With help from the estate of Professor Keith Hitchins and Georgian-American brothers Sem and Tore Parker, First Step is incorporating music therapy into its services to children with disabilities. This involves music for therapeutic benefits as well as social music, in which music is used to support interaction between children with intellectual and physical disabilities, their peers, and supporting adults for education and recreation.
Sem and Tore lived their earliest years in Tbilisi and are active as performers and leaders in their school’s music programs in California. They inspired the development of music therapy at First Step and support it through engagements in Tbilisi and personal advocacy. As its music ambassadors, they performed for the First Step community at celebrations of the 2025 World Children's Day. Keith Hitchins was an internationally honored professor and historian of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe and many Asian countries. In one book he noted that “Georgians are today distinguished by a unique cultural heritage,” particularly in music, which Sem and Tore believe can benefit therapies. Hitchins died in 2020 and his estate is the source of important support for First Step’s music therapy program.
