stephanie bolton, ma, mt-bc, fami
healing sounds music therapy
huntsville, al
Hi, I’m Stephanie, and I’m the owner/music therapist behind Healing Sounds Music Therapy. I have a husband, a daughter, one dog, one cat, a mortgage, an old car, and a serious love of coffee. I’m probably not much different than you, dear reader. I have worries, problems, struggles, and family dysfunction like everyone else. Some days I make mistakes and totally mess up, and other days I seem to get it right. Most days are a mixture of both. Personally, I’ve experienced grief, loss, depression, anxiety, heartbreak, betrayal, and self-doubt. Professionally, I’ve seen a lot of people struggling with a wide variety of problems.
Music has always been a constant companion in my life. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t know music. In fact, I began taking piano lessons when I was only 5. My sister used to say that she could always tell what mood I was in by which songs I chose to practice, and that’s very true. For me, music has been a form of communication- a language, if you will- and a means of expressing emotions and feelings that were too difficult to put into words. That’s a big part of why I chose music therapy as my profession. I knew that music can have a profound healing effect on people.
In 1997 I graduated from the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa with my degree in music therapy. I promptly relocated to upstate New York where I began work on an inpatient psychiatric unit in an inner city hospital. In 2007 I completed my graduate studies in music therapy from St. Mary of the Woods College. I promptly relocated to Phoenix where I began providing in-home music therapy services to children on the autism spectrum. After 2 years (and all the extreme heat I could handle!), my family and I decided to move to Huntsville to be closer to my parents and sister. Healing Sounds Music Therapy opened in the fall of 2009, serving greater Huntsville and Madison County. In 2013 I completed the 4 year training program in Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) and became a Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery.