Krystal Demaine

One year after earning a bachelor's degree from Berklee, where she majored in music therapy, Krystal Demaine founded North Shore Music Therapy Services in Beverly, Massachusetts. After initially cobbling together a 10-hour workweek with a handful of local clients, Demaine now commands a thriving private practice that serves a variety of schools, health centers, support groups, and other care facilities throughout the North Shore region of Massachusetts.   

A board-certified music therapist, Demaine works with adults, adolescents, and children to address physical, emotional, and developmental challenges through musical exercises like drumming, singing, songwriting, and moving with music. For her clients with autism, for example, these sessions help them access communication skills and adapt to sensory input in ways that traditional therapies often cannot. Demaine also works with a local hospice where she uses music to help grieving children cope with the loss of a deceased family member.

In addition to earning her degree from Berklee, Demaine obtained a master’s degree of education in counseling psychology in 2004 from Cambridge College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She earned a doctorate of philosophy in expressive therapies from Lesley University, also in Cambridge, in 2012. Her research on the relationship between music and the brain is published in several scientific journals and presented at conferences around the world. Throughout her academic career, Demaine has helped to develop music and creative arts therapy courses at four colleges and universities.

Demaine is also a neurologic music fellow, a registered expressive arts therapist, and a registered yoga teacher. Additionally, she has worked as an associate professor of expressive therapies at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, and as an assistant professor of expressive art therapies at Lesley University.

In her spare time, Demaine plays flute with two community bands.