A bit about Katie
Katie Down, LCAT, MT-BC, MMT, MM, is a licensed creative arts therapist, somatic psychotherapist, board-certified music therapist and multi-instrumentalist.
She received her master's in music psychotherapy from NYU, and in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music. Katie has completed several post-graduate certifications from the Trauma Studies Program at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, EMDR Levels 1, 2, and 3 with Laurel Parnell at the Open Center in NY, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction with Paulette Graf at Shambhala Meditation Center in NY and Deep Listening through Pauline Oliveros' Center for Deep Listening at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
Katie has been at the forefront in integrating sound and music into clinical work, training students how to incorporate sound and music into their clinical and healing practices. Her students include MDs, LSCWs, LCATs, board-certified music therapists, holistic healing practitioners and musicians interested in learning how to incorporate sound and Deep Listening into their personal and professional lives for continued health and wellbeing.
Katie offers an integrative and holistic approach to healing focusing on the creative arts as a means of self-expression and a powerful entry point into healing. EMDR, somatic work, sound healing and music therapy are amongst some of the techniques offered in each session. Katie offers clients the opportunity to experience true self-acceptance and unconditional positive regard, the release of trauma, connection to the self and others, and insight into personal integrity and purpose.
Katie is also a professional flutist, multi-instrumentalist, and award-winning composer and sound designer, bringing with her a wide range of musical experiences and approaches from classical, jazz, world music, and free improvisation. She has enhanced her musicianship with intensive voice work and Deep Listening training with Pauline Oliveros, Rhiannon, Meredith Monk, and Lisa Sokolov.
In the world of academia, she was a full time instructor of music therapy and the clinical coordinator at SUNY New Paltz from 2020 - 2024 and has been invited to lecture on the topics of mindfulness in music, sound healing, Deep Listening, and music improvisation at NYU, Vassar College, University of Colorado, The School for Visual Arts, Cal State Fullerton, The Jewish Theological Seminary, Hofstra University and has presented at conferences including the annual Expressive Arts Therapy Summit, The International Conference on Improvisation in Music Therapy in Leuven, Belgium, and recently for the Associação Portuguesa de Musicoterapia in Lisbon, Portugal.
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Katie spearheaded the music and mindfulness program and community sound meditation series at the Brooklyn Music School where she served as interim director of Music Therapy from 2018-2020. She co-founded the Sound School training program at Maha Rose Center for Healing beginning in 2017 where it is offered annually in each Fall and Spring for Levels 1 and 2 in Brooklyn NY and in a week-long retreat format in Mexico at Maha Rose South each February.
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She curates programs, gatherings and trainings in her Sound Barn, at her home in the Hudson Valley where she is cultivating ways for artists and healers to be in community.