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Who’s Who: Lindsay Ward: Play Me Some Mountain Music!
Mike Butler
For years, I had heard about the power and joy of music therapy and I’ve known lots of music therapy students and professionals, many who began playing at the TAN Coffee Open Mike nights. To hear their stories and be a part of their life journey is very fulfilling. I feel that music therapy is still very new but, I also know that in my forty years on the planet, music has always been such a driving force and motivator for me. Let me introduce Lindsay Ward to tell us a little more about what it’s all about!
Lindsay came to me on recommendation as a new voice in the Valley music therapy world and I feel quite honoured to share her story with you. She was born and raised in Ottawa to a very musical family. Her mom is a classically-trained musician and singer. Everyone says that when Lindsay came out of the womb, she was singing, not crying, and once she did begin to sing, her parents put her in choirs: church choirs, school choirs, provincial choirs, anywhere singing was involved.
Lindsay is an accredited music therapist, which means she uses music to achieve non-musical goals. She works directly with clients and their support teams to complete an assessment and provide a treatment plan which details their desired goals and outcomes. These goals can range from physical goals, like increased movement in the legs, and communication goals, like the creation of the “S” sound, to emotional goals. They work towards these goals using music, songwriting, singing, playing instruments, analyzing lyrics, playing musical games, and more. You can only imagine how rewarding this profession can be. I encourage you all to incorporate music therapy into your world at some point.
Lindsay currently provides music therapy in Annapolis Valley communities from Windsor to Digby, and also on the south shore, from Chester to Bridgewater. Populations she serves include guardian and child attachment sessions, long-term care, adults in vocational training programs, adults with varying developmental and physical disabilities in residential facilities, elementary, middle, and high schools in learning centres or educational support programs, palliative care, addictions recovery, mental health, and children and youth in care.
“I believe I bring a unique, creative lens to all my work,” Lindsay says. “I enjoy creating and designing individually-tailored interventions, and I do so by learning about my client’s interests, thinking about their goals and desired outcomes, and then design interventions specifically for them. My business, Between the Mountains Music Therapy, is unique for many reasons! For starters, I am a mobile business. I travel to all my clients, whether they are in school, long-term care, participating in a day program or living at home. I love to incorporate other aspects of creativity into my practice, from using paint and markers to create album covers to using dance to promote creativity and gross motor movement. I enjoy designing programs that are accessible to community members. The Kentville Library and I created a program called “Movin’ and Groovin’” for children 2-6 and their caretakers. This program has been incredibly successful and helps to promote community engagement in music therapy as well as parent-child bonding and attachment.”
A young mind with young ideas for the future! Lindsay hopes to create an instrument lending library. Through this project, she aims to make music accessible to everyone in her community. Do you remember the last time a song made you think, cry, smile, tap your toes, or motivate you to communicate with others? Well, that’s part of music therapy! It’s in all of us! Thank you Lindsay for a note-perfect career choice!
For more information, visit betweenthemountainsmusictherapy.com or follow Lindsay and her business on Facebook and Instagram.
