MOOSE JAW – All it really takes is a good tune to put a smile on Jack Gude’s face.
“Hank Williams Jr.,” said Gude. “I love that guy.”
Elvis, Johnny Cash, The Beatles. Gude likes pretty much anything, but his singing is much more than just a love of music.
“He has a lot of anxiety, a lot of nervousness, a lot of energy,” said his therapist Laurel Downey-Desjarlais. “If he doesn’t expel that, he might stay up all night.”
She is not just any therapist – Downey-Desjarlais specializes in music therapy. There are not many people in Saskatchewan who do, but the work she does is cause for a standing ovation.
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“I can have clients come in here that hallucinate on a regular basis, but they come in here and they’re focussed,” said Downey-Desjarlais, who is based out of Valley View Centre in Moose Jaw.
Music can stimulate memories, change moods, help with pain management, relaxation and address fears. It also gives Shauna Mlazgar a chance to live out her dreams.
“(Shauna) gets to be a star,” explained Downey-Desjarlais. “She gets to do something she’s good at and she gets recognition from her peers and from me.”
The therapy creates harmony between the client and therapist, making it a safe environment.
“(I) sing Teddy Bear,” said Mlazgar of the song (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear by Elvis Presley. “I have a teddy bear at home… and I love him very much.”
Downey-Desjarlais said for her, it all started after her father, who loved singing and dancing, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It was then that she got to experience the impact of music through him, and that is what led her to follow this as a career.
“And now I get to make music every day, sing and bring joy to people’s lives,” she said. “Not too many people can say that.”
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