Hi, I’m Ricky.
I provide individual and group music psychotherapy, professional supervision, and continuing education materials for music therapists.
Welcome to Practical Music Therapy, a community therapy resource that prioritizes accessible support and education with clear applications to people’s daily lives.
My Approach
Collaborative
You are the expert of your own experience. I’m here to support you, with my experience, training, and expertise, as we work together towards the goals you choose.
Practical
Whether you’re my client, supervisee, or student, you should come away from our work with a clear sense of how to apply it to your daily life.
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11+ Years of Professional Music Therapy Experience
Inpatient/outpatient adult mental health, kids and young adults with neurodevelopmental difference, and Telehealth
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Professional Music Therapy Supervision
4 years of experience as fieldwork and internship supervisor, as well as visiting supervisor, for NYU music therapy graduate students.
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Graduate Level Music Therapy Educator
6 years as adjunct at NYU's graduate music therapy program, NYU music therapy guest lecturer, and AMTA-approved provider of Continuing Music Therapy Education Credits (CMTEs)
Guitar Improv Accelerator For Music Therapists (GIAMT) - 7 CMTEs
Gain the confidence to walk into any clinical situation with a guitar in your hand. This course covers self-care techniques to make sure you can have a long career, picking and strumming techniques to increase your range of expression and build trust in your internal rhythm, chord options that give you flexibility when supporting others, and strategies for using the guitar to stay present, musically fresh, and to let your clinical sense guide your playing (and not the other way around).
Online, Self-Paced Music Therapy Courses
How To Facilitate a Music Therapy Songwriting Group - A Practical Guide
A practical approach and complete template for bringing focus and inspiration to this powerful music therapy intervention. In addition to a full group template, this course provides visual demonstrations of an actual songwriting group, as well as alternative structures and other considerations.
Guitar Improv Accelerator for Music Therapists II: Applying Your Skills to the Therapy Process
Take all those guitar skills you have and any you gained from GIAMT and learn how to apply them to various parts of the music therapy process. Grounded in trauma research and theory by Judith Herman, Gillian Stephens Langdon, Bessel Van der Kolk, and others, this course gives aspiring and professional music therapists a helpful and practical framework to guide their clinical interventions on guitar.
What Clients are Saying
"I always look forward to my sessions with you, even on hard days."
Former client
"You gave me my relationship with my daughter back."
Former client
Get in Touch!
Schedule a free 15 minute consultation to discuss individual/group therapy, music therapy supervision, or continuing education resources.
FAQ
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If you have never worked with a therapist, I recommend this youtube series on choosing a therapist that’s right for you:
"Do you want to learn how to vet a therapist?"
When you’re ready, please reach out for a free 15 minute consultation, with no commitments, to see if I’m a good fit for your therapy needs. You can use this time to ask questions about my practice and share what you’re hoping to get out of therapy.
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Costs should not be a barrier to seeking support. I offer sliding scale pricing for individual/group therapy and music therapy supervision.
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Timelines depend on the treatment plan we would create together in the first 1-3 sessions, and revisit during treatment. My goal is that you leave each session with a clarity about what is being worked on and the timeline of that work in therapy. You should never have to ask yourself “Why am I in therapy?” or “Why am I still in therapy?”
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No. Most people I have worked with in music therapy have no formal music training or experience. We are all musical from before we're born and can harness that innate musicality to meet your therapy goals. That said, if we decide that musical interventions aren't appropriate for your goals, we don't have to use them.