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

Noah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

I was arriving to provide treatment at an inclusive camp for kids with special needs, in the mountains of Rising Fawn, Georgia. While walking into the main cabin area I noticed a camper with his head on his mom’s lap. This was someone I was familiar with so I immediately went to check on him. He was not very engaging and appeared upset. His mom and camp counselor sat angled toward him with concerned expressions. They had been offering him different games, toys, and activities but nothing was able to get him up and going. I told them I would set up my laptop and keyboard controller, then have him come over to produce a song. He agreed and shuffled on over when I was ready. As we began to pick sounds, play music, and joke around his mood drastically started to improve. His behaviors shifted 180 degrees and he was able to enjoy the camp experience again. The child’s counselor stated his gratefulness for the activity because initially this kiddo was ready to go home. By the time we finished he was singing, laughing, and sharing his art with others. It was gratifying to see the program work in its simplest form by making someone feel better so they can get more out of their day.

Noah, 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 have always been drawn to music. Growing up I incorporated it into almost all of my daily activities. Whether I was skateboarding, hanging with friends, studying, or resting there always seemed to be a song that elevated the experience. Sometimes, I would even wait to listen to my newest favorite song until there was a meaningful event that I could pair it with. This natural inclination, that so many of us have, stays with me and played a major role with veering me into the career I have today. It, however, took growth in other facets of my life to fully come to fruition as a pursuable profession. As I transitioned from high school into college I started seriously looking at possible lines of work. The most influential parameters for me in this process included a lack of tolerance for sitting at a desk, having an inclination to interact with others, and my craving to be creatively expressive. These factors primed me for a strong interest in Occupational Therapy. I learn about the field through a friend of mine whose little brother had sensory processing disorder. I saw how he would address challenges, such as wearing clothes outside of his preferred wardrobe (matching pajamas), through activities like climbing rock walls. I was immediately awed at the neurological influence that was occurring through the intervention of play. After getting accepted into an Occupational Therapy Assistant Program, I started working as a Registered Behavior Technician to help pay for school. I was hired at an Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) clinic to work 1 on 1 with kids who had autism and significant behavior challenges. My time as an RBT complimented my understanding of the concepts I was learning in school and provided me invaluable clinical experience. I graduated from Northern Virginia Community College’s accredited OTA program in 2020. Shortly after, I started as an OTA in Nashville, Tennessee working in schools and outpatient clinics. Throughout both of these roles I was responsible for supporting clients with developing adaptive skills and decreasing maladaptive ones. Emotion regulation was a constant factor at the base of many of my treatment sessions and continually peaked my interest as a therapist. Why would a person do X, Y, or Z? What do they feel that makes them inclined to act that way? If they can tell me afterwards that it wasn’t the best decision, why did they do it at all? How did this pattern of behavior start? What decision making habits do I have, that are similar to this client? If they could make this change, what else would they be capable of? In my practice I frequently got to ponder consequential questions like these. Questions that, if answered, would greatly improve my clients’ quality of life. During the midst of my beginning years as a OT practitioner I experienced my first bout of burnout. I had failed to establish good routines and set unhealthy priorities for my life. It was having serious effects on my mental and physical well-being. Additionally, I was broken up with by my girlfriend of 7 years who I was living with at the time. These circumstances put me in a position where my job, relationship, and living status were all unexpectedly going to change in a matter of months. Fortunately, in addition to amazing support from my family, I was finishing up Remington College’s Beat Production and Recording Arts Technology Program. I started to tackle the logistical, physical, social, and emotional challenges of my life, and was making music alongside it all. Unknowing to myself, these music production sessions were some of the first inklings of Regulation Beats™. The EP I was making became a multi-sensory journal for me to document my experiences. The production activities became tools/exercises that unlocked parts of my perception which were previously translucent or opaque all together. The final projects became pieces of art that gave me a sense of closure and established a framework from which I could outwardly articulate my journey. At this point, it was only natural for me to bring my laptop and MIDI controller (a small, programable keyboard) into work to start making songs with my pediatric clients; hoping they could access some of the relief and growth that I did. I started adding leading questions/prompts and formatting it all into worksheets. These efforts snowballed into 25 activities divided into 5 categories: Understanding Emotions, Identifying Your Emotions, Influencing Emotions, Executive Functioning, and Sensory Processing. Regulation Beats™ is an emotion and sensory regulation program where participants exercise coping skills and emotion intelligence through a variety of music-making activities. This includes creating full songs, writing lyrics, selecting sounds/songs, analyzing songs/sounds, collaborating with others, and more. It is designed for those across the lifespan and has already serviced age groups from 1 1/2 years old, to 92 years old. It is inclusive to people with a variety of cognitive, behavioral, and physical challenges such as those associated with medical diagnoses like dementia, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder, amputations, cerebral palsy, anxiety, ADHD, and more. Sessions typically occur in-person and 1 on 1, but are adaptable to be administered to groups or virtually. Ideas and resources can also be provided via consultation. Participants exercise skills such as communication, empathy, attention, regulation strategy utilization, self-awareness, and emotion identification. They learn about concepts such as energy versus emotions, feelings versus emotions, emotion perception, regulatory maintenance, and limitations of the subjective emotional experience. Addressing these targets supports clients with developing perceptive decision making, decreasing emotion-related pain/distress, independent functioning, occupational engagement, and improvement of overall quality of life. Regulation Beats™ takes a unique approach to emotion regulation by integrating a variety of evidence based strategies from occupational, behavior, psychological, music, and art therapy fields. It maintains a highly digestible format that is adaptable and centered on a holistic view of the client. Although Regulation Beats™ has a very technical backing, what I am most proud of is the simplistic positivity it can bring. As described in my previous anecdote, this program makes people feel better; whether that is a child with autism working up the calmness and courage to interact with his peers, a typical adult discovering how to describe the discomfort they’ve been feeling, or an individual with cerebral palsy creating a song and doing something they never thought they would get to do. I am extremely fortunate to have developed a passion that helps people live better lives, and I am privileged with the means to share that passion with others. I have cherished every sound made with my clients and hope to continue helping others for a long time to come.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

One of the most helpful assets to have in my field is a learner’s mindset. Occupational therapy is an extensive profession that often overlaps with others, such as physical, behavior, or speech therapy. It can be used to address a variety of living, self-care, and learning skills. We service clientele across the lifespan, from birth to death, and in a variety healthcare, living, and educational facilities. Practitioners are required to routinely take continuing education courses and stay informed on the latest research, information, and interventions. Swimming in this vast ocean of information quickly becomes overwhelming unless you know how to tread its waters. Collaborating, communicating, addressing your mistakes/weaknesses, asking for help, asking for feedback, hearing others out, taking responsibility for your development, and embracing challenges are all means of sustenance as a therapist. I can confidently attribute my success to the continuous employment of these practices and my focus on becoming better, not trying establish myself as the best.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

My favorite emotion scientist is Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett. She is a psychology professor at Northeastern University and proponent of the constructed emotion theory. I discovered her through a Huberman Lab Podcast episode titled “How to Understand Emotions”. This episode enlightened me on the idea that emotions are not hardwired networks in the brain, triggered when we interact with certain complexions of stimuli, but instead are concepts that our brain constructs by utilizing past experience, present knowledge, sensory input, and predictions. Her explanation affirmed many processes included in Regulation Beats™ and helped me highlight their importance. It reinforced the philosophy that I should not try to teach people how to identify predefined emotions. I should teach them to understand the emotion development process so they can come to an individualized version of that definition themselves. Framing emotion processing this way emphasizes the opportunities we have to influence emotions and support better functioning, enjoyment, and quality of life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/regulationbeats/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555849176778
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/regulationbeats
• Other: Email: noah.perales@regulationbeats.net

Image Credits

Olivia Ross