At the Intersection of Arts and Science: Healing Children Through Music Therapy

So many children and their families are experiencing the difficulty of a chronic condition or life-altering illness, yet an alarming percentage are not aware that this natural, complementary form of treatment is even an option for them.

On the flip side, it can also be a difficult profession to break into. To practice Music Therapy, students must complete a clinical internship before sitting for boards and earning certification to practice. Conventionally, these internships can take up to a year to complete and often are either unpaid or pay a small stipend that doesn’t cover living expenses.

CMF has provided over 10,000 fully-funded music therapy sessions to children and their families experiencing difficult medical diagnoses. Most recently, we established a stipend to cover the living expenses for two Music Therapy interns at UCLA. Since graduating from Berklee College of Music’s undergraduate program, they began their clinical internship at UCLA Health and are projected to complete it this month. They’ll then take their boards and go out into the world to continue practicing and supporting families.

CMF’s work includes connecting eligible children and young adults to board-certified Music Therapists who provide a personalized treatment plan at home and in hospitals. CMF also gifts musical instruments in support of those receiving Music Therapy services and conducts and sponsors research on Music Therapy to further innovate the field and work to integrate music with medicine.

Children’s Music Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and member of the American Music Therapy Association. To help support the mission or to learn more, visit CMF.org.

(Raffi Tachdjian, MD, MPH, is the Founder & President of the Children’s Music Fund. He is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and is double board certified in Adult and Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Tachdjian received his medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, followed by an internship and residency in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, then completed a fellowship in Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is voted one of the UCLA Health System’s Best Doctors.)