When one is diagnosed with cancer of any type it is life altering—the dreaded c-word. Luckily, Lisa Stine has created a creative community catering to those who have been handed that fate that uses the power of music as therapy. They call themselves Healing Harps.
“We call ourselves the Healing Harps when we go out and play but the program at the hospital is called the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Cancer Center Harp Support Group,” said the group’s organizer, Lisa Stine. “So, Healing Harps is shorter because people remember it.” Stine started Healing Harps in 1999, so is celebrating her 25th year at the helm.
The program is offered through Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital as a means of patient therapy and support. “At that time there were several different cancer support groups—there was art therapy and creative writing..
.so I was trained as music therapist and I was trained and that’s how I came to California; I did my internship here.” Coming from Buffalo, New York, Stine took her own experiences in the worlds of both music and medicine and developed a way for the two to find harmony.
“I am a (cancer) survivor myself and I know the effects music has on people in every situation,” said Stine. “I think it has a healing power; the harp especially is pretty magical. There have been many studies about the vibrational qualities of a harp up against your body, and how it helps you.
” Stine’s primary instrument in her study of music was piano, but her.
