About Anne & Harp Balm
Balm: anything that heals, soothes or mitigates pain; something that gives comfort.
Hello there! I am Anne Apynys, a nurse (RN), PhD (History) and a Certified Music Practitioner (CMP.)
As a student nurse I discovered my love of psychiatric nursing. I immediately felt comfortable with psychiatric patients and came to think that those of us who practice in the world of mental health as people with “the touch” – the ability to function and work with a group of patients who were troubled, vulnerable and at times, challenging and yet still treat them with respect while doing the best we could with what we had. To work in the field of mental health means dealing with a constant lack of resources, imperfect options and unending ambiguity. It’s a tough job but we love it!
I always worked on in-patient units in hospitals. I developed a deep love and respect for all members of the staff: nurses, doctors, counselors, social workers, administrative assistants, art therapists, occupational therapists and the all-important cleaning crew. We all interacted with distressed people who needed our help. In my nursing career I worked both directly with patients as a staff nurse and later with the staff as a clinical educator.
I also attended graduate school and earned a PhD in history from the University of Maryland, College Park. I taught as an adjunct professor (part-time while still nursing) at different area universities for several years. As a result, the clinical manager of my hospital unit offered me the position of clinical educator for behavioral health and I accepted. I worked with the nurse educators on my unit and throughout the hospital for fifteen happy years.
As I worked in the psychiatric world I became increasingly fascinated with the brain and the mind-body connection. As a young nurse I found lots of skepticism about how the mind could affect the body and vice versa. As I progressed through my career, researchers began to seriously explore that connection. Now, as I retire from nursing, thousands of studies exist which provide evidence supporting the mind-body connection. One of the areas that has received extensive research attention is the effect of music on the mind and body.
I have always loved music and played piano and flute in elementary and high school. I continued with piano lessons during nursing school and later on in college. I then became enamored with the lever harp and was thrilled to find out a dear friend of mine, Jennifer Kubina, also played the harp and I began lessons with her.
When I discovered the emerging field of therapeutic music I investigated and learned about the several different programs available. A foundation at the hospital where I worked paid for me to become a Certified Music Practitioner through the Music for Healing and Transition Program (MHTP).
During my required internship for the program, I played throughout the hospital including the oncology unit and the critical care units. Upon completion I began to play for patients on my nursing unit. In addition, one of my co-workers, Polly Brody, plays the flute and together we played during the art therapy groups run by art therapist Erin Graham. Over the years several patients drew pictures of me or the two of us and I have shared some of those pictures with you on the Therapeutic Music Page.
I personally witnessed the positive effect of playing music for patients and groups and found it exciting and inspiring. Once I played for a man in the ICU. He closed his eyes to listen and I played one note. He opened his eyes, looked at me and said, “I felt that.” I had multiple experiences with patients in which they told me how soothing, relaxing and healing the music made them feel. I recently retired from nursing. For the next chapter in my life I want to focus on playing therapeutic music for clients in a variety of settings.