With a "voice like an angel," young Sophie Rose Barton had already wowed her community, and friends said nothing could stop her from her dreams of singing and songwriting. Sophie volunteered with the music therapy department for Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City and firmly believed that she could change the world with her music. It was said of Sophie that “She didn’t seek out the limelight but the light always found her. This is somebody who served well, led a good life.”
Tragically, while hiking near her home in Utah at the young age of seventeen, Sophie Rose Barton passed away suddenly in 2010. Her spirit of inspiration and kindness lives on, however, through unique music therapy facilities at select hospitals throughout the country. To learn more about Sophie and the several facilities built in her honor, please visit http://foreveryoung.org/charities/sophie/
Sophie’s Place at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Ann Arbor Michigan will be a dedicated music therapy environment to promote creative expression, safety, and solace for patients and their families throughout the healing process. This outstanding facility will include a state-of-the-art recording studio sponsored by The Healing Notes Foundation.
Beyond The Healing Notes Foundation Recording Studio, Sophie’s Place will offer a number of expanded music therapy experiences to patients and families, including:
· space for celebrity performances, with capabilities for live-streaming performances through the hospital’s closed-circuit TV network for patients unable to leave their rooms
· protected space for individual and group music therapy sessions in addition to the bedside music therapy sessions offered today
· specialized programming designed for mothers, fathers and siblings, to promote positive coping, normalization of environment and connecting with others on similar journeys
· much-needed programming designed to support families in grief and loss
· opportunities for patients to record their music – and, if the patient chooses – to share their music with other patients and families
· opportunities for patients and caregivers interested in “behind the scenes” recording studio experiences, designed to give patients an inside look at music production and the use of recording equipment
· new programs geared to give staff unique opportunities to decompress from the stressful healthcare work environment
Most importantly, Sophie’s Place and The Healing Notes Foundation Recording Studio within will allow for the music therapy team to triple the amount of music therapy services provided to patients and families.