Shana Oshiro, MT-BC received her Professional Studies/Bachelor’s Equivalency in Music Therapy from Shenandoah Conservatory, where she will presently graduate with a Master’s degree in May 2021. Shana has worked with a variety of populations and currently specializes in community music therapy, co-leading Race and #RealTalk, the program co-created with Niambi Powell, LCSW-C and the members of HALO quartet and founders of HALO, Incorporated.
Music therapy is clinically defined as the evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program (AMTA, 2021). While most people experience music listening, creation, and engagement as therapeutic in various ways and for various reasons– music therapy is a highly specialized and incredibly valuable clinical practice that has led individuals to healing, growth, improvement, maintenance, and overall well-being. Community music therapy can achieve many of the same goals, both on the macro and micro levels. While it has broader scopes of practice already manifest and currently being explored throughout the world and in the United States compared to the boundaries of individualized clinical practice, the methods and clinical skills of music therapists have the potential to address a great deal of social justice issues that have confronted the nation as a whole– especially in the past year.
Shana has presented her research and co-facilitated the Race and #RealTalk program to audiences, organizations, and communities throughout the United States, Canada, and in the United Kingdom. Learn more about HALO’s Race and #RealTalk program at their website.