Flossie Ierardi, MM, is the director of the master’s program in Music Therapy and Counseling, stepping down from this position in January 2021. She joined the resident faculty in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies in 2004 with extensive experience in clinical and community settings. Her background in percussion performance, spanning various musical styles, has informed her work in music therapy improvisation as a point of entry and co-creation within the therapeutic relationship. Her work in this area has been the focus of numerous presentations in national and regional conferences. In 2014, she won the CNHP Teaching Excellence Award and subsequently served on the Master Teachers Guild. She has participated in two curriculum revisions during her time in the department and has advised numerous master’s theses and culminating projects. Ierardi has been dedicated to service and encourages the same among students. She has developed a relationship with a juvenile detention center where she periodically offers music therapy sessions, assisted by students in our music therapy program. She is a member of the American Music Therapy Association, in which she has served as member and chair of the international relations committee and member of the Assembly of Delegates. Previous experience in higher education includes Temple University, Immaculata University and Lincoln University.
Professional Society
American Music Therapy Association
Selected Publications
Ierardi, F., & Goldberg, E. (2014). Looking back, looking forward: New masters-level creative arts therapists reflect on the professional impact of an interprofessional community health internship. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 41(4), 366-374.
Ierardi, F. & Jenkins, N. (2011). Rap composition and improvisation in a short-term juvenile detention facility. In S. Hadley, & G. Yancy (Eds.), Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip-Hop. New York: Routledge.
Ierardi, F. (2011). Therapeutic Community Drum Circle. In S. Degges-White & N. L. Davis (Eds.), Integrating the expressive arts into counseling practice: Theory-based interventions (pp. 117-122). New York: Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
Ierardi, F., Bottos, M. & O’Brien, M. (2007). Safe Expressions: A community based creative arts therapy program for at-risk youth. In V. Camillieri (Ed.) Healing the inner-city child: Creative arts therapies with at-risk youth (pp. 254-267). London, England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Crowe, B., Nolan, P. & Ierardi, F. (2007). Insight music therapy with Re-educative goals. In B. J. Crowe & C. Colwell (Eds.), Effective clinical practice in music therapy: Music therapy for children, adolescents, and adults with mental disorders (pp. 41-60). Silver Spring, MD: American Music Therapy Association, Inc.
Research Interests
Clinical Musical Improvisation; Community Music Therapy; At-Promise Youth; Clinical Supervision