Sophie's Place  

Sophie’s Place is a dedicated space for music therapy in the pediatric unit at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. Football legend Steve Young and his Forever Young Foundation worked with Sutter Health and local community partners, agencies and donors to create this space in the hospital for children and their families. The music therapy room honors Sophie Barton, a young singer-songwriter whose mission was to help others through the power of music. 

The Healing Power of Music Therapy

Music therapy can help patients heal, with benefits like reduced need for pain medication, shorter hospital stays, improved mood and adherence to treatment protocols. Sophie’s Place helps children and their families by: 

• Providing patients and their families a place to get away from the often-stressful environment of their room and their unit 
• Allowing opportunities for choice, control and expression in the hospital where choice is often limited 
• Bringing relief and diversion from long hours or sometimes days and weeks of waiting for updates, results and progress 
• Providing a physical space to build a community, create new friendships and receive support when patients need it the most 

Sophie’s Place includes a common area for groups, a high-tech recording room, a private session room and a large storage space for the generously donated instruments. Thanks to our donors, we now have the resources to envision a range of new services benefitting our patients and their families, including: 

• Ukulele groups 
• Drumming and percussion groups 
• Structured improvisations 
• Group singing and karaoke 
• Teen songwriting groups 
• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) parent support groups 
• Bereavement groups for families and staff 
• Staff stress-reduction and team building groups 

The demand for highly skilled board-certified music therapists in medical settings is increasing nationwide. We look forward to helping other hospital systems duplicate what we’ve had the privilege of being a part of here in Sacramento. True healing happens when we treat the whole person, and we can do that through music therapy.