Mental health has deteriorated over the past few decades, particularly during the pandemic. Social alienation, loss of loved ones, economic conditions, among others, have affected many people around the world and accentuated pre-existing psychological conditions. We are faced with an unprecedented situation, and we must therefore find innovative solutions to deal with the resulting problems. Music has an invaluable and promising role to play in mental health.

Today we would like to introduce you to Ryan Adamov, CEO at Clear Sky Music and Sound Therapeutics, who spoke about music therapy, trauma, and the use of technology for patient care during our interview.

Ryan Adamov

Ryan is a music therapist from the United States who joined our community some time ago. His relationship with music started at a very early age when he completed his higher studies in music. He is a drummer and composer. Fascinated by the effect the drums have on him to relax and concentrate, it led him to understand and experience the healing power of music. That and his vocation to help others made him find the path of music therapy. Converging his passion for music and psychology, Ryan founded Clear Sky Music and Sound Therapeutics located in Florida. This organization focuses on Virtual Music Therapy and specializes in Florida's FES (Formerly Gardiner) Scholarship.

We are family owned and operated, with our own child on the FES Scholarship. We hope to provide great service and support to families in similar situations to our own

At the core of the service offered is empathy, respect, and dignity. For Ryan, it is all about treating the person, not the label.


Every child is unique. We will always treat the person first, and use any diagnosis only as a way to inform the best approaches to take during a session

This approach has a humanistic and integral view of the patients' psychological conditions.
Ryan works with patients with trauma through music.

What is trauma?

According to the American Psychological Association, trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event (an accident, sexual abuse, natural disaster, etc.)

Some implications those events can have on a person are not only short-term (such as going into shock or denial).

The long-term consequences of trauma can be wide-ranging, such as unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical symptoms. Trauma has an impact on the quality of life of the person who experienced the event and their loved ones.


There are several approaches to processing and healing trauma. One of them is music therapy.

What is Music Therapy?

Music has a great impact on brain function and human behavior. Knowing this, Music Therapy is the clinical use of music to achieve individualized goals such as stress reduction, mood enhancement, self-expression, or even trauma management. There are many trends in music therapy. Ryan likes to focus on the discovery and development of the patient's musicality.
There are several definitions of what Music Therapy is and what it is all about. I particularly like how Karla Hawley, music therapist, describes it:

When we are the ones that are making the music, we can at any given moment make strategic changes to how we are playing to match what is what we need, to give us that what we need, and target the heart of our pain and our trauma. Because trauma blocks our ability to think and understand what is happening to us, it drastically diminishes our ability to be in our lives in a meaningful way. So, when music is applied with an intentional strategy it can restore our ability to be back in our lives with meaning, to understand your pain and to understand your trauma story.

Below you can see a TED talk Karla conducted, which I find really moving and beautiful.

The use of technology and Music Therapy

Ryan confessed that he is not very fond of music technology gadgetry. However, he believes that by choosing the right tools, you can do your patients a great service.

These tools are very important in the modern world

Virtual therapy allows the patient to be at home, where they feel safer to perform the sessions, which is thoughtful.

Ryan found Flat while searching for a collaborative tool that allowed for real-time interaction with his patients. Flat has allowed him to connect with the children he works with and achieve great results.

I am happy to be able to help our clients using this resource

To finish, I want to thank Ryan for his invaluable work. At Flat, we are very touched to know that you are part of our community and that our tool is contributing to the healing process of people who have experienced trauma.


See you next time,