{"id":81,"date":"2023-06-13T04:01:30","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T04:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/?p=81"},"modified":"2023-10-25T16:42:08","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T16:42:08","slug":"clarissa-grayson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/clarissa-grayson\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarissa Grayson, Patient Care, and the Power of Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Stephi Cham | June 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Woman<\/figure>
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\u201cI have been inspired.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Clarissa Grayson, music therapist at Houston Methodist Clear Lake<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Clarissa Grayson did not always know she wanted to become a music therapist. In fact, she began her academic career as an undergraduate vocal performance major at the University of Texas. Her experiences with shadowing board-certified music therapists, meeting with Center for Music Therapy founder Hope Young, and working as a therapist\u2019s assistant introduced her to the field of music therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided quickly that music therapy is what I wanted to do,\u201d Clarissa says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After completing her master\u2019s degree in music therapy at Maryville University and internship at Seasons Hospice in Missouri, she worked at Brookdale Hospice (now St. David\u2019s Hospice). Clarissa wanted to come to Houston Methodist because of the music therapy department\u2019s excellence, so as soon as she saw a job opening, she applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to take that chance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it paid off. In late May 2023, Clarissa started working as a music therapist at Houston Methodist Clear Lake. With her passion and experience, she has already collected special moments with staff and patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarissa, like other CPAM (Center for Performing Arts Medicine) creative arts therapists, takes a patient-centered approach. In her work, she most often uses the iso principle\u2014matching music stimuli to someone\u2019s current state and modifying it gradually and carefully to bring about a change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to notice how music can energize us during workouts or heavier chores,\u201d Clarissa says. \u201cOn the opposite end of things, it\u2019s helpful to have calming music for your downtime, for anxious pets or for sleeping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a patient in crisis or dealing with acute disease, this musical influence requires individualized and careful consideration. The music therapists draw upon their training and knowledge of the patient to adjust music stimuli appropriately and minimize potential harm. To do this, Clarissa spends much of her clinical time getting to know patients\u2019 personal and musical histories and building connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy main target for working here is developing a program that is healthy for all involved,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to continue the Methodist culture of teamwork that prioritizes the patient\u2019s experiences and goals and that provides platforms for their autonomy where appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes as no surprise to those who know her. As she spoke to me, she exuded warmth and passion, then thanked every person in the room before she left. She spoke excitedly of her plans for bringing music therapy to Houston Methodist Clear Lake, where music therapy is a new service. Her excitement continued as she discussed what she has learned in the few weeks she has spent here, crediting a long, detailed list of team members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel rich having such a large professional team of music therapists to reach out and ask for help,\u201d Clarissa says. \u201cI can tell this program is a place to grow, learn, progress and expand. I have been inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarissa Grayson is the first music therapist at Houston Methodist Clear Lake. Stephi Cham profiles Clarissa and her approach to patient care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,18,19,4,9,20,10,14],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-center-for-performing-arts-medicine","tag-clarissa-grayson","tag-clear-lake","tag-cpam","tag-houston-methodist","tag-houston-methodist-clear-lake","tag-houston-methodist-hospital","tag-stephi-cham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296,"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpam.live\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}