IOH STAFF
ANDY GOLDENSON, CPRS, CCAR-RC, CWRE, CNPM - CEO, FACILITATOR, CO-FOUNDER
Andy grew up around music and teaching, and has had a lifelong passion for both. He has spent over a decade and a half in the field of mental health wellness and recovery. Andy is intimately familiar with the challenges posed by mental illness, and the role that music can play in supporting recovery. He is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) in the State of Maryland with national and international reciprocity, a CCAR Recovery Coach (RCA), a Certified WRAP® (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) Recovery Educator (CWRE), and has a Certificate in Nonprofit Management. He has taken training in the Leadership Empowerment Advocacy Project (LEAP), Person Centered Planning, and Trauma Informed Care (TIC). He received a Special Advocacy Award given by the Core Service Agency of Montgomery County in June 2005, and was awarded Business Owner of the Year in November 2015 (along with Sabrina) by the statewide employment network Maryland Works. Together, they also received the Howie the Harp Arts Award on behalf of IoH at the 2017 Alternatives Conference.
Born into a musical family, with a father who was a trombonist in the Arlington Symphony Orchestra, Andy was raised to love music. As a child, Andy took group piano lessons, and played the trumpet and baritone horn in the school band. However, his first love was singing. He was in an all-county choir, the high school jazz choir, and an elite show choir called "Showstoppers" where he had the opening and closing numbers in the spring show of his senior year. After earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Speech & Communications at Frostburg State University in 1995, Andy worked for five years as a special education instructional assistant. After experiencing mental health issues, Andy learned how to not only succeed in his personal recovery, but learned how to help others recover as well. He became interested in the field of mental health wellness and recovery, and wanted to support his peers with mental health challenges as a career. Soon after, he became a peer recovery specialist and has now completed seventeen years in this field. He has worked at a wellness and recovery center, a state hospital, and was part of an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Team for the ten years prior to fully devoting his work and time to IoH.
Twelve years ago, Andy started playing piano again after a gap of several years and learned to accompany himself when he wanted to sing his favorite songs. He found that it helped him in his own recovery, relieving the daily stresses of life. He soon began playing for friends and family, and his passion for his music only grew when he saw how much joy it could bring. He loved singing and playing for others so much that he decided to take it on the road and began to sing and play keyboard for his peers at wellness and recovery centers throughout Maryland. When he would go to the centers, he found that there were musicians that would say they wished they could jam with him, but they did not have the instruments they loved to play. It broke his heart, and he and Sabrina decided that he should own instruments to bring with him to these centers. This soon started the first phase of this organization, Musical Minds, which grew rapidly and became Instruments of Healing in Sept 2013.
Andy is proud to bring his experience and talents in teaching, peer support, musicianship, and now entrepreneurship to Instruments of Healing to help as many heal through music as possible. He truly believes in the power of music, as he has felt it himself in his own recovery, has seen it in others, and knows that music can and does heal. He has been taking drum lessons as of late, practices hard every day, and is reminded daily just how extremely cathartic music is for the mind, heart, and soul.
Andy grew up around music and teaching, and has had a lifelong passion for both. He has spent over a decade and a half in the field of mental health wellness and recovery. Andy is intimately familiar with the challenges posed by mental illness, and the role that music can play in supporting recovery. He is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) in the State of Maryland with national and international reciprocity, a CCAR Recovery Coach (RCA), a Certified WRAP® (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) Recovery Educator (CWRE), and has a Certificate in Nonprofit Management. He has taken training in the Leadership Empowerment Advocacy Project (LEAP), Person Centered Planning, and Trauma Informed Care (TIC). He received a Special Advocacy Award given by the Core Service Agency of Montgomery County in June 2005, and was awarded Business Owner of the Year in November 2015 (along with Sabrina) by the statewide employment network Maryland Works. Together, they also received the Howie the Harp Arts Award on behalf of IoH at the 2017 Alternatives Conference.
Born into a musical family, with a father who was a trombonist in the Arlington Symphony Orchestra, Andy was raised to love music. As a child, Andy took group piano lessons, and played the trumpet and baritone horn in the school band. However, his first love was singing. He was in an all-county choir, the high school jazz choir, and an elite show choir called "Showstoppers" where he had the opening and closing numbers in the spring show of his senior year. After earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Speech & Communications at Frostburg State University in 1995, Andy worked for five years as a special education instructional assistant. After experiencing mental health issues, Andy learned how to not only succeed in his personal recovery, but learned how to help others recover as well. He became interested in the field of mental health wellness and recovery, and wanted to support his peers with mental health challenges as a career. Soon after, he became a peer recovery specialist and has now completed seventeen years in this field. He has worked at a wellness and recovery center, a state hospital, and was part of an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Team for the ten years prior to fully devoting his work and time to IoH.
Twelve years ago, Andy started playing piano again after a gap of several years and learned to accompany himself when he wanted to sing his favorite songs. He found that it helped him in his own recovery, relieving the daily stresses of life. He soon began playing for friends and family, and his passion for his music only grew when he saw how much joy it could bring. He loved singing and playing for others so much that he decided to take it on the road and began to sing and play keyboard for his peers at wellness and recovery centers throughout Maryland. When he would go to the centers, he found that there were musicians that would say they wished they could jam with him, but they did not have the instruments they loved to play. It broke his heart, and he and Sabrina decided that he should own instruments to bring with him to these centers. This soon started the first phase of this organization, Musical Minds, which grew rapidly and became Instruments of Healing in Sept 2013.
Andy is proud to bring his experience and talents in teaching, peer support, musicianship, and now entrepreneurship to Instruments of Healing to help as many heal through music as possible. He truly believes in the power of music, as he has felt it himself in his own recovery, has seen it in others, and knows that music can and does heal. He has been taking drum lessons as of late, practices hard every day, and is reminded daily just how extremely cathartic music is for the mind, heart, and soul.
SABRINA SCHRAM, CPRS, CCAR-RC - COO, FACILITATOR, CO-FOUNDER
Sabrina comes from an eclectic background of musical training, special & elementary teaching, and the mental health field as seen from a peer perspective. Trained as a flute player during her youth, Sabrina now returns to the flute, as well as guitar and piano, as a co-founder, administrator, and facilitator of IoH, playing the music that is in her heart and soul, and sharing the joy and peace she has found through music with her peers.
Sabrina brings to IoH her training as a teacher from the State University of New York (SUNY)– Geneseo College (1992 – 1995), along with a B.A. in Liberal Studies, magna cum laude, in 2000 from the State University of New York (SUNY) – Purchase College. She has taken graduate level courses in mental health counseling at Capella University. Sabrina is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS), in the State of Maryland with national and international reciprocity, a CCAR Recovery Coach (RCA), and a mentor/facilitator for NAMI Peer-to-Peer and Connections programs. She has additional training in the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP®), Mental Heath First Aid (MHFA), and the Leadership Empowerment Advocacy Project (LEAP). Sabrina previously worked as an interviewer for the [Behavioral Health] Consumer Quality Team of Maryland, and has also volunteered in several peer support capacities. She has served on the Peer Integrated Care Advisory Council (PICAC) for Maryland's Behavioral Health Administration and on the Montgomery County Mental Health Advisory Committee. Sabrina received a Special Advocacy Award given by the Core Service Agency of Montgomery County in June 2007 and was also awarded Business Owner of the Year in November 2015 (along with Andy) by the state employment network Maryland Works. Together, they also received the Howie the Harp Arts Award on behalf of IoH at the 2017 Alternatives Conference. To ensure the utmost care and vigilance goes into running the day-to-day operations of IoH, Sabrina takes advantage of as many trainings as possible, as well as engaging in educational opportunities concerning standards of excellence.
Sabrina loves her work at IoH because it mixes all of her talents and backgrounds into one job, and helps others benefit from the power of music in their recovery, as she has herself.
Sabrina comes from an eclectic background of musical training, special & elementary teaching, and the mental health field as seen from a peer perspective. Trained as a flute player during her youth, Sabrina now returns to the flute, as well as guitar and piano, as a co-founder, administrator, and facilitator of IoH, playing the music that is in her heart and soul, and sharing the joy and peace she has found through music with her peers.
Sabrina brings to IoH her training as a teacher from the State University of New York (SUNY)– Geneseo College (1992 – 1995), along with a B.A. in Liberal Studies, magna cum laude, in 2000 from the State University of New York (SUNY) – Purchase College. She has taken graduate level courses in mental health counseling at Capella University. Sabrina is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS), in the State of Maryland with national and international reciprocity, a CCAR Recovery Coach (RCA), and a mentor/facilitator for NAMI Peer-to-Peer and Connections programs. She has additional training in the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP®), Mental Heath First Aid (MHFA), and the Leadership Empowerment Advocacy Project (LEAP). Sabrina previously worked as an interviewer for the [Behavioral Health] Consumer Quality Team of Maryland, and has also volunteered in several peer support capacities. She has served on the Peer Integrated Care Advisory Council (PICAC) for Maryland's Behavioral Health Administration and on the Montgomery County Mental Health Advisory Committee. Sabrina received a Special Advocacy Award given by the Core Service Agency of Montgomery County in June 2007 and was also awarded Business Owner of the Year in November 2015 (along with Andy) by the state employment network Maryland Works. Together, they also received the Howie the Harp Arts Award on behalf of IoH at the 2017 Alternatives Conference. To ensure the utmost care and vigilance goes into running the day-to-day operations of IoH, Sabrina takes advantage of as many trainings as possible, as well as engaging in educational opportunities concerning standards of excellence.
Sabrina loves her work at IoH because it mixes all of her talents and backgrounds into one job, and helps others benefit from the power of music in their recovery, as she has herself.
GENET GHEBREMARIAM - CONTRACTED FACILITATOR - IoH welcomes our newest team member, Genet Ghebremariam, and her dog Ace! Genet joined our IoH team as a contracted facilitator in August 2019, and has been an incredible addition to our programming! Genet brings her life experiences as a peer, as well as her love for music and singing, to this position. She rocks the house with her enthusiasm and warmth when she helps Andy and Sabrina present musical wellness programs! Genet also brings her service dog Ace with her to our programs. Ace is in the process of becoming certified as a Therapy Dog, and adds a dimension of Pet Therapy to our programming when he comes along. He has been a big hit with the IoH program participants! Genet is in the process of becoming a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS), and has been attending many trainings around the area to this end. We are so glad to have her on board as a member of the IoH Team!
TARA RICHARDS - (from ACCOUNTING SUPPORT SERVICES of FREDERICK) - BOOKKEEPER
IOH VOLUNTEERS
A formal IoH volunteer program is currently in the process of being developed! Stay tuned!