Dr. Brian Abrams, Board Certified-Music Therapist

My former professor, Dr. Brian Abrams joins us on the show today and it's such a treat to pick the brain of someone so revered in the field of music therapy. He speaks about his beginnings in the field, compassion fatigue, what's it's like to teach during a pandemic, and more.

Brian Abrams, Ph.D., MT-BC, LCAT, Analytical Music Therapist and Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery, has been a music therapist since 1995, with experience across a wide range of clinical contexts. Prior to his current position at Montclair State University as Associate Professor of Music (2008-present) and Coordinator of Music Therapy (2010-present), he served on the faculty at Immaculata University (2004-2008) and Utah State University (2001-2004). He has published and presented internationally on a wide range of topics such as music therapy in cancer care, music psychotherapy, music therapy and transgenerational trauma, humanistic music therapy, and the interdisciplinary area of Health Humanities, including his role as one of five authors of a 2015 book by that title. He has also contributed to the establishment of several medical music therapy programs. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals, such as Music Therapy Perspectives, the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, and Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. From 2005 to 2011, he served on the Board of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), including as President from 2007-2009. From 2005 through the present, he has served on the AMTA Assembly of Delegates, including as Assembly Representative on the AMTA Board of Directors from 2010-2013, and as Assembly Speaker from 2012-2013. He currently serves on the AMTA Board of Directors (2000-present) as an Assembly Representative Alternate.

To learn more about Dr. Abrams, and the music therapy program at my alma mater, Montclair State, click here.

To learn more about music therapy, click here.