Wellington Music Therapy Services

09/03/2025

Welcome to another edition of Let's Learn; a series we share recent research and resources put together by our team member Hailey! Note that the topic of PDA and ODD have not been well studied within music therapy, so these resources are things to keep in mind when caring for clients with these identities in various therapy spaces.

PDA, ODD & (Music) Therapy

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
Includes a frequent and ongoing pattern of anger, irritability, arguing, and defiance toward parents and other authority figures. ODD also includes being spiteful and seeking revenge, a behaviour called vindictiveness causing problems with family life, social activities, school and work (Mayo Clinic, 2023).

Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)
Also known as Pervasive Drive for Autonomy, this is widely understood to be a profile found within some autistic people, and within some people with other conditions. The most obvious characteristic is a determined avoidance of so-called ‘common’ demands of life, including expectations and things the person enjoys doing. It is important to be aware that PDA is not just about demand avoidance, and that PDA isn’t a diagnosis (PDA Society, 2025).

Clinical Debate
Because there is still academic and clinical debate about the terminology and classification of PDA, recognition of PDA is currently inconsistent. Identifying PDA can also be difficult because it may present in a way that is different to how some people, including clinicians, currently think about autism, and there are overlaps in presenting characteristics between a PDA profile of autism and other conditions (PDA Society, 2025).

Support (PDA)
Foundations: Trust in Relationships, Equity & Power Balances, Compassion
PANDA: Prioritize and Compromise, Anxiety Management, Negotiation and Collaboration, Disguise and Manage Demands, Adaptation
Low Arousal
Equalizing (Levelling)
Collaborative and Proactive Solutions
(PDA Society, 2024)

Support (ODD)
Proactive and Preventative: neutral tone for giving instruction, upbeat tone for praise & encouragement, firm tone for reprimands
Advanced communication: what actions will have consequences & what the progression of consequences will be, rules and expectations are clearly stated
Look ahead: advance thinking of potential conflict inducing situations, thinking through mitigation
(Jones, 2018)

Learn more about our services at wellingtonmusictherapyservices.com

09/02/2025

Music and Me for Adults is back this Fall! 🎶🎹

Led by a Certified Music Therapist (MTA) this group will build community amongst participants aged 18+, and provide opportunities for the development and maintenance of self awareness, confidence, and social empathy. Musical activities such as singing, dancing, playing instruments, and creating songs will be at the centre of this play oriented therapy group.

Registration for the program will require a screening and intake to create cohesive therapy groups with similar musical preferences and social-emotional goals. Group sizes may range from 2 - 6 participants. Session 1 will provide a complete written group music therapy assessment for each participant, to determine individual goals as well as overall group focus, and a written final evaluation will be provided quarterly, and at the conclusion of the program.

*Participants will be asked to attend the program alone, or with a support person if deemed necessary*

Thursdays
Stephanie Maxwell, MTA
11:00 - 11:30AM

Wednesdays
Hailey Davis, MTA
11:00-11:30AM

Cost per class $30.00 / participant
*classes are ongoing, weekly

08/28/2025

Musical Minds is BACK this fall! 🎶💭

Small group music therapy for seniors 60+ who have dementia or other cognitive disabilities living in the community, and their caretakers. Goals of the group will be based in assessment but may include increasing positive social interactions, creating friendships, increasing communication, gentle movement, and an increase in self expression and positive emotions. Clients may join independently or with support.

Facilitated by Chelsea-Anne Woolridge, RP (Qualifying) MTA
6 weeks
$210.00+HST per client & caregiver (this program may be eligible to be covered by Insurance benefits under "Psychotherapy")

Saturdays
9:00-9:45AM
September 13-October 25, 2025
*No Program October 11

Send us an email at wellingtonmusictherapyservices@gmail.com to register, or visit our website at wellingtonmusictherapyservices.com to learn more!

FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/share/16psBBWfP1/

08/26/2025

Music and Me Ages 4-7 returns this Fall! 🎶🥁

Small Group Music Education that also supports Social-Emotional and Musical Development.

Led by a Certified Music Therapist Stephanie Maxwell, this group will build community among participants and provide opportunities for the development of self awareness, confidence, and social empathy, while developing basic musical skills such as rhythm, melody, and notation. Musical activities such as singing, dancing, playing instruments, and creating songs will be at the centre of this play oriented music education group.

8 weeks
$220.00+HST per family (multiple children allowed)

Mondays 4:30-5:15pm
September 15-November 10, 2025
*no class October 13

To learn more, or to register, please send an email to wellingtonmusictherapyservices@gmail.com or visit our website at wellingtonmusictherapyservices.com

FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/share/1AbKcexUCt/

08/21/2025

Our SIGNATURE Early Years Music class designed by WMTS Director & Certified Music Therapist, Mary, is back this Fall! 🥁

Watch your little ones grow and development in this class for babies and toddlers. Classes and based on music therapy principles, and focus on bonding, movement, cognition, and musical development. Classes are for children aged 3mo - 4 years with one caregiver. Space is limited.

Led by Certified Music Therapist Chelsea-Anne Woolridge
Saturdays
September 13-December 6, 2025
*no class October 11
12 weeks
10:00-10:45AM

Lead by Certified Music Therapist Stephanie Maxwell, MTA
Wednesdays
September 17-December 3, 2025
12 Weeks
10:00-10:45AM

$240.00+HST per family
*please note we are happy to offer a one rate per family (multiple children allowed!)

NEW PROMOTION! Refer a new family to TiTiTots and receive $20.00 off your registration fee!

Please send an email to wellingtonmusictherapyservices@gmail.com to register. or visit our website at wellingtonmusictherapyservices.com to learn more.

FB Event Page Saturdays: https://www.facebook.com/share/1JaXWhxi8w/
FB Event Page Wednesdays: https://www.facebook.com/share/19XUSitY6n/

08/18/2025

Sing it Girls ™ is coming back this Fall! 👩‍🎤

Sing it Girls!™ is a fun and interactive group vocal program offered to all girls, focusing on the experiences of girls. We know a lot of kiddos love to sing, so we’ve integrated some great calming strategies with a fun program for folx ages 6 to 12. They are learning to nurture their love of music while taking care of themselves. Each session the participants will learn ways to use breathing to help with stressful situations, explore new songs and sing as a group, enjoy fun activities related to composing songs, and share thoughts about their worries.

Facilitated by Madi Trupp, RP (Qualifying), MTA
8 weeks
$220.00+HST / participant

Mondays
September 8 - November 3, 2025 *no class Oct 13
November 10 - December 22, 2025 *7 weeks

Ages 6-8
6:00-7:00PM
Ages 9-12
7:00-8:00PM

To learn more, or to register, please send an email to wellingtonmusictherapyservices@gmail.com or visit our website at wellingtonmusictherapyservices.com

FB Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/share/16zzNpovph/

08/18/2025

08/14/2025

08/11/2025

Get ready for our fall program guide! 🎉

Coming soon to an inbox near you. Visit our website to join our mailing list at wellingtonmusictherapyservices.com

We cannot wait to share what we have in store!

08/06/2025

Adrienne Pringle, MMT, RP, MTA and co-founder of Beyond the Studio, shares some signs of compassion fatigue in music therapy and ways therapists can stay well.

07/15/2025

It's time for another round of Let's Learn! Recently, Hailey shared resources with our team about Music Therapy and Literacy 📝🎤

Teaching:
Music is effective for teaching areas such as phonemic awareness, oral language development, print awareness, reading comprehension, and vocabulary (Palmieri, 2008).

Emergent Skills:
There is a pattern of evidence to suggest that activities of (1) listening to music, (2) creating musical sounds and patterns, and (3) participating in music have the potential to positively affect emergent literacy skills (Runfola et al., 2012).

Music Therapy Interventions:
Studies show an increase in vocabulary, work knowledge, and spelling. Some show improvements in reading comprehension, and reading fluency. Rhythm was used to emphasize the structure of syllables in words, and melodic components to sound out words and emphasize correspondence between graphemes, their sounds, and their meanings (Lewis, J. D., & Kim, S. J., 2024).

Learn more about our programs and services at wellingtonmusictherapyservices.com

06/27/2025

It's time for another round of Let's Learn! Recently, Hailey shared resources with our team about grief, particularly when the therapist experiences it, and the nuances that can come into the therapy space.

Factors: Grief takes into consideration different socio-cultural, contextual and relational factors—each experience is different.
(Broadbent, 2013)

Self-Knowing: Acknowledging fears and admitting vulnerability in the therapeutic space is key to making use of the wound healer (Jung) archetype.

Intellectualizing: Therapists may over intellectualize countertransference, self-disclosure and the need to emotionally connect with clients after personal loss.

Somatic Effect: Bereaved therapists have an enhanced ability to emphasize and have more capacity for connection with clients who are grieving, because therapists can access their own feelings of loss to “appreciate and attune to what the client was feeling.”

Internal Shifts: If someone isn’t able to know themselves, and their ‘internal shifts’—which grief affects— they may not be able to attune to someone else and cannot be clinically present.
(Horwell, 2019)

Learn more about our programs and services at wellingtonmusictherapyservices.com