Empowering Yourself and Fuelling Your Mental Health with Music- Leanne Matlow's P3

Leanne Matlow has spent her entire career working with children as a teacher, Special Education Resource teacher, and CBT counsellor. Leanne is also a Professional Colleague of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. I met Leanne at camp many years ago, and I had the privilege of getting to know her as a parent when I was teaching two of her three daughters. Her first children’s book, Thinking About Thoughts, is a recommended reading for parents on KidsMentalHealth.ca. and was awarded a Silver Medal by Mom’s Choice Awards. Her second book, TELL ME! was written with families in mind as it stresses the importance of openness and honesty when a family member suffers from anxiety. Leanne’s work makes a difference for parents, students and a variety of professionals.

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Leanne is an advocate for identifying anxiety and mental health issues in school, camp and other settings. She helps develop practical strategies to help lessen the suffering experienced as a result of those challenges. To bring that message to our entire community, Leanne organized Mental Health Empowerment Day, a symposium which was held on September 17, 2017 in Toronto, to raise awareness of mental health issues in our community settings. This was so successful that this year’s event on October 28th, 2018 has iterated to include a speaker from the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. This year, they will offer professionals, anyone who works with kids, to train with an expert. They are also offering a special session for parents.

As we began discussing Leanne’s P3, she started to introduce her nostalgic song. It was written and performed by a Hall-of-Famer whose working class roots add edge into his style. She described her choice as the “penultimate driving song”. Growing up outside Toronto, Leanne spending a lot of time driving in cars including when she worked in her father’s store, which was not in the town where she lived in. This song for her represents “freedom of movement” and “getting out and discovering your own world.” She called the song empowering, saying that hearing the artist sing an acoustic version live on Broadway was incredible. “It’s is a song about seizing control of your life and that none of us are saddled by anything, really. Our dreams should be bigger and our ambition, even bigger.” Here is Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road:

Leanne’s identity song was chosen because of the title that encapsulates the big idea of the chorus and reflects giving yourself permission to be who you are. She discusses how we have to, “...accept where we are and that wherever you are in the now is good. She adds that, “You are are always continuing to grow and be somebody better than you were the day before.” This artist sells out at his monthly concerts at Madison Square Garden because his work transcends age and time. Although the lyrics of this some seem to address an interpersonal relationship, the intrapersonal message is as valuable and s much in line with the work of our guest. Here is Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel:

As she introduced her pick-me-up song, Leanne presented an important message. She said, “Every day we have to be brave. The world is a tough place. It doesn't matter how old you are and even whatever you’re dealing with, but you need to find a way to do it anyway. The power is in the doing it.” This is the song that psyches her up before leading a workshop, so if you hear it blasting in her car, you’ll know why. This is a song that reminds you that, “... saying what you want and need to say is very powerful.” Here is Sara Bareilles, Brave:

After the three songs on her personal playlist, I asked Leanne, as I do all of my guests, what song was missing. She couldn't answer in the singular, opting instead for a larger umbrella. “In my house and in my life, Broadway music plays a huge role.” She mentioned Hamilton, In the Heights, Next to Normal, and classic songs from West Side Story among her go-to’s. Leanne said that, “There’s something very freeing about...I guess it’s the combination...driving in your car, singing along, not trying to impress anyone, just being yourself.”

If you want to learn more about the many things that Leanne has to offer, please reach out to her. Leanne’s blog for parents and others can be found at http://lmatlow.blogspot.ca. You can email her at lmatlow@me.com. Check out Leanne’s Facebook pages: Thinking About Thoughts and Mental Health Empowerment. You can also view the video below capturing Leanne's speech at Brandeis titled Learning to Cope: Coping to Learn.

Check out other amazing Personal Playlist Podcasts on the On Demand page for VoiceEd Radio or on my website's Podcasts and Other Media page.