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Meet John Mews of Mewsic Moves

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Today we’d like to introduce you to John Mews.

Thanks for sharing your story with us John. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I actually started my business in Canada. I graduated from Capilano University in Vancouver British Columbia and was hoping to get a jog in a hospital so I can be “protected” and have a “consistent income” as I did not at all want to be in a private practice where to me, it felt “scary, a lot of work and inconsistent”. After graduation I received a referral from a teacher of an older teenager with Autism that he felt would be a good candidate for music therapy. So I took her on as my first client and from there my private practice, Mewsic Moves organically grew.

Because music is such a motivator for children, especially on the autism spectrum my business in Canada grew and I eventually hired two other therapists over the years to take on the extra referrals that continued to come in from all sources such an occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, teachers, psychologists and parents themselves.

During the last few years of my practice in Canada, I went back to school and completed my masters in marriage and family therapy as I felt passionate about supporting the entire family, through music therapy as well as family, couples and sibling therapy.

So my business in Canada spanned from 2004 to 2013 until I decided to move to Los Angeles. I moved to LA in 2013 and to my surprise I had to do my internship as a marriage and family therapy all over as my hours did not transfer from Canada to California. I now had to complete 3000 hours in order to be credentialed as a marriage and family therapist (MFT). I found a job working at an Eating Disorder Treatment Center, La Ventana in Thousand Oaks as I couldn’t find a place to work with children that was paid. This is where I accrued majority of my MFT hours. While at La Ventana I became an advocate for music therapy and helped them create a music therapy curriculum. I initially felt overwhelmed when I first moved here as I felt like not only did I have to start all over but I had to become an intern as Marriage and Family Therapist.

So I put most of my energy in completing my hours and worked as a music therapist on the side. To my surprise music therapy again became the energizing focus in my professional circle and I began to organically get referrals for other treatment centers. I now 3 years later found myself taking on many referrals for various treatment centers while also continuing to support families of children with special needs.

I recently have hired a second music therapist, Nicole Wiederecht, as I found the referrals were coming abundantly and organically and I could not take it all on myself. I am so grateful that in just 3 years, my Mewsic Moves business is functioning and receiving referrals continuously.

Families of children with special needs in the Westside and South Bay California are finding Mewsic Moves and are intrigued and excited to have music therapy as an intervention for their child or teen. Professionals are also being enlighten and educated about the scientific and evidence-based research of music therapy and looking to Mewsic Moves as a resource and referral as I continue to offer education, blogs, and workshops about the benefits of music therapy for children with special needs.

At the same time, treatment centers are also learning about the effects of music therapy with their clients and how they find music as therapy in their treatment process.  These treatment center are turning to Mewsic Moves as a resource and a company that can bring music therapy curriculums to their treatment centers.

I continue to feel grateful for this work and the power that music has on all of us to change our emotions, motivate us, help us communicate and continue to connect us to one another.

I have also recently had the privilege to study my advance training as a Neurologic Music Therapist (NMT) and being able to help support those living with Neurologic Conditions through NMT.

Neurologic Music Therapy is an evidence-based advanced music therapy training that has multiple interventions that are proven to help others recover and strengthen their therapy goals for client’s living with, to name a few, Autism, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Stroke or Brain Injury.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has NOT been a smooth road. First, I never wanted to be in private practice as I knew from living with a dad that owned his own business that it was tough and felt like he was married to his business, I did not want that.

I have learned so much along the way and one of the things I am learning is how to have balance. I can spend most of my day scheduling, invoicing, marketing, emails, and not to mention the actual client work. But I’m learning to shut things down at a reasonable hour to give myself some self-care and time to decompress.

I think moving here to Los Angeles was probably the biggest struggle. I really thought “no one can take my education from me” and “If I grew a business in Canada I can easily do it all over again”. Well, it was not easy and it has taken me a lot longer than I had anticipated to get back to some sense of what I felt I had when I left Canada.

But, I do believe everything happens for a reason and I hope that I am learning exactly what I am supposed to through this process.

Mewsic Moves – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We specialize in working with children with special needs as well as their families to help increase social skills, communication skills, motor skills, educational goals, behavioral challenges as well as emotional regulation.

We also facilitate a therapeutic choir Glee choir, that was I also created. Glee choir is a 12-week music therapy choir program for adults with special needs where they get to choose their favorite songs, practice them, learn simple choreography and have a small performance at the end of their program for family and friends. Each participant also gets a recording of their group songs.

We also specialize in supporting clients that are in treatment facilities recovering from Eating Disorders, Addiction and Mental Health conditions.

I am most proud that we combine an array of music therapy interventions and services and I am trained and specialized in treating those with Neurologic conditions through Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT).

We also offer travel to family’s homes to make treatment for the busy family an easier option.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I believe success for me has definitely changed over the years. Initially success for me was determined by society standards and comparing my business to other familiar therapy business. But today I am proud to focus on internal goals that we choose and define our success on achieving those goals and doing the best that we can to offer support on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis.

The markers that we often look for is client progress and family happiness in our ability to help and support them.

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Image Credit:
Alex Stead Photography

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