Meet Sarah Galvan

We recently connected with Sarah Galvan and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

It has definitely been a journey developing my confidence and self-esteem. Through the years I am came across many experiences and personal situations where I have failed, felt confused and feeling unsure what next steps to take next especially when I was younger. Along this journey I have been very lucky to have the support of amazing friends as well as the awareness of how impactful a good therapist can truly be.

I am a proud neurodivergent who found it so empowering to learn and accept my creative and magical brain through the years. Becoming a mother encouraged me to focus on the generational patterns I did not wish to repeat as a parent myself along with learning about my ADHD and advocating for my needs along with the needs of my therapy clients and others. This has not been an easy journey and I still have days where I have to remind myself of the affirmations I teach others. I think self-awareness and openness to learn and do better has been the ultimate way for me to build up my confidence and truly accept myself.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a music therapist and educator who created a bilingual music program called “Música with Sarah”. “Música with Sarah” is a sensory-friendly, farm-based, bilingual music program that celebrates neurodiversity and embraces all cultures. Our classes promote dual language while encouraging children to explore and practice kindness with one another as well as our rescue farm animals at the barn. I created “Música with Sarah” after years of experience as a therapist seeing many schools, programs and curriculums being publicized as inclusive and educational but not truly implementing these approaches in a child-centered, playful and sensorial supportive way. As a parent, I would also take my child to many activities and although my child enjoyed some of them, I couldn’t help but notice the families who were trying so hard to regulate their own children and keep them engaged. I would leave these classes still feeling the cries of the kids not being engaged appropriately, the glances others would give the families who required more sensorial movement & support and the auditory overstimulation due to everything being offered indoors in small enclosed rooms. I kept questioning where is the nature? Where is the play? Where is the option of live non-amplified music? Where is that social emotional piece of mindfulness, kindness and acceptance of others us as a society should be modeling to our children? I felt the need to create a structured and loving program that families could feel nurtured and welcomed.

What I find most exciting about my program is how unique and beneficial it is not only to the children but also to the adults who join. We are located at a beautiful farm where families can enjoy a farmers market and juice bar along with visiting the sweetest rescue animals. The beauty of our location is families can choose to stay as long as they’d like also.

My focus for “Música with Sarah” has always been to help build a community where all feel welcomed and supported. Families have the option to attend one or all classes, they can choose to arrive up to an hour before class to help with transitions and settle in. The flexibility of my program allows for more enjoyable experiences for all.

I have been a big believer in supporting our local community from the start and have been lucky to collaborate with many talented individuals. My logo was designed by South Florida artist, Danny Brito, who also helped design my band “The Bows and Ties” logo back in 2013. Collaborating with locals has always been part of my vision. Our weekend classes have become 2 hour events that include our Música class, time with the farm animals and feature a local business as a special guest. I have had an occupational therapist engaging children in sensorial play, a Childrens book fair by our local bookstore “Rohi’s Readery”, a speech therapist offering free screenings, a photographer capturing memories and much more.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I feel my educational background as a therapist helped me tremendously in acknowledging the need for my program. Receiving my Bachelors in Psychology and my Masters in Music Therapy from NYU gave me the experience and the tools to confidently create my sensory-friendly and neuroaffirming program.
“Música with Sarah” is structured in a therapeutic way that helps ease transitions, appropriately withholds the attention span of the children, provides visual and auditory stimulation along with allowing exploration and movement in a grounding environment.

My advice for anyone interested in working with children and/or creating a program would be to observe and participate in as many workshops and trainings in child development led by qualified professionals. There are many offered online by therapists and educators. We always want to do our research to make sure we are being guided by a certified professional with experience. If going back to school is an option, go for it!

Keeping an open mind to continue learning by observing other educators and therapists helps a lot. I also recommend learning about other cultures, alternative schooling and listening to the children! It’s amazing how honest children are and how they can show us the ways they enjoy learning! I also highly recommend books by psychologist Dr. Mona Delahooke who beautifully explains our nervous system, sensorial needs and how to look beyond the behaviors. Understanding that behavior is a form of communication is crucial. I would also recommend learning about neurodivergence and understanding different ways brains process and learn.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

As I said before, I love collaborating with locals! I welcome individuals who are ready to embrace the beautiful Música community while offering a service that will benefit all the families.

The best way to reach out is via email [email protected]

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photo by Nelly Sobh Photography

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