Meet Our Program Mentors

Mary, the program manager for Harp for Healing, received training in therapeutic music through Harp for Healing CMCP, International Harp Therapy Program, and Vibroacoustic Harp Therapy and has been a church musician, private music instructor, hospice volunteer, and registered piano technician. She provides therapeutic music to local care facilities in north central Montana. She has served on the National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians (NSBTM).

As a church musician, Mary plays several instruments, but her main instruments are harp, piano, and organ. The Montana Health Care Association has honored her as a Montana’s “Volunteer of the Year”.

Healing with Harps on the Hi-Line https://www.havredailynews.com/story/2019/07/04/local/hi-line-living-healing-with-harps-on-the-hi-line/524521.html

Amy Lyons is a CCM Graduate of the Harp for Healing program, certified in November 2019. She served her intern hours in east Texas nursing facilities and at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX. She plays the Hammered Dulcimer, a Masterworks by Russell Cook. You can connect with Amy on Facebook through her profile, or on her Facebook page, Amy's Relax and Unwind Music.

Barbara is a Certified Clinical Musician and certified Vibroacoustic Harp Therapy Practitioner.

Since winning the 2nd prize in the 7th International Harp Competition held in Israel, Barbara Allen is active as a performer, recording artist and teacher. She has held the Principal Harp position with American Ballet Theatre at Lincoln Center since 1990, and has appeared with artists such as Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Collins, Doc Severinsen, and Sting. Recordings include movies such as Tower Heist, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Julie/Julia, Hunchback of Notre Dame, A Dog's Purpose, and The Greatest Showman on Earth.

Barbara Allen teaches at Mannes College at the New School, Masters School, Hoff Barthelson. She completed the her internship in therapeutic harp at Joe Raso Hospice Facility, and was certified as a Certified Clinical Musician (CCM) through Harp for Healing's Clinical Musician Certification Program (CMCP) in 2017. She completed the training to be a Vibroacoustic Harp Therapy Practitioner (VAHTP) in 2018.

SUNY Purchase BFA 1978

Juilliard School MM 1980

Harp for Healing CCM 2017

Francesca is a harpist and is certified through our program and IHTP. In her practice she serves palliative care and hospice patients, those suffering from chronic pain, and clients challenged by Alzheimer’s, MS, Cancer and Stroke.  Francesca develops and offers recreational and therapeutic harp care programs supporting women’s personal development.  She is a Neurolinguistic Practitioner and worked in HR for 17 years.

Francesca is a writer and has published two books.  She has a passion for color, and when not working, she is chasing her 4lb. Yorkie, Gracie at her home in Ontario, CN.

Hannah Geiger, CCM graduated from the Harp for Healing CMCP program in April, 2019. She utilizes the Tenor Recorder primarily along with the Concert and Native American Flutes to facilitate her work as a Therapeutic Musician. Hannah is passionate about entering life’s most difficult moments alongside others through the discipline and art of Therapeutic music, with a particular focus on those in hospice. She has offered this music which “soothes the soul and touches the heart”, in hospital rooms, rehab facilities, dementia units, care facilities and private homes, as well as in a variety of church settings, and grief workshops. Hannah also enjoys the challenge of composing and arranging music. Outside of music, Hannah is an avid reader and lifelong learner. She enjoys baking, gardening, crocheting, hiking and traveling with her husband, and time spent with her grown children and grandchildren.

Judy plays flute, harp, and guitar. She started playing harp ten years ago after her husband survived a stroke that left him sensitive to sound and flute was too shrill. Finding that harp was healing for both of them, she decided to delve into therapeutic music. She is a Certified Clinical Musician and is finding work in skilled nursing facilities, hospice, hospitals, and private patients in NW Washington where she lives.

Judy is also a mediator for intergenerational and cross-cultural relationships and an environmental educator, facilitating healing between people and in our relationship with the natural world.

Lisa Boggess, IL Lisa, a freelance harpist and pianist in Chicagoland, received her certification through this program in 2013. Since then, she has worked as a Certified Clinical Musician (CCM) at 5 area hospitals and 2 dementia facilities. Lisa also maintains a private teaching studio, directs the harp ensemble Harpe Diem, and performs regularly at local churches. On the side, she enjoys music writing. In 2007, Lisa Boggess won the New Century Harp Competition for her lever harp composition. Lisa Boggess is passionate about the profound effect music has on the patients she serves, as well as in her life. She also loves spending time with her family and is an avid crafter.

Nicole Anderson, MA

Nicole's musical background in harp, piano, and vocal performance has led her to opportunities to perform all over the world. Since becoming a CCM, she has focused her attention on offering therapeutic harp music to healthcare and wellness facilities in Massachusetts. She has brought her services to hospitals, hospice homes, cancer centers, community centers, nursing homes, yoga studios, and more. Nicole holds a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology, as well as certifications in Bereavement Coaching, Professional Coaching, and Meditation Teaching. In 2020, she founded Harp & Wellness™, where she integrates healing music with other holistic practices to improve mental and physical health. Her services are offered both in-person and online. In her spare time, Nicole loves to stay active through yoga and outdoor activities. In 2019 she blended her love of music and the outdoors and founded her passion project The Hiking Harpist. Through this project, she educates the public on the overlapping health benefits of music and nature - and provides peaceful music in nature in the process. Recently, Nicole and her husband began traveling the country by RV, and through these travels, Nicole hopes to expand her music offerings all across the United States. Visit Nicole's websites at www.harpandwellness.com and www.hikingharpist.com.

Visit her websites at www.neamusic.com and www.hikingharpist.com.

Pat is a graduate of our program and has played the piano for many years. She was busily writing original tunes when she decided to pursue the folk harp.  After seeing the harp’s effects on its listeners, she decided to seek further education on the healing effects of therapeutic music.  Pat currently volunteers at the local hospice, and finds that regardless of the client and/or family background, there are always some notes that seem to fit the current need.

 A retired School Media Specialist, Pat has a passion for research that goes hand-in-hand with finding the “right” tune for the moment. She enjoys reading, gardening, crocheting, and sharing music ideas and tunes with others. She lives with her husband in northeast Florida.

Sandy Pereira is a CCM, graduate of the Harp for Healing Program. She earned her degree in Human Development from the University of Connecticut, with postgraduate studies in early childhood education and gerontology. For a number of years, Sandy served as a Senior Housing Program Manager, a secular chaplain, where she enjoyed bringing therapeutic and cross-generational programs to the interfaith elderly housing community. She plays therapeutic harp bedside for two Yale hospitals, in Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as for Beacon Hospice of Rhode Island. Sandy has long-standing experience working with students on the autistic spectrum and playing therapeutic harp during infusion treatments for oncology patients. She is a founding member of "Ode" (formerly "The Cellar Gang"), an ensemble that trains musicians and performs for charitable groups in the community. She has also played therapeutic harp for animals, and has raised and trained a beloved certified Service Dog and two therapy horses. You can connect with Sandy either directly or on social media through www.odeharper.com

Silvia is a graduate of our program. She is a professional musician, music educator and CCM in Milan, Italy. She holds a master of music degree in piano performance and she has been teaching piano for over twenty years. Silvia provides therapeutic harp service on a weekly basis both in palliative and in critical care in the Milan area. Founder and director of Infinitamusica Onlus, a non profit organization promoting therapeutic harp music at the bedside, Silvia is also a drum circle facilitator in training. Deeply interested in the rhythmic roots of music and life, she has a passion for anthropology and ethnomusicology and she is currently studying djembe and West African music, with the aim to enrich her harp playing and her therapeutic tools.

Verlene has her certification through our program. She has been playing her double strung harp at Stanford Hospital, CA, including Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, and the Stanford Cancer Clinic since 2003. In addition to harp, she sings, plays guitar, violin, piano, and several other stringed instruments. She teaches private students in her home studio in San Jose, California, and directs and arranges for the multi-level group, The Harpers Hall Ensemble. You can access her web site at www.verlene.com for additional information about her experience, recordings, and published arrangements.

In her time away from her music career, Verlene enjoys hiking and reading, and has recently rediscovered her love for sewing.