Music Heals: Music’s Role in Healing the Mind, Heart and Soul
Event Details:
Date / Time:
Tuesday, February 24, 2026 | 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.
Location:
Hislop Auditorium, Thurston Hall
Utica University
(Virtual attendance also available)
Admission is free
Description:
Research shows that music is powerful medicine, with the ability to elevate mood, decrease anxiety, reduce pain and provide children a creative outlet to process and express emotions. KEYS founder Colleen Bennett will share how the KEYS Program has been harnessing the power of music to help in healing the minds, hearts and souls of children impacted by cancer and serious illnesses for over 30 years. Attendees will actively participate in music interventions with KEYS board certified music therapist Danielle Caringi and acquire basic knowledge and techniques they can use to integrate music into the care of those they serve, and themselves. (Learn more at https://www.thekeysprogram.org/)
Featured Speakers
Colleen Bennett – KEYS Program Director/Founder
Colleen studied music education at Marywood University, specializing in music for children with special needs and early childhood music. After college, from 1986 to 2004, Colleen owned and operated Colleen’s School of Music and Colleen’s Musical Nursery in Central New York, teaching private lessons and operating a music-based preschool program. During the summers, Colleen worked alongside her husband in motorsports, and eventually for NASCAR in media relations. In 1993, Colleen and her husband founded the KEYS Program, after losing Colleen’s father to cancer. Today, KEYS is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that delivers music, hope and smiles to more than 1,000 children each year who are battling cancer, serious illnesses and disabilities through its music therapy and family respite day programs both here in Central NY and in 16 states across the US.
Colleen has received numerous awards for her dedication to children, including: the 1995 Outstanding Contributor to Early Childhood Education Award from Mid-York Child Care Council; the 2003 Who’s Who Among American Women Award; the 2004 United Cerebral Palsy Volunteer Recognition Award; the 2012 Friend of Children Award; the 2023 Greater Oneida Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award; the 2023 Remarkable Woman Award from News Channel 9; and was the 2016 Finalist for the NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award.
Danielle Caringi – Board Certified Music Therapist
Danielle is a board certified music therapist who completed her bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy from Nazareth University. She has been an ambassador at The KEYS Program for over 10 years, so it was a full-circle moment for her to complete her internship with KEYS and now work as a music therapist at the KEYS Program! She has experience working with children, teens, and older adults in schools, clinics, and hospitals. Growing up, Danielle was immersed in music. She is a talented violinist and musician, playing violin since the age of 8 and performing in her own band, the Fiddle Dee Divas, for close to 10 years. Her passion for helping people with her music led her to the KEYS Program.
R.S.V.P.
Contact Us
Bethany A. VanBenschoten, M.S.
