Antoinette Morrison Back Mountain Music Therapy_ The Heyward Rooms LLC

Behavior isn’t the whole story and neither is music. We sit down with Antoinette Morrison of Back Mountain Music Therapy to talk about a developmental, non-behavioral approach that helps people build regulation, communication, and connection through live, improvisational music therapy and DIR Floortime principles. From the first minutes, you’ll hear why she believes the most useful question isn’t “How do we stop this?” but “What is this telling us about what the person needs?”

Antoinette breaks down what music therapy actually is, who it can support, and why their practice works with individuals across a surprisingly wide age range, from toddlers to older adults. We explore common reasons families and caregivers reach out, including emotional regulation challenges, speech and language delays, autism spectrum support, and ADHD. She explains how live music can meet a person where they are in the moment, then gently guide attention, engagement, and self-expression in ways that feel motivating instead of forced.

We also dig into the strengths-first mindset that shapes their work. Rather than chasing compliance, Antoinette describes looking for the function behind behavior and helping a person develop new skills so “non-helpful” behaviors naturally fade or become more functional. If you’ve been searching for music therapy, developmental therapy, DIR Floortime, or relationship-based support in your community, this conversation will give you clearer language and better questions to ask.

If this helped you think differently about regulation and communication, subscribe, share the episode with a parent or caregiver, and leave a review so more neighbors can find it.

Transcript

Welcome To Good Neighbor Podcast

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Joe Longo.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of music therapy or some DIR floor time? Well, we have you covered. And today I have the pleasure of introducing you to our good neighbor, Antoinette Morrison of Back Mountain Music Therapy and the Hayward Rooms LLC. Antoinette, thank you so much for joining us today. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Uh great. Thank you. Thank you very much for inviting me.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Yeah, I'm so happy to have this conversation. I am a music lover and very intrigued with all things music. So I'm sure we'll have a great conversation.

What Back Mountain Music Therapy Does

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Can you uh tell us a little bit about Back Mountain uh music therapy?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Sure. We um there's there's two of us right now, uh therapists working here. And we are a non-behavioral uh, we work non-behaviorally, we work developmentally. That's the DIR floor time part. Um and we see uh children, the youngest one we've ever seen so far is 18 months, and the oldest one we have currently is 85. So we see individuals of various ages and have various uh various things going on.

Antoinette’s Path Into Music Therapy

SPEAKER_02 1:31

And how how did you uh get into this business?

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Um in when I was in school, I've I played piano for everything since I was five. And when I uh decided to go to college, some I didn't want to perform, I didn't want to teach. Someone said music therapy, and I think the more I got into it and the more I found my particular path within music therapy, um, the more interested I I became. Um, I took some time off, about 14 years, to raise my kids. But in that time, a lot of the things that a lot of the schools and different things I'd done and been involved in informed me a lot. Um, and that kind of directed me a little bit more into this DIR floor time um developmental music therapy.

What Music Therapy Means Here

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Can you uh tell us? And I'm sure it's very broad, but what is music therapy?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Um, it's the use of music. I'm gonna give you a very general term or very general uh definition. It's a use of music to help people express, feel, um motivate, regulate. Um the way we work here is it's almost mostly live music and it's mostly improvisational music therapy.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Interesting. And what are some things, I guess, that someone would seek out music therapy for?

Who Seeks Therapy And Why

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Um we have a lot of individuals here with emotional regulation problems, um uh issues with acquiring speech or language communication. Um we have uh kids on the spectrum, we have kids here with ADHD. Um I guess if I were going to pull it down into a nutshell, a lot of developmental or regulation issues here. And I think um because we're non-behavioral, if some of the other uh experiences that they have had aren't working, um most guardians kind of understand why it's not working. And then I don't know that they're actually seeking music therapy per se, but I think um our website talks a lot about what we do and how we do it.

Marketing Through Education And Website

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Um so we all know that every business is has its marketing aspect to it. What are you doing that to get yourself out there into the market, attract your customers, and be of service?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Um I think somewhere around 2010, I uh I saw there were no music therapy jobs, and people had a big misunderstanding of what it was, and I saw things that weren't working. So um I developed a website. I'm very not technically talented, so thank God for technically talented kids. Yeah, um, and then I start writing about what we do and what I was seeing. I didn't mention anything in particular, anybody or anything in particular, but what I saw and why I thought it wasn't working. And I think um mostly through mostly through the the website, uh people have found us. And then more recently, I think people are talking to one another now a little bit more.

Tech Hesitation And Life Outside Work

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Have you ever thought about having your own podcast and sharing your knowledge in this kind of way?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Uh not I I guess I I guess the technology makes me uh wince a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Oh, we have to embrace it. I mean, it just keeps going, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 5:35

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Everywhere we look, there's there's something new and some somewhere new that we could we could possibly be. Um so when you're not working, what are you doing for fun?

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Um, well, I I still spend a lot of time with with family. Um we have some parents are getting older and there's some caretaking that needs to be done. So um I love walking, love reading. I still play the piano once in a while for myself.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Just once in a while. Come on, we have to get back on get back on the keys.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Well, Joe, when you're playing it uh 12 hours a day, sometimes you need a break. Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

You're right, you're right. I also teach yoga, and I was just having this conversation that you know, before you become a yoga teacher, you're always practicing yoga. And then when you start teaching yoga, it's like, wow, when is the next time I'm going to actually get to practice yoga again? So I totally, I totally get it.

Strengths First And Development Over Behavior

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Uh, and then if you can tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about Back Mountain music therapy, what would that be?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

I would say that whenever we work with individuals, we always work with their strengths. And we're not looking to stop or change a behavior per se, we're looking more at what why that why what what works for that individual to have that behavior? Why is that there? Or I'm gonna, I guess I'm gonna use the word behavior. And then we work we work with the individual in helping them develop. So either if it's a non-helpful behavior, you know, it eventually uh will disappear, or it will develop into something a little bit more functional for them.

How To Learn More And Closing

SPEAKER_02 7:30

And how can our listeners learn more about Back Mountain Music Therapy?

SPEAKER_00 7:36

You can visit our website at uh www.backmountain music therapy, or um, I often take calls where I just am on the phone for quite a while, giving parents, guardians, information about you know what what I'm hearing from them and how we work here.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Wonderful. And thank you so much for taking some time to talk about what you do and how you do it. I really appreciate it. And from everyone at the Good Neighbor Podcast, we wish you all of the success moving forward.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Well, thank you again. Thank you very much for the invitation.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPNEPA.com. That's gmpnpa.com. Or call.