“Tiene que haber Esperanza” There has to be Hope.

Our Culture Centered Analytic Music Therapy (CCAMT) at Esperanza Academy nurtures this hope through innovative practices that focus on nurturing resiliency and joy. This is critical in minimizing the effects that adverse childhood experiences (A.C.E.) may have on our student’s development. Through our community based music therapy program, we aim to support our students' social emotional well being so that they are able to succeed and thrive in and beyond their time at Esperanza Academy.

We provide culturally responsive individualized programming in partnership with our students, families and faculty through our strength based and community centered approach.

Our music therapist works in these collaborative partnerships in order to best identify and meet our students needs in order to support their academic success. Given that music engages a variety of brain areas involved in emotion, motivation, cognition, and motor functions, music therapy interventions have been used to increase socialization and cognitive, emotional, and neuromotor functioning. In addition, music imagery and music listening are used to induce psychological beneficial effects and even to evoke and process emotions and thoughts.

Our music therapist uses CCAMT to minimize the impact of trauma on brain development with the use of innovative music therapy interventions that nurture and enhance resiliency by:

By incorporating shared cultural values, our music therapist uses intervention techniques that are familiar to our students and families, thus making it culturally responsive.
Regulating psychosocial functions by establishing safety, stability, and trust
Supporting positive caregiver and child interactions, and/or providing one stable and supportive relationship with an adult, with careful consideration of a child’s developmental stage in order to create strategies for children and families to cope effectively.

This is accomplished through individual, family, and group music therapy sessions throughout the academic year. For instance, our music therapist may work with individual students to provide support in developing coping skills, provide group sessions to nurture healthy peer relationships, and family sessions to support positive caregiver/child interactions.

At Esperanza we have seen Music Therapy improve social and psychological outcomes such as socialization, motivation, mood, and depression. Students are able to easily access and engage in this therapeutic service so that they are supported throughout their time at Esperanza Academy.