Harmony in Practice: A Clinical Workshop
Description
Harmony in Practice, now in its 4th year, provides mental health professionals with the specialized knowledge and tools needed to support music industry clients facing unique challenges.
Inspired by the launch of B-LINE, Backline’s 24/7 mental health and crisis support line, this year's program will explore topics related to safety and belonging in the music industry. Through expert-led discussions and interactive sessions, participants will explore the systemic psychological, physical, and emotional impacts of a life in music and learn practical ways to proactively support client wellness.
This conference is designed to enhance clinical competency, expand access to relevant resources, and ensure ethical, well-informed care for those navigating the high-pressure, unpredictable world of the music industry.
Full course brochure can be viewed here.
Any questions, please contact Backline’s Clinical Administrator, Karsen LaRue, at karsen@backline.care.
More About The Event
- Who Should Attend?
Harmony in Practice is designed for all mental health and wellness practitioners.
During this clinical workshop, participants will gain practical, working knowledge of how to clinically treat those working in the music industry and their families. Harmony in Practice is approved for Continuing Education (CE) credits for counselors, therapists, and social workers, but the content is valuable for anyone who works with this community. - Learning Objectives
After attending this course, participants will be able to:
1. Identify and explain the unique mental health considerations commonly faced by music industry professionals and the factors contributing to this population's sense of physical and emotional safety and belonging.
2. Analyze and evaluate current and future music industry systemic realities relating to professional growth, equity, and safety to support clients in a reflexive, productive manner.
3. Assess and apply specialized, currently relevant treatment approaches and resources tailored to music industry professionals and their sense of safety and belonging within the community.
4. Develop and document effective clinical strategies for engaging and advocating for music industry clients’ physical and emotional safety within their workplaces through culturally informed and relevant care.
- Registration
Please contact karsen@backline.care if you have any questions, concerns, or need special accommodations. Space is limited. Registration may be completed up until the start of the workshop. Cancellations will receive full refunds up until September 25th. No refunds will be issued after that date.
We are pleased to offer student tickets for our upcoming conference at a special half-price rate of $99. Please note that student tickets do not qualify for continuing education credits for social workers or counselors.
To be eligible for a student ticket, proof of enrollment, such as a student ID or course schedule, must be presented during registration.
We are also proud to offer scholarships for counselors, therapists and social workers in the BIPOC & LGBTQ community. To apply, please complete this form. Applications close July 31st at 8pm PST.
- Course Completion and Certification
Harmony in Practice is approved for 9 Continuing Education (CE) credits for therapists, social workers, and counselors.
Backline Care Inc. is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 05/22/2026 – 05/22/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 9 continuing education (CE) credits.
Backline Care Inc. has been approved by The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 8085. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Backline Care Inc. is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
To receive continuing education (CE) credit, participants must attend the full conference and complete all required individual course evaluations and the overall conference evaluation. Providers should confirm with their state or local licensing boards that CEs offered through NBCC or ASWB are accepted, as requirements vary by jurisdiction.
Certificates of completion will be issued via email within 7–10 business days following the event, once all evaluations have been submitted.
If you have questions about the evaluation process or certificate delivery, please contact karsen@backline.care. - Parking and Lodging
Room Blocks:
We are pleased to offer special room block options for all Harmony in Practice attendees until September 9th.
The Allegro Royal Sonesta Hotel Chicago Loop
171 W Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60601, US
Room block rate of $199/night for 1 King Bed (not including fees and taxes) starts on October 1st and ends on October 4th. However, guests may book at regular hotel rates from Sept 28-Oct 1 and Oct 4-8.
Please note that rooms are subject to availability, and booking deadlines are firm. We encourage you to book early to secure your accommodation.Parking:
Please review the Goodman Theatre's parking information here: Goodman Theatre – Getting Here & Parking.Unfortunately, the theatre does not have its own parking lot. In addition to the recommended garages listed on their website, you're also welcome to use SpotHero to search for nearby parking options that best fit your needs.
Agenda
- 9:00 am - 9:45 pm
Welcome Coffee & Breakfast
- 9:45 am - 10:00 am
Opening Remarks
- 10:00 am - 11:00 pm
Isaac Slone, LP: "Listening Below the Surface: Deepening Treatments When the Pressure Is On"
This session introduces psychodynamic techniques for listening at multiple clinical levels, attending not only to what clients explicitly states, but to the latent content, unconscious communications, and affective material that often carry clinical weight. Drawing on case examples from that clinical world, we will examine how to identify and respond to unspoken meaning while preserving the client's own process of discovery, offering a framework for deeper attunement that travels across practice settings.
- 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Nikki Alonso-Scott, MA, LPC-MHSP: "Suicide Postvention: Supporting Musicians and the Music Community After Loss"
This training provides an overview of suicide postvention and its essential role in supporting musicians, music industry professionals, and the broader music community in the aftermath of a suicide loss. Participants will explore evidence-informed postvention interventions and supportive practices designed to address the emotional and psychological impact of suicide exposure, promote healing among those affected, and strengthen the capacity of the music community to respond compassionately and effectively following a suicide death.
- 12:15 pm - 1:45 pm
Lunch
- 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm
Optional: Trauma-Informed Breathwork Session with Toraneka Hampton, LCPC, LMHC
- 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm
Optional: Grief & Loss Small Process Group with Nikki Alonso-Scott, MA, LPC-LMHC
- 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm
Tanner Williams, LMSW - "Let’s Get Critically Reflexive: Engaging the Positionality of a Music Industry Clinician"
Grounded in the historical context of a Western music industry shaped by the extraction and commodification of Black creativity, this presentation invites participants to be critically reflexive with the ways whiteness manifests interpersonally in clinical work and systemically in the music industry. Through a relational lens, clinicians will be offered practical tools to actively dismantle whiteness within the therapeutic relationship and effectively support music industry clients — both of color and non-POG (people of global majority).
- 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Maggie Arthur, LSW & Aly Garback - "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"
1 in 5 women and gender-nonbinary people have considered leaving the music industry due to gender based discrimination, harassment, and violence. This workshop will lead mental health providers through first risk assessment followed by instructions to develop a safety plan for their music industry professional clients who are working in harmful environments. Further, those working with members of the music industry will gain perspective on how the pervasive problem of gender-based violence presents in the industry and with individuals.
- 4:15 pm - 4:45 pm
Closing Wellness Offering & Ending Remarks
- 5:00 pm
Happy Hour & Networking, Location to be Announced
Harmony In Practice 2025
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
