January marks the beginning of our annual Social Media Advocacy campaign, spear headed by the incomparable Kimberly Sena Moore. This year I'm feeling a particularly strong affinity for our theme, which is exploring and honoring our unique identity as music therapists, as I'm finding myself in the distressing position of having to fight to keep a long-term music therapy position in our facility, a battle which we may be losing.
I will be working hard over the next few days to clearly and succinctly articulate to the state decision-makers exactly what, how and why the Music Therapy Unit offers the men and women in our developmental center something they are unable to get from any other service. While I'm doing that, I'm truly grateful to Judy Simpson (who has written a guest post honoring this month) for helping me get started by so beautiful saying...
“We are…MUSIC
THERAPISTS!”
Judy Simpson, MT-BC
Director of Government
Relations, American Music Therapy Association
When
I started my career as a music therapist in 1983, it was not uncommon for me to
describe my profession by comparing it to other professions which were more
well-known. If people gave me a
puzzled look after I proudly stated, “I use music to change behaviors,” I would
add, “Music therapy is like physical therapy and occupational therapy, but we
use music as the tool to help our patients.” Over the years as I gained more
knowledge and experience, I obviously made changes and improvements to my
response when asked, “What is music therapy?” My enhanced explanations took
into consideration not only the audience but also growth of the profession and
progress made in a variety of research and clinical practice areas.
The
best revisions to my description of music therapy, however, have grown out of
government relations and advocacy work.
The need to clearly define the profession for state legislators and
state agency officials as part of the AMTA and CBMT State Recognition
Operational Plan (http://www.musictherapy.org/policy/stateadvocacy/) has forced a serious
review of the language we use to describe music therapy. The process of seeking legislative and
regulatory recognition of the profession and national credential provides an
exceptional opportunity to finally be specific about who we are and what we do
as music therapists.
For
far too long we have tried to fit music therapy into a pre-existing description
of professions that address similar treatment needs. What we need to do is provide a clear, distinct, and very
specific narrative of music therapy so that all stakeholders and decision-makers
“get it.” Included below are a few initial examples that support our efforts in
defining music therapy separate from our peers that work in other healthcare
and education professions.
·
Music
therapist’s qualifications are unique due to the requirements to be a
professionally trained musician in addition to training and clinical experience
in practical applications of biology, anatomy, psychology, and the social and
behavioral sciences.
·
Music
therapists actively create, apply, and manipulate various music elements
through live, improvised, adapted, individualized, or recorded music to address
physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals of all ages.
·
Music
therapists structure the use of both instrumental and vocal music strategies to
facilitate change and to assist clients achieve functional outcomes related to
health and education needs.
·
In
contrast, when OTs, Audiologists, and SLPs report using music as a part of
treatment, it involves specific, isolated techniques within a pre-determined
protocol, using one pre-arranged aspect of music to address specific and
limited issues. This differs from music therapists’ qualifications to provide
interventions that utilize all music elements in real-time to address issues
across multiple developmental domains concurrently.
As we
“celebrate” 2014’s Social Media Advocacy Month http://musictherapystaterecognition.blogspot.com), I invite you to join
us in the acknowledgement of music therapy as a unique profession. Focused on the ultimate goal of
improved state recognition with increased awareness of benefits and increased
access to services, we have an exciting adventure ahead of us. Please join us
on this advocacy journey as we proudly declare, “We are Music Therapists!”
About
the Author: Judy Simpson is the Director of Government Relations for the American
Music Therapy Association (http://www.musictherapy.org). She can be reached at simpson@musictherapy.org
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