For Patients & Families | Music Therapy Services

Joanna Bereaud has been a music therapist at Boston Children’s since 2002. She graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy. She had her internship at the Kennedy Day School of the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton. Joanna is a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)-trained music therapist. Her specializations include the NICU, cardiology, and neurology, and children with special needs. Joanna grew up in Poland, where she studied classical voice and music education.

• email address: Joanna.Bereaud@childrens.harvard.edu

Brian Costa (he/him), MA, MT-BC, NMT, graduated from Lesley University with a master's in music therapy and has since received advanced training in Neurologic Music Therapy. He has served children, adults, and elders with a wide range of needs and diagnoses including TBI, stroke, ASD, Down syndrome, and pulmonary disease. He primarily supports patients and families in the Acute Cardiac Care Unit (ACCU) and Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU).

• email address: Brian.Costa@childrens.harvard.edu

Alexandra (Alex) Ford, MT-BC, has been a part of the Music Therapy Program at Boston Children’s since 2020. After finishing her studies at Berklee College of Music, Alex completed her clinical internship at Boston Children’s Hospital, and later joined the Children’s team as a full-time clinician. Alex is passionate about the need for robust trauma-informed care models within the pediatric medical system. For her capstone internship project, Alex ran a pilot program to provide increased access to music therapy services for behavioral health boarders in the Emergency Department. As a clinician, she now primarily provides music therapy services to our pediatric behavioral health patients in the Emergency Department, inpatient floors, and Children’s inpatient psychiatric unit. Alex is looking forward to continuing to explore and research how music therapy can uniquely address therapeutic stabilization techniques, somatic expressions of trauma, autonomic reactivity, and other symptoms of complex developmental trauma.

• email address: Alexandra.Ford@childrens.harvard.edu

Hannah Foxman has been a music therapist at Boston Children’s Hospital since 2017. As a graduate of Berklee College of Music, she gained experience as a student working with diverse communities in the Boston area, and completed her internship at Boston Children’s. Hannah primarily supports patients on the oncology/hematology and neurology units, but dedicates time to various inpatient floors and outpatient clinics of the hospital.

• email address: Hannah.Foxman@childrens.harvard.edu

Beth has been a part of Music Therapy Services at Boston Children’s Hospital since 2022. She graduated from Augsburg University with a master’s degree in music therapy and from UMass Amherst with a bachelor’s degree in vocal jazz performance. She also earned the distinction of Neurologic Music Therapy Fellow. Beth’s music therapy practice is centered around the neurological processes involved in experiencing and engaging in music, and how they can be utilized for developmental and rehabilitative change.

• email address: Beth.Katz@childrens.harvard.edu

Che-Ching Lin joined the Music Therapy Program at Boston Children’s Hospital in January 2023. He graduated from Lesley University with a master in music therapy and had backgrounds in brain science and nursing in Taiwan. Prior to Boston Children’s Hospital, Che-Ching worked with elders with dementia and other neurodegenerative disease as well. Che-Ching is trained and enthusiastic about Neurologic Music Therapy and will primarily be serving the Medicine Patient Services cohort at Boston Children’s Hospital.

• email address: Che-Ching.Lin@childrens.harvard.edu

Che-Ching Lin joined the Music Therapy Program at Boston Children’s Hospital in January 2023. He graduated from Lesley University with a master in music therapy and had backgrounds in brain science and nursing in Taiwan. Prior to Boston Children’s Hospital, Che-Ching worked with elders with dementia and other neurodegenerative disease as well. Che-Ching is trained and enthusiastic about Neurologic Music Therapy and will primarily be serving the Medicine Patient Services cohort at Boston Children’s Hospital.

• email address: Che-Ching.Lin@childrens.harvard.edu

Sophia Paravalos has been a part of the Music Therapy Program at Boston Children's Hospital since 2023. She is a Board-Certified Music Therapist with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy from Berklee College of Music. Sophia had her internship at Massachusetts General Hospital working in Pediatric Oncology and Adult Oncology and Psychiatric Care. She is also a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) and brings many of these mindfulness and relaxation strategies into her music therapy practice.

Meg joined the team at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2023. They have previously worked as a music therapist at Huntsman Mental Health Institute (formerly University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute), University of Utah Health, and as the director of Activity Therapies program at Fuller Hospital in Attleboro. At HMHI they collaborated with the UofU Transgender Health Program to provide training for staff on best practices with LGBTQ+ youth, as well as creating safe spaces and gender-affirming support for patients. Their advocacy work with queer youth extended into The Cole Project, Utah Pride Center, and Encircle. Meg is a graduate of University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!!) and interned with Expressive Therapies Utah. At ETU they worked with multiple populations; behavioral health, geriatric and memory care, hospice, addiction recovery, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. Meg was a recipient of the 2019 Utah Philanthropy Heart & Hands Award, for their work with Jewish Family Services and The Gleeful Choir.

• email address: Meg.Smith@childrens.harvard.edu

Minxue (Mint) Tan has been a part of the Music therapy Program at Boston Children's Hospital since 2022. She holds a master’s degree in Music therapy at New York University and a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Music Therapy and Piano Performance. Mint had her internship at the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, and had training in Neurologic Music Therapy and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy.

• email address: Minxue.Tan@childrens.harvard.edu

Erin Vadala has been a part of the Music Therapy Program at Boston Children’s since January 2023. She is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, and she completed her clinical internship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. As a clinician, Erin seeks to implement anti-oppressive practices into her work, integrating an awareness of structural and social inequities and their impact on patients’ wellbeing into her music therapy practice. Erin works with patients in the Hematology/Oncology inpatient care areas.

• email address: Erin.Vadala@childrens.harvard.edu

Ana Villa, MT-BC, is a music therapist from Bogota, Colombia. She graduated from Berklee College of Music with a bachelor's degree in music therapy after completing her clinical internship at Tufts Children’s Hospital in 2022. Ana has a trauma-informed, cognitive-behavioral-biological approach to her music therapy practice. She primarily supports patients and families in the Department of Surgery and the Orthopedic Center.

• email address: Ana.Villa@childrens.harvard.edu