New Music Therapist at FulCare Behavioral Health

FulCare Behavioral Health, located on FCHC’s fifth floor, has a new Board Certified music therapist, Jaclyn O’Neill, MT-BC. O’Neill graduated in 2017 from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania with a degree in music therapy. After college she worked in Albany, New York for a private practice firm providing music therapy to students in school who had intellectual and developmental disabilities. “I have a real interest in the area of Psychology and how music therapy can be used to reach patients with mental and behavioral health issues,” says O’Neill. “So I made the move to FulCare Behavioral Health this past June.” O’Neill uses music therapy interventions that allow patients to be autonomous as they learn to cope with their issues. “I can collaborate with patients who may have a great deal of stress to create playlists that can be motivating, relaxing, used for leisure, or other needs that they may have,” says O’Neill. “I’ll also use songs that patients know and remove some of the lyrics so they can add their own words to express their feelings. Another intervention is to use instruments to let them improvise and play something based on a theme I give them. I usually do that in a group setting with small percussion instruments, a piano, and a guitar.” If you would like more information about music therapy, contact Jaclyn O’Neill at FulCare Behavioral Health by calling 419-330-2775 and asking for the Inpatient Unit.