In the past 5 years, Spectrum has become home to an amazing team of instructors, therapists, and administrative professionals who are passionate about making Spectrum an awesome place to explore the arts! Our team is what makes the magic happen here, and we are proud to work alongside such talented individuals! In this new series, we’ll be highlighting a member of our team and sharing a little bit of their personal journey into the arts.
This month, we’re so excited to feature one of our NEW music therapists, Katie Pukos!
Hello! My name is Katie Pukos and I am a new music therapist at Spectrum Creative Arts. I started playing piano when I was 7 years old thanks to a very generous neighbor. A couple down the road was re-decorating their house and no longer had use for their piano; they knew my parents had three younger children and gave it to us for free. They thought my siblings and I would enjoy it like their now-adult children did when they were younger. With the endless encouragement and support from my parents, I began piano lessons and have lived quite a musical life ever since!
I began playing flute, guitar, ukulele, and eventually saxophone throughout my middle and high school years. I couldn’t imagine my future without music being a part of my career, so my parents helped me do some research and we learned what the field of music therapy was. Fortunately, there was an amazing music therapy program at Nazareth College just across town from where I grew up. While I was at Nazareth College, I expanded my musical skills learning from incredibly talented professors, met some of my very best friends, and participated in a variety of programs, concerts, and fun events. One thing I spent a lot of time on was my Honors Program thesis, a descriptive literature review on music therapy for infants with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.
After completing classes at Nazareth College, I completed my music therapy internship from October, 2018 – April, 2019 at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester, NY. I worked with patients as young as 2 weeks old up to 20 years old and spent a significant amount of time working with young patients with developmental differences, children with chronic illnesses, and teenagers with eating disorders. In addition to my internship studies, I have experience within the music therapy field with the elderly, school-aged and pre-school-aged children, and middle-aged adults. I have worked in a variety of settings, including those using improvisation-based interventions and ones with neurological and rehabilitative focus areas. I am so ready to enter the professional world and be a part of Spectrum Creative Arts!
