About Me
Hi, my name is Efrat.
I’m a music therapist, researcher, educator, and national supervisor for Creative Arts Therapies in Israel’s education system. I have a great, close family. The Earth is my world, nature-to-mankind. While I live rapidly, I believe in the essence of a slow, in-depth process. My guiding light is the power of human connection; I believe in the immense healing potential found in relationships, creativity, and focused presence.
The following headlines highlight key themes that intertwine throughout my work & research.
I was born in a village surrounded by orange groves, sandy paths, and fields. My family, much like my home country, is multilingual and multicultural. I spent several formative years on an island in the Persian Gulf, immersed in dark-blue sea, diverse languages, and traditions. These early experiences nurtured my lasting curiosity and respect for nature, people, and ideas. The perspective I gained during those years continues to inform my life and work.
Music
Returning to Israel, a shy 10-year-old, I trained as a classical guitarist. Music opened up a way for me to reach across the social barriers and build meaningful relationships. Next, I developed a classical guitar career, performing solo and with ensembles. The emotional and physical challenges I faced as a musician, combined with my recognition of the power of music, led me to train as a music therapist. Over the past three decades, I have worked with a wide range of individuals and settings. Alongside professional music therapy, I keep Musiking: listening, playing, creating, and dancing as a means of maintaining social connection, playfulness, health, and wellbeing.
Therapy
My work as a music therapist spans various fields and interests. My primary expertise and personal mission focus on supporting individuals who face significant communication challenges due to neurological diversity or damage. Additionally, I work with children and adolescents experiencing a broad range of challenges, along with their families and professional teams. This role requires a wide clinical specialization, including psychotherapy, developmental approaches, neurological rehabilitation, and a community therapy approach.
Over the years, I have become a senior clinical supervisor and a manager of a district art therapy team at the Israeli Ministry of Education. Currently, I serve as a National Supervisor of Arts Therapies, trying to improve the quality of service and facilitate the integration of therapeutic practices into educational settings.
Research
Throughout my clinical career, I have found that my accumulating experience can drive even more change than in the limited therapy setting. My academic work is a valuable tool for mentalizing and validating clinical experience, for improving work techniques, and offering this knowledge to others.
In the past, during music therapy training, my newly born nephew was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy. Subsequently, several other beloved family members were born with neurological diversity and lifelong disabilities. This lived experience greatly shaped my academic journey, leading to research and writing centered on disability, social justice, and the empowerment of marginalized individuals and groups.
Innovation
Much of my work can be described as a continuous process of play. Engaging in serious matters such as professional musicianship, deep therapeutic work, academic research, and social activism can become burdensome without a playful and innovative approach. With this in mind, I always maintain enjoyable, creative, and meaningful projects that involve great partnerships. Some of my past initiatives include community music productions, group storytelling and songwriting, student podcast productions, and an annual accelerator focused on arts therapy in educational settings.
Slow, In-depth process
Work life is rapid. Still, Big Life is about delicate influences and slow-evolving processes. I try to keep this in mind. I make a point to ask questions like “What is the larger impact?” “How will that look in a decade?” “In what bigger game am I taking part?” I continuously aim to see the bigger picture and embrace an ecological view, celebrating social diversity and giving much-needed patience and curiosity to the slow, in-depth processes that occur.
If you’ve made it this far, don’t leave without saying hello...
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