Join the growing MT advocacy movement

Since 2005, the American Music Therapy Association and the Certification Board for Music Therapists have collaborated on a State Recognition Operational Plan. The primary purpose of this Plan is to get music therapy and our MT-BC credential recognized by individual states so that citizens can more easily access our services. The AMTA Government Relations staff and CBMT Regulatory Affairs staff provide guidance and technical support to state task forces throughout the country as they work towards state recognition. To date, their work has resulted in 35 active state task forces, 2 licensure bills passed in 2011, and an estimated 10 bills being filed in 2012 that seek to create either a music therapy registry or license for music therapy. This month, our focus is on YOU and on getting you excited about advocacy.

Over the past year, my understanding of advocacy has evolved. In fact, it appears to me like a snowball rolling downhill: growing bigger and picking up speed. Never in my life has the time been more important than now to be an advocate of music therapy. At this point, I am about to leave grad school and merge into the real world. In a few months, I will no longer have student loans to help me put food on the table and hold a roof over my head. In fact, I will be facing down a pile of debt in addition to trying to make ends meet. As I see it, the only way to make it happen is to become a self-promoter.

There are many times in our lives when we must be self-promoters: when we want to get into college, when we want to defend a thesis or dissertation, when we want to get a job or an internship. In developing a career, we must sell what we do. What we do is music therapy. What is music therapy? Why should a person want music therapy? These are questions that we must answer to promote not only our profession, but also ourselves.

Advocacy can happen on a local or global scale. In your community, you alone can spread awareness of music therapy simply by seeing clients and meeting new people. On a global scale, an entire movement has to happen to get the attention of the nation and the world. Luckily, in music therapy, that movement is happening. Last year, I talked about several events that introduced some people to music therapy for the first time. And through the effort of many music therapists, progress has been made to spread the word even further throughout government in hopes to make life a little easier for music therapists. After all, the reason we advocate for music therapy is to create a lasting profession that will improve the quality of people’s lives for all time.

To add to the movement, contact your local and state representatives, read up on what others are saying about advocacy, and use this quiz to help you realize your advocacy style.

Taking "The Test"

I'm so excited to announce that last week I passed the board certification exam! Many of you are looking forward to taking it yourselves in the near future. If you are at all like me, you will be a nervous wreck. I want to make this blog post helpful to those of you taking it for the first time. There is a lot of information to relay, so I will try to make it as organized as possible.

To read more about why I was freaking out about the test and why you should not, READ MORE...

Making advocacy even easier

As advocacy month comes to a close, I wanted to share another important post. I wrote recently about contacting your state representatives. As intimidating as this can be, I want to make it as straightforward and simple as possible.

I am grateful to Olivia Swedberg, chair of the Florida Music Therapy Government Relations Task Force. She has already taken steps to make conversation with your representatives easy. If you are considering writing to your representatives, use these resources that Olivia has put together.


The first is some guidelines to consider when writing your legislators. It includes tips for addressing the representative, formatting the letter, representing yourself, and speaking out on behalf of music therapy.

The second resource is a letter to your representative that is already written for you. All you have to do is FILL IN THE BLANKS! Olivia has made contacting your representatives that easy.

To wrap things up, I want to make a note on follow-up with your representatives. Olivia emphasizes allowing officials an opportunity to see music therapy in action. To make the biggest impact, she suggests that you follow-up the letter by calling a week later to schedule a meeting. However, students likely do not have an established practice that a representative might observe. There are alternatives to this. For example, just sending a letter describing your student status may be effective. You may be brave enough to meet with your representative to discuss what you hope for in the future as a professional. Or, with a professional's permission, perhaps you may invite the representative to that professional's session.

The point I want to make clear is that ANYone can be an advocate for music therapy. Do what you can with what you have. Students should not feel like they do not have a voice.

Discuss: What are some other suggestions and alternatives are out there for students, professionals, or other advocates who feel intimidated by the thought of meeting/contacting their representative?

Let Me Explain Something You May Not Know

Sometime within these past five years, I became an advocate of music therapy. I’d like to believe I know myself pretty well, but somehow I managed to transform into this role by accident. It was pretty sneaky how it happened, considering the fact that I was NOT looking for this hat to wear on top of all the others. And let’s just be honest here. You’re probably wearing that hat as well.

An advocate of music therapy is any person that stands up for our field. It might simply be someone that answers the question, “What is music therapy?” We answer this question a lot. Beyond this, students and professionals regularly practice advocacy when they dress up and attend an observation, practicum, internship, or other session. Generally, if you wear the hat of music therapist or music therapy student, then you can already consider yourself an advocate.

Knowing that you are already an advocate of music therapy, I want you to consider two things. One, in your everyday life, represent your career choice to the best of your ability. This means dress appropriately, speak intelligently, and act professionally. Put your best into every meeting, planning, and session. Two, is it possible to do more? If you love your field, let people know it. Make your circle just a little larger and teach people the reasons you love music therapy. Speak up and make your voice just a little bit bigger.

Because government has a hand in everything we do, the ultimate goal here is to let the big guys know that our field is worth a penny. You can do this on whatever level makes you feel comfortable. If you are comfortable speaking out on behalf of music therapy within your current circle of friends, this increases awareness in hopes that they might spread your word in their own circles. If you wish to go beyond this, you can speak out to businesses and potential music therapy clients. These are the people that can directly invest in our field. One of the greatest impacts I think you can make however, is to directly contact government representatives. If this is where the thought of advocacy gets scary, let me help make it less intimidating.

Generally, there are three layers of representatives: national, state, and local.

National level:
You have two senators to represent your state and one congressman to represent your district or community (that makes three letters).
U.S. Senate: www.senate.gov/ (search for your state in the drop down box)
U.S. House of Representatives: writerep.house.gov/

State level:
Find the website for your state legislature. The number of representatives that you can contact will depend on your state.

Local level:
Find the website for your city council and county commission (or find the equivalent of this; the names of these will vary depending where you live). The number of these will also vary.

With just a few letters (and they can all be the same, folks, just change the header!) you can get word directly to the people that directly influence our field. If a bill ever comes to their attention that involves music therapy, they may remember your letter and vote in its favor! The more they hear the words “music therapy,” the more likely it is to stick. So make your voice heard. With this new year, make a resolution to contact at least one representative. And what to say? Answer that question, “What is music therapy?” Tout the benefits. Mention the incredible research supporting it. The point, I think, is just to say “Music therapy is important to me, and as my representative it should be important to you too.”

Well advocate, thank you for reading this blog post. This may be one of the most important posts I make all year. If you have questions (I will answer any to the best of my ability!) or comments, please leave a message below.

Benefits of student AMTA membership

I am excited today because I got in the mail my first personal copy of the Journal of Music Therapy. And so I wanted to take a few seconds to rave about the benefits of joining AMTA as a student. The biggest benefit is the low costs of joining as a student as compared with joining as a professional. As college students, I'm sure we can all appreciate this. I need a break every place I can get it, thank you.

And the discounts aren't only in the membership fee. Students are eligible for discounts on music therapy textbooks, national/regional conferences. There are more opportunities for discounts on AMTA products (such as a flash-drive filled with research publications), and first year of professional membership.

There are also a large number of scholarships available to AMTA students and interns. In fact, AMTA has recently posted new deadline dates that can be applied for now.

As you search for internships, AMTA offers a list of AMTA-affiliated internship sites. As you begin your career, AMTA offers information for building connections with other professionals, and up-to-date information to help you set fees for your own music therapy services.

As I mentioned, I received my first research publication. Members will receive 4 Journal of Music Therapy publications, 4+ Music Therapy Matters, 2 Music Therapy Perspectives, and 1 AMTA sourcebook. As I understand it, if you join now, your membership will need to be renewed again at the start of 2011. However, you will receive all of the publications available to members from January to December 2010.

A student membership is $80. (A professional membership is $220!) Join now, these are my words of wisdom.