About Us

Who is the Music Therapy Trust?

Our Mission

To promote, develop, and support music therapy services and research in order to restore, maintain, and improve the mental, physical, and emotional health of Canadians.

Our Vision

To create better lives through the transformative power of music therapy.

Based in the Music Therapy Centre in Toronto, the Music Therapy Trust is a non-profit organization dedicated to making music therapy available to more people in more communities across Canada.

The scientific evidence tells us that music therapy works. However music therapy is still not a well-known therapy and is seldom funded by government programs. This means that for the most part, music therapy is only available in Canada to those who can pay for it.
Music therapy helps us to move and communicate, to cope, to better understand ourselves and to reach our full potential. We want to make music therapy available to anyone who needs it, so we provide funding for music therapy programs.

NEW! OPPORTUNITY FOR MTAs!

We are looking for volunteer PR and Event Coordinators!
We can’t do all that we do without you. If you’re interested in promoting your profession and adding a bit more to your resume, we are looking for energetic, sincere and motivated volunteers to help us make music therapy more accessible to all Canadians!

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Our
Focus

We exist to help more people in Canada receive music therapy. We bring music therapy into communities that don’t have it. We help music therapists bring services to those who need them.

The Music Therapy Trust is focused on demonstrating the effectiveness and importance of music therapy by helping Canadians to understand music therapy and by funding:

  • pilot projects
  • research
  • clinical subsidies
  • special projects

The bottom line: music therapy works and we want to make it available to more Canadians.

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Our
Beginnings

The Music Therapy Trust emerged from the efforts of the music therapy community in Canada in the early nineties. Our first chair was Fran Herman, a Canadian music therapy pioneer. Fran worked tirelessly to raise awareness and to find funding to support music therapy, in order to support music therapy development and research and promote the use of music therapy in hospitals, schools, and other facilities.

Fran’s vision of accessible music therapy services provided by qualified therapists across the country remains the focus of the Music Therapy Trust and we have successfully funded more than 400 projects to date.

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Our
History

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Grant application forms

If you are a researcher, a music therapist or a music therapist-in-training, our financial grants can help you to reach your professional goals. Apply for assistance from the Music Therapy Trust.

Applicant and Foundation Pairing – no deadline

Amount: Completely dependent on the paired foundation

Objective: To pair successful applicants with geographic or population specific foundations and to support the applicant in applying for a grant from the foundation.

Download Forms: English | Français

Michael Cohl Fellowship – deadline March 15

Amount: $2,000 per year for up to 2 years

Objective: To promote graduate/doctorate-level research

Download Forms: English | Français

The Fran Herman Scholarship – deadline March 15

Amount: up to three awards of $1500 per year

Objective: To support Canadian music therapy students as they complete their studies
Download Forms: English | Français

Trust Fund Project Grants – deadline October 1

Amount: Various awards

Objective: To support music therapy programs across Canada

Download Forms: English | Français

Trust Fund Research Grants – deadline October 1

Amount: Various awards

Objective: To support music therapy research across Canada

Download Forms: English | Français

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Grant Recipients

Definitions of grants

Clinical grants are awarded to accredited Canadian music therapists who apply for funding to provide music therapy services in underserved communities across Canada.

Research grants are awarded to accredited Canadian music therapists who apply for funding to add to the body of knowledge about music therapy.

Music Therapy Ride Grants support music therapists working with the Bandwagon Project in BC on an ongoing basis.

2014

Clinical grant recipients:

To be announced

BC Music Therapy Ride – Bandwagon Grant Recipients:

Katherine Dennison
Victoria Conservatory of Music
Trinity Music Therapy
Nejama Ferstman
Maryann Burrows
Stephanie Martyn

Scholarship recipient:

Michael Cohl Fellowship – Demian Kogutek
Fran Herman Scholarships: Felicia Wall, Michael Brush, Mary Parkinson

2013

Clinical grant recipients:

Lucinda Johnston Lawrence MTA – Purchase of instruments for Community Options Music
Therapy Program, Edmonton AB
Amanda Jardine BMT MTA – Individual and group music therapy
Manor’s long-term care facilities, Moncton, New Brunswick.
Jane McLaren MM MTA – Purchase of instruments for Beyond 21, Cornwall ON

BC Music Therapy Ride – Bandwagon Grant Recipients:

Carolyn Neapole, Vancouver
Joanne Suen – B.A.S.E.S. Program, Fraser Heights S.S.
Sheila Lee, Richmond
Laura Unger – George Pearson Centre, Vancouver BC
Don Hardy – MTC Studio, Burnaby BC
Catriona Murphy – West Coast Alternate Highschool, Vancouver BC
Sheila Harry – Tabor Home – Abbotsford BC

Scholarship recipient:

Aimee Berends (Wilfred Laurier) Fran Herman Scholarship

2012

Clinical Grant recipient:

Elizabeth Stolt,  Covenant Health St. Joseph’s Palliative Care Unit, and Covenant Health Edmonton General – Mel Miller Hospice, Edmonton AB.

Research Grant recipient:

Beth Clark, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, Vancouver BC, Music therapy as a pain modifying intervention in children with life-limiting neurological impairments and metabolic disorders.

Scholarship recipients:

Michael Cohl Fellowship : Susan Baines
Fran Herman Scholarship: Alison Usher Jones, Abigail Graff, and Emily Carruthers

2011

Clinical grant recipients:

Anne Marie Archibald, Queen Elizabeth Health Services, Capital Health, Halifax NS
Erin Morgan, Central Toronto Youth Services, Toronto ON
Erin Johnston, BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver BC

Scholarships recipients:

Susan Summers:  Michael Cohl Fellowship
Supriya Crocker:  Trust Fund Scholarship

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Who We Are

Music Therapy Centre Staff

L-R  Chrissy Pearson (Clinical Manager), Laurie Schertzer (Communications + Fundraising),
J’bai Deschamps (Community Partnerships + Fundraising), Christine Lever (Office Manager)

Board of Directors:

  • Wanda Gascho-White, CHAIR, Music Therapist, Zareinu Educational Centre, Thornhill
  • Erin Gross, SECRETARY, Music Therapist, Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto
  • Sandy Pelley, TREASURER,  Music Therapist, Director/Owner of Creative Music Therapy Solutions, Vancouver
  • Laurel Young, RESEARCH, Music Therapist, professor, Concordia University, Montreal
  • Debbie Carroll, GRANTS, Music Therapist, professor, UQAM, Montreal
  • Errol Nazareth, Newspaper, radio journalist and professor specializing in music and media, CBC Metro Morning, Toronto
  • Scott Rondeau, CEO, HellCreek Entertainment, Toronto
  • Mary Cochrane, Director Commercial Marketing, Canada Post
  • Katie Pearson, Associate Account Manager, Health Care Professionals, Royal Bank of Canada
  • Jim Norris, President, Norris-Whitney Communications, Niagara Falls, ON
1Our
Focus 2Our
Beginnings 3Our
History 4Grant application forms 5Grant Recipients 6Who We Are

I have seen the impact that music therapy has on people who are often in the battle of their lives. Music transcends medicine; it transcends the confusion and frustration that patients can be experiencing when suffering from diseases; and it can bring joy, inspiration and reprieve unlike any other help out there.

-Chantal Kreviazuk