Wooster – A small recording studio in The Village Network is an oasis for creativity.
Residents at the Akron Road facility have access to five guitars, a laptop, microphones and headphones, and an electric drum set, which they can use to create music as therapy, said Danielle, a music therapist of five years with the organization. Coffinberger said.
The Village Network is a non-profit behavioral health agency that works with children and families through community-based and residential treatment programs. It serves thousands of youth in 21 locations and more than 90 schools in Ohio and West Virginia, according to its website.
“With music, kids can get stuff out in a way that doesn’t always happen in therapy,” she said. “It’s just another way of expressing myself.”
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To improve both the art of music and the power of music therapy, the Wayne County Community Youth Foundation awarded The Village Network a $1,000 grant in 2020 to purchase updated music equipment for the studio.
The network appreciated the foundation for its support with a tour of the studios on Thursday morning. In attendance was executive director Melanie Garcia, who listened to some of the music created by residents of the treatment facility.
Coffinberger said, “The Music Recording Studio has become a safe haven for creativity for so many young people here, and I am eternally grateful that we were given the opportunity to do this for them.”
how music therapy helps
While discussion-based therapy is generally helpful, Coffinberger said, some experiences, stories or feelings are more difficult for youth to describe. This is where art comes into play.
Music allows some people to open up in ways they couldn’t with traditional therapy.
“[They]also open up with me about their experiences, and then they’re able to process them therapeutically,” she said.
According to a post on the Cleveland Clinic’s website, studies have shown that music therapy can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve memory, manage pain and help individuals cope. can help.
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It is often used with military service men and women, veterans, people with autism and Alzheimer’s, those in correctional facilities, and people with a history of trauma and distress.
Since the studio’s creation in 2019, the kids have created countless hours of musical content, much of it completely original, either as a team or as individuals.
“Sometimes we have the kids singing the lyrics of one song, singing another, and harmonizing with another,” he said.
For a music therapy participant who dreams of making it big in the music industry, the studio challenges her creative side. It’s a place where he can relax and have fun while expressing himself.
“Some of my friends like it because it helps them calm down,” said the participant.
create a music space
The idea for the recording studio goes back to 2018 when Coffinberger first joined The Village Network.
The studio was then used as music therapy storage space.
The next year, the network began working with the Wayne County Community Youth Foundation on a $1,000 grant to update and modernize the growing space.
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While some arts programs, such as drama clubs, have not yet returned from pre-pandemic days, Coffinberger said, studios have been a hit.
“We get a lot of requests to use the space,” she said.
The studio is open to all Village Network residents, even those with no musical experience.
Coffinberger hoped the music room would become a safe place of fun, learning, and expression, and believes that goal has been accomplished.
When a resident leaves the treatment program, Coffinberger gives them a hard copy of their music.
“For many people, having a physical copy of their music gives them a sense of ownership, and that’s because it’s their music,” she said.
supporting mental health care
To Garcia, the studio space is exactly the type of project that the non-profit Charitable Youth Foundation should be supporting.
Not only does it help young people express themselves, but it looks at mental health from a perspective that isn’t often considered.
Before leaving after the tour, Garcia asked Coffinberger what the studio still needed to be the best place it could be for residents.
On that list are a non-electric drum set and various soundproofing elements for the walls—something Garcia hopes to help Coffinberger make a reality.