Alison Usher-Jones, BMT, Founder, Music Therapist

Alison Usher-Jones is the owner and music therapist at Westmount Music Therapy, a music therapy clinic for children in Montreal. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Music Therapy from Capilano University in Vancouver. Alison has been working with children with a variety of needs since 2008. 

Alison established Westmount Music Therapy is 2013. Her goal was to create a clinic where children of all abilities could thrive and reach their potentials by placing the focus on their strengths, find their motivations, and as a result, work on their challenges in a positive direction.

Alison offers a holistic experience that goes beyond her time spent with her clients at the clinic. When applicable, she will go into her client's schools, attend team meetings, and offer support in their community and to their parents. Alison makes it a priority to get to know her clients strengths and hobbies and is constantly determined to help build them up. Her years of experience with children with autism and other developmental disabilities, ensures that she offers an extremely structured environment where her clients get the predictability necessary to feel secure enough to make huge strides.  Still not sure? Check out her testimonials here!

Alison was the recipient of the Fran Herman Music Therapy Scholarship from the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund. This recognition award is given to the top three students studying Music Therapy in Canada, based on the following criteria:  leadership, academic excellence, innovation and creativity. http://www.capilanou.ca/music-therapy/news/Music-Therapy-Student-Wins-National-Award/

OLIVIA MAISEL, BMUS, MT-BC, MTA MUSIC THERAPIST

Olivia is a Canadian and American accredited music therapist (MTA & MT-BC) who is passionate about bringing music into her clients’ lives. Olivia holds a masters degree in Music Therapy from New York University as well as a bachelors degree in jazz vocal performance from Schulich McGill University. Olivia is a performer, music educator, and music therapist with a hope to always expand and enrich her skills’ set to best serve her clients.

Olivia possesses music therapy experience through internships in special education and from a psychiatric outpatient program. During her internships Olivia had the opportunity to work with children and adults with varied emotional, physical, cognitive, and mental needs. More specifically she addressed different areas of development such as self-esteem, self-expression, regulation, anxiety, interpersonal skills, expressive and receptive language etc. During her masters degree Olivia also completed her first training at Nordoff-Robbins along with her first Bonny method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) training.

Olivia believes in a humanistic and person-centered approach where she focuses on the uniqueness of each clients to tailor the process of therapy. Olivia is motivated to help client’s achieve their potential by implementing measurable and achievable goals. She strives to create a safe space where clients can feel free to be themselves.

HEIDI ARSENAULT, B.MUS, MA, MTA, MT-BC, MUSIC THERAPIST

Heidi Arsenault is a certified music therapist in both Canada (MTA) and the United States (MT-BC) whose principal focus is on opening up spaces of musical and social engagement for non-speaking children and for children undergoing screening for autism. Heidi is also passionate about access to music making and music education for all children and adolescents, and particularly for those who are experiencing difficulties navigating the world around them. She works to ensure, for her clients of all abilities, that music remains a space for discovery and exploration. 

Before becoming a music therapist, Heidi taught music privately in the Mile End neighborhood of Montreal, and her students have gone on to study music at F.A.C.E., the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec, and McGill’s Schulich School of Music. Heidi has a Bachelor of Music in performance from the University of Calgary, where she studied piano with Marilyn Engle, a master's degree from the Centre for the Study of Criticism and Theory at Western University, where she studied the philosophy of music, and a master’s degree from the Department of literatures in English at Cornell University, where she studied the history of psychiatry, colonialism and aesthetic experience. Heidi has received awards including the Carr prize for students in piano performance and a SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) fellowship. As part of her music therapy training, Heidi worked at L'Arche Montréal, CIUSSS-Centre-Sud, and with neurodivergent children at the Centre François-Michelle elementary school.

Heidi’s work is informed by the interactive approach of the music therapist Amelia Oldfield, and by her ongoing work as a volunteer research assistant at the Nordoff-Robbins Centre for Music Therapy at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, where she is engaged in a project to develop tools to evaluate the concrete progress children make in music therapy. 

Heidi speaks both English and French.