Healing is a complicated process, but you may discover some elements to be as enjoyable as they are effective during your treatment. Making music is an evidence-based method that allows your mind, body, and emotions to work collaboratively, a process that many clients find so pleasurable that they continue musical activities well into their recovery. The music therapy program at Gulf Breeze Recovery is one of the many integrated approaches to holistic wellness offered within our program, designed to equip you with the life-long skills for successful sober living. Contact our team today at 833.551.2304 to learn how music can affect your health in highly beneficial ways.
Music and Recovery
In a music therapy program, participants are encouraged to use music as a tool for self-expression under the guidance of a licensed and knowledgeable music therapist. Most of the activities are improvisatory in nature, enabling clients to take moments of spontaneous inspiration and translate them into sound. In addition, clients explore their emotional responses to music and learn how to use it as an ongoing part of their recovery to evoke desirable mental states.
Unlike traditional music lessons, skill acquisition is not the goal. Instead, therapists will design activities that allow clients to participate in music-making immediately. No prior training in music is required, nor do clients need to have any particular degree of musical talent. The positive effects of music therapy are achieved through a combination of:
- Guided listening activities
- Opportunities to move to different types of music
- Singing along to music
- Playing instruments
- Discussing responses to recorded or performed music
Music therapy can be used beneficially in practically any context and holds strong potential to enhance the benefits of other interventions.
How Can Music Affect Your Health?
Some of the ways a music therapy program affects your health, and overall well-being include:
- The ability to access thoughts and emotions from a very different angle than talk therapy, allowing clients to express complex sentiments like grief and loss in a non-verbal fashion
- Cultivates the client’s communication skills, especially their capacity to listen and respond to others with empathy
- Allowing clients fun and engaging ways to participate in physical movement and exercise
- Offering opportunities to exercise creative behaviors within a group setting
- Reduction of negative feelings such as anxiety and depression
- Allowing music to serve as a soothing, engaging replacement for drugs or alcohol
- Inviting feelings of achievement, both individually and as part of a group, improving self-esteem
- Encouraging muscular relaxation, providing a natural approach to ongoing pain management
For some clients, music therapy may even result in the establishment of new models of thought, allowing them to evidence that they can practice newly acquired skills with the appropriate guidance, a precious lesson when entering aftercare. It may also provide patients with a highly constructive way to fill the void when they discontinue substance use.
Music therapy can also improve emotional regulation and motivation, encouraging clients to invest more deeply in their recovery. These combined benefits can be especially useful for clients undergoing therapy for co-occurring disorders or who may have struggled with traditional approaches to treatment in the past.
The Music Therapy Program At Gulf Breeze Recovery
At Gulf Breeze Recovery, every client receives an individualized treatment program designed to address their needs in various innovative ways, including music therapy. These approaches allow you to not only cease using drugs or alcohol but return to your life a changed being, better able to understand your thoughts and needs. Do not wait any longer to reach out for help. Contact our team at 833.551.2304 to learn about how our holistic approach can transform your life from this day forward.
