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 and Vibroacoustic Harp Therapy and has been a church musician, private music instructor, hospice volunteer, and piano tuner. She provides therapeutic music, including Vibroacoustic Harp Therapy, to local care facilities in north central Montana. She serves on the National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians (NSBTM).

Mary plays several instruments including harp, piano, organ, guitar, flute, marimba, and handbells. The Montana Health Care Association honored her as Montana’s “Volunteer of the Year” for 2011.

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

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.

Jocelyn Obermeyer, Certified Clinical Musician and Certified Therapeutic Harp Practitioner brings 13 years of experience to her mentor role. At one point, Jocelyn served 56 facilities per month. Her experience ranges from end of life care with Hospice of the Valley, infusion Centers, Neo-natal Intensive Care units, Movement Disorder clinics, Intensive Care Units, Medical Surgery units, Transplant floors, Cardiac Wings, Native American Indian Facilities, and Domestic Violence centers…to name a few. She can be seen presenting at Somerset, Brain Alliance of Arizona, Spinal Cord Injury Association, and the Afterlife Awareness Conference 2020. She serves on the National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians and is the Program Director for Therapeutic Harp Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona. Jocelyn loves to share her passion and help others develop their skills and move their passion forward in therapeutic music work. She also plays clarinet, flute, piano, organ, and saxophone.

Jocelyn loves spending time hanging out with her sons and reading a good book!

Judy plays flute, harp, and guitar. She started playing harp a few 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 is a professional freelance harpist and graduate of our program. Since receiving her Clinical Musician Certification, she has served patients and staff at hospice homes, skilled nursing facilities, and hospitals. She also provides therapeutic harp music for local yoga studios. Nicole has a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology and in the past has worked as a mental health therapist and life coach. In her spare time, she loves the outdoors and recently founded The Hiking Harpist, a passion project in which she blends her harp music with nature to educate the public on their overlapping health benefits. In addition to harp, Nicole has a background in piano and voice. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, dog, and cat.

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.

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.