PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The PEDIATRIC MUSIC THERAPIST
A s a young girl of 7, Jessica Sturgeon knew she
wanted to work with dying children.
“I was enamored with the book series by Lurlene
McDaniel about children with cancer and their
journeys,” Sturgeon says. “I still don’t know why. I decided
to work with dying kids in junior high but didn’t know how.
I wanted to be a doctor, but didn’t want the years of school. I
thought of being a nurse, but didn’t want to be underappreciated
and overworked, so I said, ‘I’ll figure it out later.’ ”
Like most people, Sturgeon didn’t know about music
therapy. She was passionate about music but wasn’t interested
in performing. During orientation at the University of
Evansville in Indiana, she discovered it offered dual degrees.
“So I decided on music education and music therapy. In
this economy, it’s good to have two degrees since music programs
are always being cut,” Sturgeon says. “When I learned
of music therapy, everything clicked for me and I knew it was
meant to be,” she says. “I’ve been so blessed to follow my
passion – even though I have to pay off student loans the rest
of my life. I worked hard to put myself through college and
my internship, but it was so worth it.
“In the real world at 25 years old, I’m still a child and I
already love what I do every day. I’ll be doing this for the rest
of my life.”
Music therapy is found in schools, homes, behavioral and
mental health, and geriatric settings.
“It can be used anywhere,” she says. “I chose hospice so
that’s where I got my training to become board certified.”
Sturgeon is employed at Treasure Coast Hospice in the
Little Treasures Pediatric Care program. Her team works
with the state-run program, Partners in Care: Together for
Kids. She visits children at their homes, bringing with her a
trunk full of musical instruments including guitars, a Djembe
drum, cabasas, a bag of shakers, bells and scarves. >>
60 Port St. Lucie Magazine
LORI VAN DIEN PHOTOS
This compassionate traveling minstrel soothes ailing children with her car full of musical instruments. In New York using public transit, she had to stuff her
guitar case with smaller instruments. “It weighed 25 pounds and people could hear me jingling everywhere I went.”
BY LORI VAN DIEN