KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City woman is on a mission to make music therapy more accessible.
Kristi Hanson founded Stepping Stones KC, and as a board-certified music therapist she sees first-hand the impact music therapy can have on children and their families.
"When you combine music with different developmental skills that kids are needing to learn you're really amplifying their ability to learn those skills," Hanson explained.
Stepping Stones KC operates inside Brookside Guitars and offers a variety of music therapy programming for children of all ages.
With help from scarves, stuffed animals and booming instruments, the power of music is seen uniting groups of young learners of all ages.
"I have seen so many kids walk for the first time in music group, start to speak when the parents weren't expecting their children to be speaking yet," Hanson said. "Seeing all of those first skills coming out through music has been really exciting," Hanson said.
Hanson now wants to create a similar melody of support for other families by offering free group sessions once a month so other people can jam out and learn together.
The upcoming dates for Stepping Stones are:
- Tuesday, Feb. 13 from 4-5 p.m. at Homer's Coffeehouse in Overland Park
- Friday, March 15 from 9-10 a.m. at Full Circle Yoga in Kansas City.
To learn more head to Stepping Stones' website.
