St. Luke's Penn Foundation Therapist Co-Authors Book on Using Music to Build Emotional Skills in Children

Suzanne Makary, a board-certified music therapist at St. Luke’s Penn Foundation, has co-authored a new book that demonstrates how music can help children develop essential emotional and social skills. 

Makary works with an interdisciplinary team in the Partial Hospitalization Program and is a passionate advocate for music therapy. 

The 224-page book, Creative DBT Activities for Children Using Music Therapy, published in November by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, is designed for teachers and therapists working with children in kindergarten through fifth grade. It offers practical, skills-based activities that integrate music into lessons on emotional regulation, decision-making, impulse control and interpersonal communication. 

Creative DBT Activities for Children Using Music Therapy is available through major retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Each chapter includes session plans, suggested adaptations and links to supporting resources. “We designed these activities for folks who have limited to no musical skills,” Makary explains, making the book accessible to educators and caregivers alike. 

This is Makary’s second publication with Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Her first book, Creative DBT Activities Using Music: Interventions for Enhancing Engagement and Effectiveness in Therapy, released in March 2020, focused on teens and adults. Both books teach Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills through music-based interventions, a method Makary has championed throughout her career. 

The idea for the new book emerged about two years ago when Makary and colleagues in a DBT certification program recognized the growing need for emotional skill-building among younger children. “We realized teachers needed tools to introduce these concepts early,” Makary says. “That need turned into creating a lesson-plan style book focused on elementary-age children.” 

Makary collaborated with four other therapists to develop interventions for the book and continues to teach in the DBT certification program three nights a month. “I enjoyed the writing and editing process and am excited to spread the use of music to help others,” she adds. 

Music therapy has been an integral part of St. Luke’s Penn Foundation’s adolescent and adult Partial Hospitalization Programs since 1997. St. Luke’s Penn Foundation, with 35 inpatient and outpatient programs at more than 15 locations, is the largest fully integrated network of mental health and addiction treatment services in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Using a compassionate, personalized and holistic approach, St. Luke’s Penn Foundation’s model of care offers the opportunity for an empowering and life-changing experience.