HealthLinksSC.com | 25 MUSIC AND MENTAL HEALTH When Janelle Mitchell enters the room of one of her adolescent patients who was recently diagnosed with cancer, she doesn’t bring a stethoscope or bandages. Instead, she might be carrying a guitar or the lyrics to the patient’s favorite song. Mitchell is a music therapist at Prisma Health. “Music therapy is not just playing or performing music. It’s a neurologically based science that can help patients as they learn to cope with a new diagnosis or recent surgery,” Mitchell explained. “We might play or listen to music as a way to help a young patient relax and to help us build rapport. Or a patient might tell us how the lyrics in a favorite song speak to them as we learn about what they are feeling.” A professional music therapist holds a bachelor’s degree or higher in music therapy with a curriculum focusing on musical foundations, clinical foundations and music therapy principles. Therapists also must be skilled and proficient on several instruments to effectively provide music therapy services. Their training emphasizes that music can act as a medium for processing emotions, trauma and grief or as a regulating or calming agent. Dr. Frank Clark is a psychiatrist at Prisma Health and a clinical associate professor at the School of Medicine Greenville. He highlights the connection between music and health in his practice and in the community. By Lisa Wack
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