Olha Cherepiekhina:
“For Me, Music Therapy Is a Way
of Knowing Oneself Through the Sounds
and Vibrations of the Surrounding World”

Olha: If we define music therapy as a scientific field within art therapy, then I first heard about it approximately eight years ago. That is relatively recent, considering that I have been practicing as a psychologist and psychotherapist for over 21 years.

I encountered music therapy as an academic discipline within the broader framework of art therapy, alongside visual art therapy and sand therapy. That was my second, more systematic and scientific introduction to it.

However, my first encounter with music therapy happened much earlier – at the moment I realized that sounds and rhythms influence a person’s state, stimulate perception of certain tones, voices, and vibrations. This realization came long before my professional training. As early as school, I noticed that there was music I loved, music that felt unpleasant, and music that reflected another person’s emotional state.

In early adolescence and childhood, I loved listening to music on a cassette recorder. I clearly remember that when I played certain songs, my mood would change.

So I can say that I encountered music therapy twice: first intuitively, in a spontaneous inner flow, and later consciously and purposefully.

Natalia: What attracted you to music therapy?

Olha: What attracted me is that music, in my view, acts as a deep resonator of a person’s psycho-emotional state. It bypasses conscious filters and becomes both a diagnostic tool and a method of healing the human soul.

Physics tells us that the entire world consists of vibrations and that everything has a wave nature. Music, therefore, is also a vibration with its own wavelength – just like a human being.

Music is one of the most subtle instruments for understanding what is happening within a person and for influencing them in a way that produces a delicate, therapeutic, and restorative effect. It is both a resonator and a tuner of the human state.

In my view, music therapy is one of the most powerful – and at the same time one of the most careful, subtle, and ethically refined – methods of diagnosis and therapy. That is what deeply attracted me to it. And from that moment until now, I remain convinced of this position.

Natalia: What is the value of music therapy for you?

Olha: Its value lies in what can be called literal healing through music. Music therapy is a process-oriented method. During the very act of listening to a musical piece – sometimes even without analysis, without cognitive schemes, without structured interpretation – a person enters a particular state.

For me, music therapy is a way of knowing oneself through the sounds and vibrations of the surrounding world.

What I find especially valuable is that:

• Music activates specific energies and states.
• Music allows a person to more gently experience and process a state that already exists.
• Music offers a richness of choice as a method of influence. There is a wide spectrum of compositions, sounds, and tonal qualities that can be used for both therapeutic impact and diagnostics.
• Music is highly accessible.

Natalia: Please share your definition of music therapy.

Olha: In my understanding, music therapy is a psychotherapeutic method of influencing the human psyche for the purposes of diagnosis and healing. It can be implemented in both active and passive forms.

Natalia: How do you assess the level of development of music therapy worldwide?

Olha: I believe that music therapy is organized at a fairly high level globally – if by “the world” we mean the contemporary Western context, particularly Western Europe and the United States. It was precisely the professional developments in these regions that I actively studied at one time.

Why? In the West, there are established associations of music therapists and specialized schools where music is understood not merely as instrumental performance, but as a structured method of influencing a person in order to harmonize and rehabilitate them.

At present, music therapy is developing quite dynamically worldwide. In the United States, as far as I know, it is widely used for the rehabilitation of military personnel, survivors of various forms of violence, individuals recovering from physical and emotional trauma, and children with diverse symptoms who require social adaptation.

Music is applied specifically as a method of treatment – and as a means of guiding behavioral modification toward psychological well-being.

Natalia: In your opinion, what determines the current level of development of music therapy in Ukraine?

Olha: I believe that the level of development of music therapy in Ukraine depends primarily on the degree of awareness among psychologists that this method exists at all.

From what I know, many practicing psychologists – including school psychologists and those in private therapeutic practice – are not fully aware of the scope and potential of music therapy. As a result, it is not yet widely applied.

Therefore, I see the main перспективa in Ukraine as expanding awareness among psychologists and art therapists. Many are familiar with the concept of music therapy, of course, but there is still significant space for positioning it as a structured and independent professional direction.

Natalia: As Director of the Institute for the Development of Practical Psychology, could you share the goals and objectives your organization pursues in promoting music therapy in Ukraine – and possibly internationally?

Olha: As the head of an organization dedicated to practical psychology and its popularization for the benefit of psychological assistance, I see strong перспективи in the development of the Department of Music Therapy – which you lead, Natalia.

First, it is essential to inform people that such a direction exists.

Second, it is important to conduct workshops and conferences for various audiences – schools, universities, and professional communities – dedicated not only to music therapy specifically, but to psychology and psychotherapeutic support more broadly. The aim is to communicate that this method of assistance exists and is effective.

I also see popularization through open online lectures and webinars as a powerful avenue. This would allow interested individuals – not only psychologists or helping professionals – to discover music therapy as a method of psychological self-help.

At this stage, I consider music therapy to be one of the most innovative and перспективних directions within practical psychology.