For nearly a decade, I’ve worked alongside Early On families in Jackson County. Families navigating the uncertainty, hope, and vulnerability that can come with early developmental delays. Since 2017, our Early On music therapy groups have offered something steady: a place where children connect through music and caregivers find reassurance that they are not alone.
Hundreds of children have participated in these groups during some of the most critical stages of early development. And then, in late 2025, we learned the program’s dedicated funding would not continue into 2026, the result of broader state-level cuts to early childhood services across Michigan.
It was a familiar moment. One many community programs now face. The kind where impact is clear, need is growing, and funding quietly disappears.
When support is lost, the question becomes immediate and deeply personal: What happens to the families who depend on this?
Our therapists offered to continue the work without pay. Their commitment was genuine but unsustainable. As the owner of Harmony Garden Music Therapy Services, I couldn’t allow that. Sustainability, ethics, and care for our clinicians matter just as much as care for our families. We needed another way forward.
That path began months earlier, in September 2024, through an unexpected partnership with Jackson First United Methodist Church. What started as a simple music therapy ministry collaboration grew into something far more meaningful.
This church is also where I grew up. I sang in the choir from kindergarten through high school and it’s where I first learned how music can create community, connection and care. Life eventually took me elsewhere, as it does for many. I never expected my work to bring me back in this way.
As church leaders learned about the Early On funding loss, their focus wasn’t on just the numbers. They asked about children. About families. About what would be lost if the program stopped.
Those conversations led to the Brian Buehler Memorial Fund, a permanent endowment created to expand the church’s outreach through music and the arts. In a powerful alignment between legacy and present-day need, the fund was committed to fully sustain the Early On Music Therapy Groups, ensuring services could continue without interruption.
“This was a personal decision for us at Jackson First. When there’s a real need in the community, we want to show up—and this was one of those moments. I’ve also experienced music therapy as a mom and watched my own toddler grow through it, so I know how meaningful early support can be. For us, this was about more than funding. It was about living out our faith in a way that directly supports children and families.”
— Torri Meunier, Director of Communications & Marketing
Harmony Garden Music Therapy Services is not a faith-based organization, and the families we serve represent many beliefs and backgrounds. This partnership works because of shared values: ethical care, community responsibility, and the belief that support doesn’t have to end when funding does.
Music therapy is not a luxury for Early On families. It is a lifeline that offers connection, communication, and growth during a narrow and irreplaceable window of development.
This partnership kept a vital program alive for dozens of children and families in our community. More importantly, it offers a reminder of what’s possible when community steps forward.
As early childhood services continue to face uncertainty, sustaining what works will depend on people willing to act when gaps appear. What happened here in Jackson doesn’t have to be rare. It can be a blueprint. The beginning of something more.
By Jaime Lawrence, MT-BC
Founder & Board-Certified Music Therapist, Harmony Garden Music Therapy Services
