New music therapy program
addresses adults in recovery

Robin Rio

The Insight through Music Program got under way on July 1, 2001, to answer a need for clinically based research of music therapy. The School of Music-sponsored program is under the direction of Assistant Professor of Music Therapy Robin Rio, who is a board certified Music Therapist.

"In the program, music therapy is used to help clients achieve insight into problems and find ways to live fuller lives," explains Rio. "Making music together provides opportunities for the exploration and expression of feelings, promotes creative problem solving and fosters a supportive environment for discovering new ways of relating to others."

Adults In Recovery (AIR) is the first clinically based research project through the "Insight through Music" program at ASU. The AIR project is a music therapy group comprised of adults who have been homeless, some of who are recovering from substance abuse and facing the related mental health issues. Members of this group were referred to ASU from "Choir House Ministries," an outreach organization that provides support and guidance to Phoenix area homeless persons.

Rio facilitates the group, which meets at the School of Music's Music Therapy Clinic located in north Tempe. The group's size is kept small by design. "Anywhere from three to eight participants give enough opportunities to make music, without too much chaos," explains Rio. Participants are asked to commit to three months of weekly sessions, then are given the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness and determine if they would like to continue for another three months. Four members who began attending sessions last summer have signed on for another three-month stint.

"These men and women met to play music together and discuss their feelings. Being an insight-based form of music therapy, it is a process group that unfolds over the course of time. The group acts as a microcosm for its members to relate to one and other and learn from their interactions," she says. "For example, if one person is particularly shy and withdrawn, the group will offer opportunities for that person to learn how to assert him or herself in a safe environment with others whom he or she feels can be trusted. To elaborate further, if this same shy person wanted to use music to explore inhibitions or fears that contributed to shyness, this person could play a song that expressed the concerns felt. He or she could "try on" different roles, like being assertive musically through conducting or leading singing. Improvising music is used to give group members a non-verbal and highly artistic, creative form of relating and expressing."

Rio is also involved with a second Insight program, working with adolescent sex offenders in a treatment program in Phoenix in collaboration with Essential Theatre. "Part of each juvenile's personal work in therapy involves developing victim empathy," says Rio. "Insight into each offender's own behavior that I can help each of them to develop through music and the arts is currently being explored."

For more information on the Insight through Music Therapy Program, contact Rio at robin.rio@asu.edu.

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