org, which is a site that would allow families to look for music therapy providers in their communities based upon their specific needs and accessibility.

>>Can we side-note for a minute: when does Channing sleep?!

Channing asked me to take updated photos for her new website and local lectures on her research and of course I was quick to say yes! We met along memorial drive in Boston (my favorite skyline view) on a cold Sunday morning. We got caught up on life and family and dove right into the session. Channing was so easy to shoot since her eyes lit up whenever her guitar was in her hands. And those eyes- ah! She is such a beautiful person inside and out. I had a blast during this session and wish nothing but the best for Channing and her amazing research and #bosslady website!