Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs sees success with music therapy program

    TECUMSEH, Oklahoma (KOCO) -- The Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs said they’ve seen great success with their musical therapy program and have expanded to three new cities with new therapists.

“A music therapist might give them a drum, and say, ‘think about the way your week has gone, and play the way your week has gone on the drum,” said Constanzia Nizza, chief of staff for the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs.

It might sound like an abstract idea, but the OJA said therapy can be found in the sound of music.

“If there was a really aggressive sounding part, or maybe one that was more trepidatious, the therapist will dig in on that,” Nizza said.

Playing music helps the kids communicate things that they may not have been able to express as clearly using normal language. Just like “Don’t stop Believing,” by Journey, the music therapy program has been a hit.

“They can choose whether or not they engage in this treatment, and what we found at our secure facility, was that this was the one treatment that everyone signed up for,” Nizza said.

The success is why the program has been expanded outside of the Central Oklahoma Juvenile Center in Tecumseh. The OJA now offers music therapy, along with music instruction, in three other cities so they can take another 100 kids into the program.

“We have already been on the campus in Norman, and Lawton, and we do have an active program in Mustang now, so that’s actively happening,” Nizza said.

Since the program started in 2013, about 450 kids have participated. A lot of those kids had never played a note before they got involved.

“We have youth who come to our facility, who learn to play an instrument, who have never picked up an instrument before. And that’s something they can take with them when they leave us,” Nizza said.