We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Karen Sholander. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Karen below.

Karen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?

In my job as a hospice music therapist, there are many, many heartwarming stories that I can recall. One in particular was when I worked with a patient who had advanced Alzheimer’s disease. She had been a honky tonk guitar/singer back in the day and music had been a huge part of her life. She now lived at in a nursing home where she was always parked in her wheelchair in front of a TV with a trashy talk show. She was depressed and quiet. She was able to say yes or no, but little else. She knew she used to be able to do so many things on her own, and now she couldn’t.

When I visited her weekly for music therapy, we sat in her room together. Our sessions and the music made a huge difference to her. She’d smile, snap her fingers and move her shoulders to dance. One day she was particularly gloomy. She shook her head sadly and said “I used to..” meaning she used to be able to play the guitar. I changed the tuning on my strings so it would sound good without needing to press down any of the strings and handed the instrument to her. She strummed it while I sang a Hank Williams song. Slowly and surely her demeanor changed into a bright smile. When we finished the song she looked directly at me and said, “I can!” Moments like these are why I love my work.

Karen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) and founder of Moments Music Therapy, LLC, in Plano, Texas. In 2012 I went back to school to earn a degree in music therapy because I had been volunteering to play the piano at a memory care center and was amazed to see how the music affected the residents. I earned board-certification in music therapy in 2014 and became skilled at helping dementia patients to engage and have a higher quality of life through music. My first job was with a hospice company which I introduced to music therapy and where I developed a music therapy program with 2 full-time employees, trained 6 interns, and reached hospice patients over a big part of North Texas.

After covid cuts were made to the company, I began work in private practice and founded Moments Music Therapy, LLC. We are a growing company of board-certified music therapists who provide group sessions for memory care and assisted living facilities, and we contract with hospice companies to provide individual sessions for patients and their families in the North Texas area.

Our work makes a difference in the lives of every client we work with. Daily, I witness people with dementia light up and respond in a way that surprises and delights their family members and care staff. Through my education, experience, and ongoing learning about how music affects the brain, I’ve been able to help my clients emerge from their fog of dementia, express themselves, and to show others the essence of who they are. It isn’t unusual to hear loved ones say that they haven’t heard this person speak for months, and they are delighted to see their faily member truly enjoy themselves.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I am a very loyal person. When I start something, I generally stay the course. This was true in my previous role as an employee of a hospice company. Even though there were things about that job that I liked, there was plenty of things that I didn’t like, but for me, it was safer and easier to stay than to start something new.

However, that choice was taken from me when they cut the music therapy department in 2021 due to covid. All of a sudden, I was out of a job with few possibilities in my field to apply for. It took me awhile to re-frame my thinking, but this loss became the perfect opportunity to do things my own way.

I had so much to learn! Marketing my services, bookeeping, invoicing, balancing field work with office work- there are so many hats to wear as a small business owner! I made a lot of mistakes and I still do, but I am learning every day and building my knowledge of business ownership.

I’ve learned a lot about myself. It turns out that I have skills that are not related to music, even though that’s been my identity since high school. I’ve gathered and supervise a small team, I enjoy the office work, and it’s really exciting to see Moments Music Therapy grow. I know that what we do makes a difference for the people who really need help, and it’s this certainty that propels my forward motion.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

When I first started out as a board-certified music therapist, I wanted to meet every music therapist in the area. I got to know many other MT professionals by hosting networking get-togethers and enjoyed connecting my colleagues with each other. I mentored students and interns and became known in the academic circle of music therapy as well as in my professional circle.

Outside of the music therapy field, I made a lot of cold calls to senior living communities that I knew would benefit from music therapy for their residents. As my schedule grew, I asked my contacts in these communities to put in a good word for me in other communities. I eventually found networking groups for professionals in senior services, and talked about my work as often as I could. Once they knew about the benefits of music therapy for the same clients they serve, my contracts and referrals increased.

I enjoy presenting about music therapy every chance I can because I believe in it. I feel the presentations are helpful for Moments Music Therapy, but also for the field of music therapy as the public learns exactly what makes a qualified professional music therapist (it’s the MT-BC designation, by the way), and why it’s so important (so that people get the quality service they need).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.momentsmt.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momentsmusictherapy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/momentsmt/
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/karen-sholander-mt-bc-bb503866
• Other: Email: [email protected]