Alverno College celebrates 75 years of its innovative music therapy program

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- This year, Alverno College is celebrating a milestone with its Music Therapy program. For 75 years, students have been learning how to help people heal with harmonies and rhythm. 

The program was innovative in that it started two years before 'music therapist' became an official profession. 

Now, therapists are using music for everyone from babies to the elderly. 

Leslie Henry is the music therapy program director at Alverno. She says the therapy is used to help people in prison, veterans and even kids struggling to adjust to the classroom post-pandemic. 

"Our brains begin to synchronize, our whole hearts begin to synchronize, our whole-body systems," said Henry. "How we can create empathy and understanding through making music is very important." 

There are only about 30 graduate programs for music therapy across the country, and Alverno College is one of them. 

We will have more from Henry and her students coming up on CBS 58 Sunday Mornings in a few weeks.