In Harmony Therapeutic Services is proud to be an inaugural member of the Ohio Teaching Artist Roster, a collaborative resource created by the Ohio Arts Council, Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, OhioDance, Center for Arts-Inspired Learning, and Art Possible Ohio to help educators and community members identify Ohio-based teaching artists capable of leading creative opportunities for students.
Managed by the Ohio Arts Council, the state roster features teaching artists residing throughout Ohio who demonstrate artistic excellence, the ability to integrate academic content with their art form, effective classroom management and student engagement, and strong communication with education, arts, and cultural partners. Teaching artists are vetted by an application and observation process and are required to participate in ongoing professional development so as to provide the highest quality arts education experiences and grow their knowledge and skills.
As the only music therapy organization on the Ohio Teaching Artist Roster, In Harmony is able to apply a therapeutic lens to school-based programming and learning through the arts. Children all across our communities and in our schools are living with potential traumatic experiences such as poverty, incarcerated parents, uncertain living arrangements, abandonment, hygiene concerns, inadequate health care, physical and emotional abuse, and lack of family support for school needs. Over time, serious and/or prolonged exposure to these types of traumatic events can have a lasting impact on the brain, negatively impact students’ foundations for learning, and lead to behavioral issues and difficulty in forming positive relationships. In Harmony uses trauma-informed supports, Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports, Applied Behavioral Analysis, and restorative practices, to cultivate an environment where children feel empowered to learn, create, and grow. Through this approach, In Harmony is able to meet the needs of all children in our schools – navigating areas of need and celebrating successes.
In Harmony provides programming with a strong foundation and connection to Ohio’s Learning Standards, a key component of learning through the arts. The curricular connection allows for In Harmony to link its programming to what is already going on in the classroom and better allows us to work as part of an interdisciplinary team within the school. Programming may address multiple content areas at once and may include literacy, math, science, gross and fine motor, and social-emotional learning. These areas may be addressed using a variety of musical interventions like singing, instrument playing, dancing, songwriting, lyric analysis, and sensory-based musical activities.