Lehi City News
“Sophie’s Place” expressive therapies room opens at Primary Children’s Lehi
Megan Wallgren | Lehi Free Press
Community members came together on Wednesday, July 23, to celebrate the opening of Sophie’s Place at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Campus in Lehi. The newly opened expressive therapies room is designed to combine music, art and dance/movement therapy. It offers pediatric patients a unique healing space rooted in creativity, self-expression and hope.
Sophie’s Place is the legacy of Sophie Barton, a Utah singer-songwriter who volunteered at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City before passing away unexpectedly in 2010 at the age of 17. Her love of music and compassion for others became the driving force behind Sophie’s Place, a program established by the Forever Young Foundation in her memory.
Steve Young, NFL Hall of Famer and co-founder of the Forever Young Foundation, joined his wife, Barb Young; Sophie’s parents, Anne Marie and Kent Barton; and Intermountain Health leaders to officially open the expressive therapies room with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The event celebrated not only the opening but the purpose behind it, with music and dance performances. Ten-year-old Adele Storrs, a former Primary Children’s patient, sang and helped cut the ribbon. David Osmond, lead singer of The Osmonds—Second Generation and a Children’s Miracle Network ambassador, performed, as did EJ Michels, a contestant on “The Voice” who attended songwriting camps with Sophie as a youth.
“Through Sophie’s Place, Sophie’s heart continues to beat on, bringing comfort, inspiration and healing to countless young patients,” Steve Young said. “The frequency of physician-prescribed music therapy underscores just how vital this non-invasive, functional treatment is in transforming and improving lives.”
Inside the new Sophie’s Place, patients will find a vibrant, inviting space filled with musical instruments like guitars, drums, a piano and microphones. A recording studio and areas for visual art and movement-based therapies are designed to help children process emotions, reduce anxiety, and support cognitive and physical recovery.
“What makes this location unique is its vibrant, multidisciplinary approach to healing through self-expression, self-discovery and joy,” said Lisa Paletta, president of Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Miller Family Campus. “We’re thankful to the Barton family and Forever Young Foundation for supporting this important space for patient healing, inspired by Sophie’s beautiful legacy.”
Sophie’s Place was created from the combined dreams of Sophie and Barb Young. Barb had long believed in the medical power of music therapy, inspired by research she first did in the 1980s.
“I read what little science there was about it back then, and it really resonated with me,” said Barb. “When Sophie passed and left the beautiful gift of music and her hopes and wishes to bring it to people, it seemed like the perfect marriage to bring her dream and my dream together and create Sophie’s Place.”
She explained that now there is far more science to support music therapy’s benefits. “This is functional, non-invasive therapy that picks up where other medicine cannot go,” she said. “It reduces pain, anxiety and blood pressure. It can regulate heartbeats in the NICU and support both gross and fine motor skills. But the biggest thing I love is its ability to power up the neuroplasticity of our brains. Music hits all parts of the brain and fires up the synapses. It can create new neural pathways where others have been damaged.”
The new location in Lehi’s Primary Children’s is the ninth Sophie’s Place, and Sophie’s mother, Anne Marie, spoke about how much it meant to have it open near their home in Utah County.
“Nothing means more than knowing the Primary Children’s Lehi location and Sophie’s Place are here to serve the children by bringing music for healing. Her soul is here in Utah, and this new location means she can inspire healing and love for all those who visit these special rooms,” she said.
The theme of Sophie’s Place is “Shine On,” the title of one of Sophie’s original songs. “It doesn’t always work out, and there is suffering,” said Anne Marie. “But what can we do? We shine on. That is the ultimate purpose of Sophie’s Place.”
Sophie’s father, Kent, reflected on a mural in the room that reads “Music changes everything.”
“That is the core message,” he said. “There’s really no truer statement than that. The more you know about music therapy, the better you understand its power.”
Kent said that Sophie’s Place is not only a gift to their family but a gift to every child who enters it. “These kids don’t know who Sophie was, but they’re having this experience. They are healing better and faster because of music.” He added, “She wrote a list of things she wanted to do before she died. The one that really struck me the most was ‘change someone’s life,’ and that’s who she was at her core. And that’s what Sophie’s Place is: it changes lives, and her legacy lives on.”
Funded entirely through philanthropy, expressive therapies offered at Sophie’s Place are provided to families at no cost.
