NAMI Ask the Expert: The Me2/Orchestra: Using Music as Part of the Recovery Journey OD051

An on-demand video and transcript of the presentation are available here [opens in new tab].

About The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. They are an alliance of more than 650 local Affiliates and 49 State organizations who work in your community to raise awareness and provide support and education to people with mental illness and their loved ones. Through awareness, advocacy and education, NAMI is committed to building stronger communities and a better future for everyone affected by mental illness.

Course Summary

Practice Level: Beginner

This course, based on the Ask the Expert webinar series by NAMI, examines the Me2/Orchestra model – an inclusive classical music ensemble designed for individuals with mental illness and those who support them. Through facilitated discussion and documentary excerpts, the course explores how structured music participation and community belonging can complement recovery-oriented goals by strengthening connection, identity, and hope. The training reviews how stigma and self-stigma affect disclosure, employment, and community participation, and highlights practical steps used by Me2/Orchestra to create “stigma-free zones” that promote psychological safety. The course concludes with considerations for referral and collaboration with community arts programs while maintaining appropriate role boundaries; this session is informational and is not intended to provide medical advice for any specific individual.

The course, with an intended audience of social workers, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and counselors, supports recovery-oriented practice and provides evidence-informed strategies to reduce stigma while connecting individuals to community-based, non-clinical protective factors that may enhance psychosocial wellbeing.

Course Format

This course contains a participant guide, practice test, and on-demand video. When you’re ready, purchase the course by clicking the “Add To Cart” or “Enroll” button. This will let you take the test, complete the course evaluation and receive your certificate for CE credits.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify recovery-oriented benefits associated with participation in a stigma-free, inclusive community music ensemble for individuals with mental illness and their supporters.
2. Describe pathways between mental health stigma, social exclusion, discrimination, and barriers to help-seeking across community settings.
3. Determine core implementation practices for stigma-free community programming: confidentiality expectations, participant choice about disclosure, and referral boundaries.

Course Syllabus

• The Me2/Orchestra Model: Recovery-Oriented Community Music and “Lived Experience as Expertise”
• Mental Health Stigma and Self-Stigma: Disclosure, Identity, and Community Participation
• Building Stigma-Free Zones: Culture, Psychological Safety, and Operational Practices
• Translation to Practice: Referral Pathways, Collaboration with Community Arts, and Role Boundaries

Current References

Amador, X. (2022). I am not sick, I don’t need help!: How to help someone accept treatment (20th anniversary ed.). Vida Press LLC. 

de Witte, M., Aalbers, S., Vink, A., Friederichs, S., Knapen, A., Pelgrim, T., Lampit, A., Baker, F. A., & van Hooren, S. (2025). Music therapy for the treatment of anxiety: A systematic review with multilevel meta-analyses. eClinicalMedicine, 84, 103293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103293[opens in new tab]

Finnerty, R., & Trainor, L. (2025). Group music therapy for the proactive management of stress and anxiety. PLOS Mental Health, 2(8), e0000312. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000312[opens in new tab]

Jensen, A., & Brorsson, A. (2025). Healthier together. How arts on prescription can promote psychosocial wellbeing: A qualitative study. BMC Primary Care, 26, 100. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-025-02800-6[opens in new tab]

Kågström, A., Guerrero, Z., Aliev, A. A., Tomášková, H., Rüsch, N., Ouali, U., Thornicroft, G., Sartorius, N., & Winkler, P. (2025). Mental health stigma and its consequences: A systematic scoping review of pathways to discrimination and adverse outcomes. eClinicalMedicine, 89, 103588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103588[opens in new tab]

Lan, Y.-Y., Kovinthapillai, R., Wieczorowska-Tobis, K., & Tobis, S. (2026). Music therapy in health care practice: Promise, pitfalls, and policy implications. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 20, 1768102. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2026.1768102[opens in new tab]

Linehan, M. M. (2025). DBT skills training manual (Revised ed.). Guilford Press. 

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change (3rd ed.). Guilford Press. 

Mullen, D. K., Peng, T., Stewart, L., Mallik, A., & Russo, F. A. (2026). Investigating the dose-response relationship between music and anxiety reduction: A randomized clinical trial. PLOS Mental Health, 3(1), e0000355. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000355[opens in new tab]

Ng, T. K. S., Lim, Z. H., Todd, M., Sun, F., Ray, K., Qi, X., Guo, J., Ye, K. X., Maier, A. B., Mahendran, R., Gan, G. L., Tsakok, M., Kua, E. H., & Feng, L. (2025). Effects of choral singing on depression and anxiety in older adults: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 188, 162–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.05.061[opens in new tab]

Zhang, J., Lu, Y., Mehdinezhadnouri, K., Liu, J., & Lu, H. (2025). Impact of music-based interventions on subjective well-being: A meta-analysis of listening, training, and therapy in clinical and nonclinical populations. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1608508. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1608508[opens in new tab]

Instructors

Ronald Braunstein

Ronald Braunstein is the Music Director and Co-Founder of the Me2/Orchestra. He received his musical background at the Juilliard School, Salzburg Mozarteum, Fontainbleau and the Tanglewood Music Center. After his graduation, he won the Gold Medal in the Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition and spent the following four years mentoring with von Karajan in Berlin. He has conducted the San Francisco Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Israel Sinfonietta, Tokyo Symphony and Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, among others. Braunstein was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1985. This led him to launching Me2/Orchestra, the world’s only classical music organization dedicated to erasing the stigma surrounding mental illness. He currently conducts the organization’s orchestras located in Boston, Mass., and Manchester, N.H., while providing the artistic vision for all of the Me2/ orchestras, ensembles and affiliate programs.

Caroline Whiddon

Caroline Whiddon is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Me2/Orchestra. Whiddon previously served as the Executive Director of the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association. During her 13-year tenure, the organization nearly tripled its student enrollment, completed a successful $2.1 million capital campaign, made its Carnegie Hall debut with an innovative program featuring all-living composers, and toured internationally. Whiddon has served as the Chair of the Youth Orchestra Division of the League of American Orchestras, providing leadership in her field at the national level. She is a graduate of the Snelling Center for Government’s Vermont Leadership Institute. She received her bachelor’s degree in Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied French Horn with Verne Reynolds. She was diagnosed with depression, anxiety disorder and panic attacks in her early 20s.

Carole Furr

Carole Furr is a resident of Richmond, Vt. She is a graduate of Harvard College with a degree in physics and works as an accountant. She is an experienced French Horn player, sings alto in the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus and enjoys English country dancing. She is a former treasurer and board member of NAMI Vermont. Furr is a charter member of the Me2/Orchestra, having taken part since its founding in 2011.

Margie Friedman and Barbara Multer-Wellin

Margie Friedman and Barbara Multer-Wellin are both EMMY award-winning producers with years of non-fiction television experience. They have produced shows for CBS, NBC, ABC, HBO, Showtime, Lifetime, HGTV, Disney Channel and others. Their previous films have aired on PBS, including the prestigious series “Independent Lens.”

Nicole Errickson, LCSW

Nicole is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of Georgia. She brings over 19 years experience in the social work field, primarily working in school systems as a school social worker and with the McKinney-Vento grant. Over her career, Nicole has had several opportunities to help develop and execute professional development events. Nicole has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Alabama and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Alabama.

Accreditation Approval Statements

CE4Less.com, provider #1115, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 8/8/24-8/8/27.

Social workers completing this course receive 1 general continuing education credits.

We are committed to providing our learners with unbiased information. CE4Less never accepts commercial support and our authors have no significant financial or other conflicts of interest pertaining to the material.