Category Logo

KSO HIRES MUSIC THERAPIST TO ENHANCE INNOVATIVE MUSIC & WELLNESS PROGRAMS

February 19, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 19, 2013

Contact: Rachel Dellinger
KSO Director of Communications
Direct: 865-521-2317
Cell: 865-660-3037
[email protected]

[title]

AlanaDellatanSeaton300_312818621434The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce the hiring of Music Therapist Alana Dellatan Seaton. Beginning February 14, 2013 her duties will include creating patient music therapy plans and working with musicians as part of the KSO’s award-winning Music & Wellness program.

Piloted in 2004, the program brings the healing powers of music to more than 6,000 patients, staff and visitors in area hospitals annually. The KSO was one of just 22 American orchestras to receive a first-year Getty Education and Community Investment Grant in 2012. Receiving this grant allows the KSO to support the addition of a part-time Music Therapist and will enrich the standard of care provided for individual patients and staff through the program.

Alana Dellatan Seaton is a Board Certified Music Therapist with a Master’s degree in Music Therapy and a Bachelor’s degree in Music and Psychology. She has ten years of clinical experience in facilitating individual and group music therapy sessions, treatment planning and treatment team collaborations. She has managed her own private practice in both New Orleans and in Knoxville over the past ten years. Her expertise includes designing, launching, and implementing music therapy programs in various settings.

“This is an exciting time for our program. We are so proud of the work that our musicians have done in determining how music can benefit patients, visitors and staff in healthcare settings. The addition of a music therapist to the program provides the next step in individual patient care. The KSO hopes to serve as an advocate to encourage music therapy programs for hospitals and healthcare facilities all across our region. This important integrative medicine strategy benefits many patients in other areas of our country and the world and we are honored to pioneer music therapy for East Tennessee.” says Director of Education & Community Partnerships, Jennifer Barnett.

About the KSO Music & Wellness Program

Since 2003, the KSO has developed collaborations between healthcare providers and musicians in order to fully nurture and utilize the healing power of music. Currently KSO string quartets perform at UT Medical Center, the Cancer Support Community, Covenant Health and Humana healthcare facilities for patients, visitors and staff. With the addition of a music therapist to the KSO staff and in collaboration with UT Medical Center’s Cancer Institute, Alana Dellatan Seaton represents the first music therapist in East Tennessee working within a hospital integrative medicine program. Incorporating the craft of musicians into the integrated treatment approach of informed hospitals and healthcare facilities enhances the lives of patients as they go through the process of diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

It is acknowledged by those touched by the program that incorporating music into the healing process uplifts the spirit of the patients and by doing so accelerates the recovery period. In 2006, the KSO received a Bank of America Award for Excellence in Education for the establishment of the Music and Wellness Program and in 2012 received a Getty Foundation Grant to support this new position. The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation and the League of American Orchestras for their generous support of this program.

Social Media: KSO hires part-time Music Therapist Alana Dellatan Seaton to enhance the KSO’s innovative Music & Wellness Programs, which provide live musical performance that enhance the healing process and benefit patients, visitors and staff in healthcare settings. Follow @knoxsymphony on Twitter and Like KSO on Facebook.