American Music Therapy Association

AMTA & Kaplan Fund Bring Music Therapy to Newtown

Donation To AMTA's Disaster Response Program Partners With The Brenda H. Kaplan Music Fund To Bring Music Therapy Services To Newtown, Connecticut Children

A donation to the American Music Therapy Association's disaster response program fund from the Brenda H. Kaplan Music Fund will fund music therapy services among children affected by the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. Music therapy services will be offered in cooperation with Board Certified Music Therapists who serve Newtown area schools.

PRESS RELEASE

The Brenda H. Kaplan Music Fund Reaches Out to the Children of the Newtown, Connecticut. Tragedy

NORWALK, CT - In the wake of the terrible tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Brenda H. Kaplan Music Fund at the Fairfield County Community Foundation is working with the American Music Therapy Association to help the children of Newtown.

The fund has created a $2,500 matching donation challenge to provide music therapy to the children of Newtown.

Music therapy is one form of specialized treatment designed to help young children survive a trauma of this magnitude. The board certified music therapists of the American Music Therapy Association have training in trauma recovery and will be providing services to the children of Newtown. Programming may take place in several ways, depending on the children’s needs and may include individual, group, in-home, classroom and faith-based settings.

Healing from this event will be a long-term process. The goal of the matching challenge is to provide services for at least the next 5 years. Amy Kaplan, a licensed clinical social worker, will oversee the project, and work directly with the team of board certified clinicians providing services in partnership with the American Music Therapy Association.

To make a donation

Visit www.fccfoundation.org, click the "Donate Now" button and select the Brenda H. Kaplan Music Fund.

Norwalk, CT 06851-1543

About the Fund

The Brenda H. Kaplan Music Fund was established through the Fairfield County Community Foundation in 1998 by her daughter, Amy to pay tribute to this extraordinary woman’s devotion to music and children. "As a licensed clinical social worker, I am a huge fan of non-traditional interventions," Ms. Kaplan says. "Through my education and training—and having witnessed my mother’s work—I know there are certain places in a wounded child’s heart that cannot be healed by traditional therapies alone."

Brenda believed strongly in the healing power of music. A gifted harpist who also taught piano to children for over 40 years, she always focused on how music made her students feel. Students often came in after school sharing the triumphs and challenges of the day. More than once, there were no notes played after someone’s particularly difficult day. There was also no charge for the session.

For more information you may contact:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BHKMusicFund

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AMTAInc

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