Abstract
High school students in the United States encounter meaningful challenges in addition to homework and tests. Among children ages 3-17 years old, 7.4 % have behavioral and conduct problems, 7.1 % have diagnosed anxiety, and 3.2% have diagnosed depression (Ghandour et al., 2019). About 31 percent of high school students in the United States reported feeling sad or hopeless for an extended period during the previous school year (Kann et al., 2018). Music therapy, the use of music experiences and evidence-based interventions within a therapeutic relationship to achieve individualized and group goals, is a strong solution for supporting these students (American Music Therapy Association, 2022c.). In this project, an 8-session music therapy program design that was student-centered and flexible was created after an extensive review of literature. It was then assessed and evaluated by board-certified music therapists, high school teachers, counselors, administrators, and recently graduated high school students. Their feedback revealed that this program design is useful and relevant to the high school setting and contains goals that are valuable to professionals and students.