Get To Know The Owner!
Hello All!
I wanted to use this post to tell you a little bit about myself, and what my plan is for this blog.
My name is Amanda Neira and I was born and raised in Iowa (Go Hawks!). It's that little corn state over in the Midwest where you hear the presidents always visiting for some reason. I grew up in a musical family listening to my mom practice piano every week. I played piano for a couple years as a young child then moved to trumpet in 5th grade. I wanted to play percussion but my mom put her foot down on that one. Well once I got into high school I finally wore her down and was allowed to start percussion lessons. I played in the drum line in high school and trumpet in ensembles. Once I graduated high school I went to Monmouth University for a year to play soccer, march in their drumlin and majored in business management. I quickly found out that Monmouth was not the school for me so I transferred my second year of college to Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL.
My first semester there I had a friend introduce me to music therapy and I sat down with the head professor Dr. Jennifer Jones and talked about my future in the program. As you can see it all went well and I finished the Bachelors in Music Therapy program there. I speak very highly of that program and recommend it to anyone wanting to go into music therapy and want their money worth in education!
As a music therapist you are required to complete 1200 clinical hours post bachelorette coursework. I applied to the program at Oasis Rehabilitation Center in Indio, CA and got accepted. I completed my clinical work there and fell in love with the desert in the process. I noticed however the need for music therapy in the Coachella Valley. The only music therapist was my internship director who moved to San Diego a year later. Unfortunately I did not have the resources to stay and at the time was not interested in private practice. So I moved back to Iowa searching for the dreaded "what next" after college.
I decided I wanted to pursue my Masters in Music Therapy with an emphasis in counseling at Maryville University in St. Louis, MO. I finished the program in May of 2014 and acquired a job at Special School District in St. Louis working with kids in the school districts in Special Ed. In that program I met a lot of friends who owned their own private practices and fell in love with the idea of owning my own business and entrepreneurship.
I started Coachella Valley Music Therapy in October 2014 flying out here for a weekend once a month to see if music therapy could be successful here. Things kept progressing and I decided to make the big move in July of 2015. Because we are the only music therapy resource in the area we want everyone here to have the opportunity to receive music therapy services. We work with a variety of people such as kids with autism, stroke victims, People with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s/Dementia, mental health recovery, drug and alcohol abuse recovery and much more.
I have a big vision for music therapy in the valley and am excited to started making it come to light. I would love to be the one who brought music therapy to this valley whether it is through my own services or educating facilities on the benefit and they deiced to hire one onto their staff. I have been overwhelmed with the amount of people I have met who are supportive of this vision.
My favorite things to do are check out live music, anything outdoors such as hiking, rock climbing, and backpacking. My favorite thing about the desert is NO MORE SNOW! Growing up in the Midwest I am completely over snow and being cold. I am excited for beautiful winters!
My plan for this blog is to have a new post up every Monday morning. These first two have just been about the company and me so you have the opportunity to get to know me a little more. In the future I plan to write more on music therapy with different populations and keep you updated on any new and exciting changes in the company!
Next Blog: What is Music Therapy?
