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DJ and licensed family and marriage therapist Julie Slavin describes using songs, personal memories and small promises in a practice she calls Music Connection Therapy. A Good Housekeeping report recounts exercises for reflecting on grief and setting goals, but provides no research showing the method’s effectiveness.
Good Housekeeping has profiled Julie Slavin, a New York City DJ and licensed family and marriage therapist, who uses music and personal memories in a practice she calls Music Connection Therapy. The report describes exercises for reflecting on grief and setting goals, while distinguishing Slavin’s approach from clinical music therapy; it does not provide evidence that the method produces lasting psychological change.
Slavin, who performs as DJ Hesta Prynn and trained under musician Questlove, asks people to identify songs connected to home, healing or a particular person. In the report, the writer initially struggled to name music tied to her late mother, then recalled repeatedly singing Bette Midler’s “The Rose” with her during drives to school. That memory led her to remember other songs associated with their relationship.
At a group demonstration, Slavin played a song and asked participants to notice what memories surfaced, then share those associations with someone nearby. She later asked them to recall a personal success and describe it aloud. The report presents these activities as ways to draw on emotion and memory before writing down a goal.
Slavin’s goal-setting exercise asks participants to describe what they want as if they have already achieved it, rate their current position, list what stands in the way and choose one small promise with a deadline. They then repeat that promise while listening to a selected song. Slavin says linking the promise to music can help people remember it; the report does not independently verify that explanation.
Songs as Cues for Personal Goals
The approach described in the report gives people a structured prompt for connecting music with memories, feelings and intentions. That may be meaningful to readers looking for a personal way to reflect on grief or make a goal feel more concrete, but Slavin’s account is not evidence that the practice treats grief or reliably changes behavior.
The distinction from clinical music therapy matters. Slavin says her method is not that credentialed clinical discipline and does not claim its place. Readers should understand the reported exercises as her own approach, with effectiveness and appropriate uses left unestablished in the material provided.
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From a Lyric to a Practice
Slavin told Good Housekeeping that a lyric from Jay-Z’s album 4:44 prompted her to rethink her relationship to money and owning property. She said the thought led her to consider buying an apartment she encountered soon afterward; she bought it and still owns it. The report presents this as the personal experience behind her interest in music as a catalyst for action.
In the writer’s account, the method also created a way to approach grief by recalling a specific memory instead of trying to address an indistinct feeling all at once. The supplied report cuts off during its description of a suggested physical space at home, so details of that exercise are unavailable.
““If a song can take you back,” she asked the room, “can you use a song to take you forward—to create change, to make decisions, to feel differently?””
— Julie Slavin, speaking to Good Housekeeping
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Evidence and Limits of the Method
The supplied article does not cite studies testing Music Connection Therapy, report measured outcomes or establish how long any effects last. Slavin’s explanation that repeating a promise over a song builds a new synapse is presented as her claim, without supporting research in the material provided.
It is also unclear how the method should be used by people experiencing severe or persistent grief, or whether Slavin has evaluated it with clients in a clinical setting. The report distinguishes her approach from clinical music therapy but does not describe specific safeguards, participant numbers or a formal treatment protocol.
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How Readers Can Assess the Claims
The report provides no announced study, clinical trial or follow-up milestone. Readers considering the exercises can treat them as prompts for personal reflection, while seeking qualified mental health support if grief or other distress is affecting daily life. Any broader claim that the method improves mental health or reliably changes behavior would require evidence beyond the personal accounts in the report.
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Key Questions
What is Music Connection Therapy?
It is Julie Slavin’s name for her approach to using songs, personal memories and goal-setting exercises. The report does not describe it as a validated treatment.
Is it the same as clinical music therapy?
No. Slavin says her method is not clinical music therapy, which the report describes as a credentialed clinical discipline.
How does the goal exercise work?
Participants write a goal as if achieved, assess where they are now, identify obstacles, make a small promise with a deadline and repeat it while listening to a chosen song.
Has the method been shown to work?
The supplied report gives personal examples and Slavin’s explanations, but cites no studies or measured results demonstrating effectiveness.
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