Young patients help Dallas hospital celebrate 20 years of music therapy

And the sweet people over at Children's Health are celebrating 20 years of jam sessions with the kids!

"We use music as a tool to help them cope with being here at the hospital and to express their feelings about what they're going through, as well as to support parents," says Karen Norris, a Music Therapist at Children's Health.

As the largest music therapy program in the region, Children's Health is helping kids express how they feel when words simply aren't enough.

Norris says, "Music is also a great tool for expressions for kids that maybe don't have the words to express what they're feeling, and they can express, just through how they're playing their music, how they're interacting with instruments and with us."

And while the kiddos may be the ones in the hospital, there's no doubt parents feel their pain; but hearing their loved one strike a chord from time to time just might be music to their ears.

Norris says, "Of course, the whole family is stressed in dealing with different emotional issues, coping with a diagnosis; and so when we bring music in, it's like a little break. And so for the parents, seeing their sick child happy again seems to make a big difference."