Holocaust Survivor/ Immigrant Trauma Program
2019 - Present
In 2019 during my time as Community Engagement Specialist at Mind&Melody, we received a grant from the Great Miami Jewish Federation to bring engaging music sessions to holocaust survivors in Miami-Dade. My job was to design the structure of the program, speak with leaders of that community, and find a host location and clients to serve. I visited countless temples and Jewish community centers in the county, reached out to Jewish organizations and spread the word of the program. In speaking with community leaders and studying I developed a repertoire of songs in Yiddish and Hebrew and taught them to our team.
In time we partnered with a group of holocaust survivors at The Shul in Bal Harbor as well as other survivors who we served 1-on-1. The opportunity to serve survivors is such an honor and has been a beautiful experience. That group and those clients were just the beginning of a program that would continue still to this day. Over the almost 5 years of this program we have served holocaust survivors and immigrants from all over the world living with trauma. Through this program I was trained in Person Centered Trauma Informed practice (PCTI) and have had the opportunity to speak panels and give talks on working with the population.
A special gift to have come from this opportunity is my connection with a private client who I sang with through Zoom every week, sometimes multiple times per week. Pictured above and in the video linked below, Rachel was a holocaust survivor with Alzheimer’s. We developed such a close tie, even adopting each others mannerisms and sayings over the two years we worked together. I sang songs with Rachel from her time, songs that evoked feeling for her, that sometimes made her cry or laugh. We were connected through song. Towards her last days she ended up at Mt. Sinai after a fall. I went to visit her in the hospital to meet her for the first time in person. We had an hour of music just as we always do. She recognized me and sang through her soft voice. It was such a powerful moment. She passed the very next morning. Her songs and the joy I saw in her stay with me till this day. I cherish the connections I’m able to form with my clients and they live on with me through song even after the pass.
