Dear Readers,

When I am feeling tense or saddened by an event in my day, music is one of those tools that I use to help soothe my soul. We’ve probably all had that moment when a certain song or beat just makes us feel better. Reader, do you have a favorite song or music genre?

Some have chosen a career path that helps people heal through music and therapy. I was honored to get to know Faith Halverson-Ramos. Join me as we discover her path to healing. Her life story allows us to travel across oceans. We also see her return to the states and find her path to becoming a licensed professional counselor and board-certified music therapist. She is now the owner of SoundWell Music Therapy, PLLC in Longmont, Colorado. Her story touched my heart. I hope it does for you too. Let me know your thoughts. I always enjoy hearing from you.

 

Faith grew up in Wisconsin along the Mississippi River. She lived in a small unincorporated village, later in a small town and then, at age 17, she moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin. She remembers taking field trips to ride the Mississippi Queen riverboat along part of the Mississippi River.

A far less pleasant memory was a series of deaths. There are a lot of beaches in La Crosse and the surrounding communities. A number of college-aged males were found in the river near Riverside Park. Murder or suicide – it led to a lot of speculation about what happened to them since alcohol wasn’t found to be a factor in all of the deaths. Reader, was there anything about your town that left an impressionable memory on you?

La Crosse also has its own unique geographic distinctions. Three rivers converge here: the Mississippi River, the

Black River, and the La Crosse River. Faith said it is also part of the driftless area which is an area of land that went unglaciated throughout the last glacial period. The topography has a pretty landscape with coulees and bluffs.

 

Faith was first introduced to music at her grandparents’ farm. They owned an old player piano with paper rolls. Also, her grandma had an autoharp. Faith enjoyed making musical sounds. From age five to ten, she took piano lessons. However, she admits, like many young children, “I was not super-disciplined.”

From a young age, singing was always a part of her life. Her maternal grandmother wrote and sang her own religious songs. She would go to nursing homes and have old-fashion gospel hymn sing-alongs with the residents. Faith grew up singing in church and school choirs. By age 13, she began singing lessons. Readers, what are some of your childhood memories about music?

Faith’s school activities were a mixture of parochial school, public school and home schooling. Faith continued singing until her sophomore year. Then, her music was squelched by a school choir director.

It was not Faith’s singing that was in question; it was her body weight. The director told Faith she shouldn’t gain any more weight, even though she was the size of many of her classmates. This started a downward spiral of an eating disorder and opened the door to layers of depression Faith had always had. Faith said that, in hindsight, she didn’t think the director was purposely trying to be unkind. Instead, the director had “bought into society’s expectation of what women should look like”. Reader, what is a message you were told that you look back on and see the damage it could cause?

Faith described herself as a “free spirit.” It was the 90s, and she had piercings and dark hair. It was a “radical look” for her community. Reader, did you have a specific teenage dress style?

It was also uncommon to hold conversations about mental health, she said. However, Faith’s parents decided their daughter should see a counselor about her eating disorder. Throughout Faith’s mental health treatment, she had “suicidal gestures,” she said. Between the ages of 16 and 18, she was hospitalized twice. Now, from an adult perspective, she is able to look back and see that her depression was, “a normal response for a child to have when there was a lot of fighting and a family history of depression.” Reader, what is a topic that was difficult for your family to discuss?

When she turned eighteen, Faith was old enough to get her own apartment. In those years, Faith said, “I was playing with fire.” She would travel and hang out with people that, looking back, she said, “were not safe.” In her younger years, she had been inspired by the decade of the 60s, and she sees how it influenced her choices. “I wanted to be a bohemian.” It was a time too, when she was still learning that the traumas we have, and when we don’t talk about them, have a “longtime impact on our mental and physical health.” Reader, who was your community in your young years?

For the next three years, Faith lived in her apartment, drank alcohol and spent a lot of time with her friends. To pay bills she worked at a Subway and was the cleaning person/security guard for an assisted living community.

Starting during her high school years, Faith began attending a place called The Warehouse. It was a non-alcoholic, all-ages club. There, Faith met and bonded with an eclectic mix of friends; they were varying ages and lifestyles.

Then, she lived downtown and continued to meet an array of people from diverse cultures. A lot of her friends were activists; the environment, LGBTQ, workers’ rights, and indigenous issues were some of the topics that she cared about. She also met and befriended a number of what she described as street people – folks who are homeless, transient, and sometimes had mental illnesses.

Throughout these three years, she did not have an end goal. She was taking voice lessons. However, in her day-to-day experience, she thought, “This is my life.”

She still experienced depression. Added to it, she was nursing the heartbreak of a broken relationship. Yet, Faith said, she also had a “full life”. She said of that time, “I had a lot of friends and I enjoyed getting the experience of what life can be for others.” Reader, how would you describe your young years right after high school?

Faith liked that she was spending time with “free-thinking people,” and she felt connected to folks who had a similar mindset as her own. Looking back, with the pleasure of hindsight and wisdom, she recognizes that many of her acquaintances at that time also shared similar backgrounds. “We had experienced abuse and mental health [issues],” Faith said. “We just didn’t talk about it. We did drugs and drank.”

Faith eventually reached a point where she said, “I felt like I was wasting my potential.” She didn’t want to work at minimum wage jobs for the rest of her life. She was still singing, and she started to dream bigger.

She applied to Viterbo University in her hometown of La Crosse. She entered the vocal performance program. “I entertained fantasies of becoming an opera singer,” she said. Reader, what was your dream?

After four years, Faith realized she did not have the fortitude or discipline for opera. She graduated in 2002 and joined the U.S. European Choir tour. It was a month-long opportunity to sing in churches and community events throughout many countries. Their repertoire included classical pieces such as Mozart, sacred songs and spirituals.

Faith said that she began to realize that she “wanted to help other people feel comfortable using their voices.” She decided to stay in Europe and traveled to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. There, she entered a program that allowed her to earn an International Teaching English as Foreign Language certificate (ITC).

 

Faith then traveled to Denmark so she could reach out to a friend who was going through some difficulties. She stayed in Denmark a few months and then applied to teach English for a year in South Korea. So, during 2003-2004, at age 26, Faith lived and taught in South Korea.

While there, Faith sang in a Korean choir. They performed contemporary Korean pieces as well as American spirituals. The choir director chose the songs. However, they were some of the same choral arrangements that Faith had performed in college, so she “helped them a bit with their diction since the English lyrics were more vernacular than what would be sung in an English art song,” she said. Reader, if you traveled abroad, is there a place that touched your heart? Why?

About a year into her stay in Korea, Faith developed a respiratory issue that affected her ability to sing. She started researching her options and settled on a return to the states. There she traveled to Boulder, Colorado and entered Naropa University’s transpersonal counseling psychology master’s program. This program had a focus on music therapy.

Two weeks after moving to Boulder, Faith met Miguel Ramos. He was playing in the band Cabaret Diosa at Fox Theater. That night he was carrying a viola. Later Faith found out he was a classically trained musician and that his band played gigs throughout the United States. Faith and Miguel were immediately attracted to each other and dated for the next three years. Reader, what is your love story?

Faith began to envision her career. She knew she wanted to be a psychotherapist and use music in her work. She graduated in 2007 with new letters behind her name – MT-BC (board certified music therapist).

The day after graduation, Faith and Miguel married. They are going on 15 years of marriage. Miguel is now a music teacher instructor and is playing in the band, Idlewhile.

After college graduation, Faith was not yet ready to go into practice on her own because of the expensive start-up costs. So, she worked as a para-educator with the Boulder Valley School District in their early childhood special education program. She provided support to the teachers and ran music groups. When needed, she also used her music and therapy skills supporting the work of the occupational and physical therapists.

Almost three years later, Faith and her husband moved to Longmont, Colorado. Faith said she was fortunate to meet a hospice nurse who had been given the opportunity to be a director of a start-up hospice company; she wanted to provide music therapy as one of the services. Faith became the volunteer coordinator, bereavement coordinator and eventually she was able to focus completely on her role as music therapist. On her own time, Faith was also giving music lessons.

However, after 4 ½ years with hospice, Faith had to leave this position because the agency could no longer afford music therapy as an outreach service of their programs. Even though Faith no longer had her full-time job, she was still teaching music. She also made the decision that this was the right time to go into practice for herself.

She garnered a contract with St. Vrain Valley School District. Her work was with students who were in the therapeutic education program. She also worked monthly with the teen moms and their babies’ group. Additionally, she provided private therapy sessions to some of the students. After 3 ½ years of contracting with the school district, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.

Faith could no longer work in the school system, but students started coming to her office for one-on-one therapy. She saw a significant rise in young children, teenagers and young adults who were triggered by the pandemic situation. They wanted therapy for anxiety, depression, gender issues, relationships and how to communicate with their family and friends while being confined to their homes. People came to her office because they wanted to understand behaviors and how to make sense of what was happening.

To meet the growing influx of clients and to address health concerns during a worldwide pandemic, Faith installed an air purifier in her office. For extra safety she and her clients wore masks during the in-person therapy sessions or met online. Faith said it was an equally divided number of those that chose to meet in the office versus those that wanted to meet on Zoom.

Faith has also worked extensively with the senior population. She has provided music groups for people with dementia at Memory Care Center and provided one-on-one therapy with people dealing with dementia. Faith said, “It is believed that music can have a neurogenerative effect by repairing or regenerating brain cells and creating new neural connections. That’s part of the reason why music therapy can be used in so many settings, especially in neurorehabilitation.” Reader, are you close with someone who has dementia?

In group sessions, Faith brings many different instruments and participants play and mimic different rhythms. It allows them to work on sensory abilities and cognitive stimulation. Sometimes, they spontaneously create their own rhythms, Faith said.

When Faith works with those with dementia in a group-setting, she leads with old familiar songs. To help with memory growth, Faith sometimes omits words and the group has to remember and fill in the blanks.

Another way Faith helps older folks is by counseling them through transitions. It could be retirement, relationship changes, finding their identity or their sense of purpose as they age. Faith helps them work through those changes. Additionally, she helps seniors who are dying as they experience their end-of-life stages.

Faith is currently doing informal related to spiritual development as part of human development as we age; her work has been published. She sees a connection between music and our lives. In particular, she has written about the baby boom generation and the need to appreciate how aging and lived experiences connect to music. “It has significance for this generation of older adults,” Faith said. 

In 2021, Faith was scheduled to provide a class at the Longmont Senior Center. It was Singing for Wellbeing. Using her music and therapy skills, Faith would work with anyone living with neurological challenges. The class was going to be for the individual as well as their caregivers, partners, or family. However, pandemic restrictions caused that class to be put on hold.

I really enjoyed my interviews with Faith. She has a calming gentle presence. I asked her what techniques she personally practices. She showed me a breathing meditation that she uses in her own life. Taking in a strong breath, Faith breathes in and thinks about the suffering of others. Then, letting out that air, Faith said she imagines breathing out peace. She said she also uses this affirmation mantra. “I remind myself that things are happening for the greatest and highest good,” she said. Thank you, Faith, for the good that you do for so many in our community. Reader, let me know your thoughts, I always enjoy hearing from you.

Last month, you were introduced to Jennifer Scheidies, a local Longmont dentist and actress. You enjoyed her story: Vera said, “A well-written and interesting story. Thank you.” Many told me how much they appreciated Jennifer’s story and her work! Thank you to Anna, Dee, John, Steve, Kathy and others.

Until next month, may peace be at your side,

Debbie Noel

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• Send your letters to:

Debbie Noel
C/o Longmont Senior Center
910 Longs Peak Avenue
Longmont, Colorado 80501

 

To use Faith’s services:

SoundWell Music Therapy, PLLC

1361 Francis St #201e, Longmont, CO 80501

Phone: (303) 521-2791