Who We Are

what is medical music therapy?

Music therapy is a clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship (American Music Therapy Association, 2020).

Music therapists who work in a medical setting undergo specialized training and apply extra precautions and protocols for sanitation and patient safety.

Our project

This Portland Pediatric Music Therapy Project will create a music therapy program for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and general pediatric floors in a hospital in Portland, Oregon, in order to support and serve children and families during stressful and prolonged hospitalizations.

Encompassing a humanistic and client-centered approach to therapy, we use music and the therapeutic relationship to target physical, psychological, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual goals. When working in the pediatric hospital environment, we create a safe and nurturing atmosphere for the patients while providing highly interactive and enjoyable experiences.

The two music therapists involved in this project will collaborate and co-treat with other medical professionals to provide the best and most effective patient care. This project will require instruments and technology, full-time salaries for each music therapist, and other costs associated with the development and overall continuation of the program. In order to track the success of the program, routine data will be collected on pain management, patient compliance with care, and staff and family responses. The primary aim of this program is to serve the patients, their families, and staff with loving and compassionate care.

The music therapists

Ashley Rosales, MT-BC

Ashley Rosales is board-certified music therapist and experienced music instructor located in Beaverton, Oregon. With two undergraduate degrees in Child Development and Music Therapy, Ashley uses music to engage and inspire her clients in multiple areas of development and growth. She has trained in voice and piano from an early age and quickly developed a love for music, theatre, and performing.

Ashley has had extensive experience working with children with special needs in both an educational and therapeutic environment. Over the last year, Ashley was fulfilling her 6-month music therapy internship working in the pediatric oncology unit at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital in Boise, ID. There she used music to help nurture and soothe those in the hospital environment, while also providing a fun and playful outlet for children and their families. She has also provided music therapy at such places as Albina Headstart, an at-risk preschool in Downtown Portland, Ackerman Middle School and Victory Academy, a special needs school for children with autism.

In music therapy, Ashley utilizes the energizing and empowering aspects of music to help communicate with her clients and allow children to fully express themselves in a safe and warm environment. Along with her music therapy work, Ashley has volunteered at various philanthropic associations, including: Orangewood Children and Family Center, Autism Spectrum Interventions and the Blind Children’s Learning Center.

Whitney McCann, MT-BC

Whitney McCann, MT-BC is a board-certified and licensed music therapist and specializes in the NICU. She completed her Bachelors in Music Therapy at Marylhurst University in 2018 and is getting her Master of Arts in Music Therapy at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College. Whitney is the owner of Harmonic Music Therapy and works with children and adults with varying abilities as well as teens and older adults. She currently provides environmental music therapy at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, WA with Rose City Music Therapy and is their on-call music therapist.

Whitney completed her music therapy internship at the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine, serving the Mount Sinai Hospital System in the Greater New York City Area. There, she completed the First Sounds: Rhythm, Breath, and Lullaby training for providing music therapy in the NICU.

Prior to becoming a music therapist, Whitney practiced massage therapy for 12 years and specialized in prenatal massage. She has volunteered at the Lutheran Home for the Aged (skilled nursing), with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, working with youth who experience economic hardship, and has provided hundreds of volunteer hours within her spiritual community.