Share your thoughts with the board members on the role of music therapy in community based settings.

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Channing Shippen]

I love the use of music therapy provides a simultaneously universal and individual way of connecting people. Finding commonalities in music can strengthen and develop bonds between families and strangers alike. There is potential for music therapists to explore a  and utilize multiple interventions in efforts to promote bonding within a community.

[Anonymous]

I really love what Channing wrote! I would also say that in a community based setting, music therapy helps to bring people together and gives many people the opportunity the benefits of music that they may not have had the opportunity to have otherwise. Although the population is very different, I had the opportunity to run community based music groups in classrooms, in an urban school district. It was amazing how the music experiences brought the children together. I found that these children got the opportunity to grow into a cohesive unit and all of the students began to support and encourage each other. Their classroom teacher was amazed at how the groups changed the behaviors and reduced bullying. So, in a community of families, I can see music therapy being extremely supportive and encouraging.

[Emily Seymour]

        The field of music therapy has drastically changed since the days of doing case studies in clinical settings.  During my job search, I saw multiple positions open for community based programs that I was qualified for.  Like Elizabeth said in the video, I think the role of music therapy in a community setting is to promote healthy development and to build upon strengths.  A music therapist uses his/her training in a different way when working in this setting.  For example, instead of tracking data on each individual of the group, the music therapist may have large, overarching goals that he/she wants to accomplish.  I think that MT-BCs should have enough training and experience to feel comfortable leading sessions in both community-based and clinical settings.

 

[Lauren Bevilacqua]

I am thankful for the discussion that Meredith and Elizabeth had in this module about the difference in focus between clinical music therapy and some more community based services. Instead of looking at creating compensatory strategies to cope with symptoms or diagnoses, community based services focus on healthy development and meeting the needs of families. 

[Lisa Klostermann]

This topic is interesting from many different angles.  Perhaps I’ve never really thought about what the term “community based MT” really means.  Does that mean it looks and feels like MT, but without all of the documentation?  When I started my early childhood classes, I looked at myself as a very highly qualified teacher, but did not even consider that it could be qualified as “community based music therapy”.   As Meredith said, it is obviously not clinical music therapy with assessment & formal goals etc.

And so where is the line between community based MT and therapy?    As part of my business I also lead music groups in community preschools in the area… and have been asked to see an elementary autism classroom across the hall.  Not for music therapy, but for recreational music, just like my preschool groups.  No goals & objectives, just music.  To me this feels a little fuzzy and close to the line.  Perhaps because it is a population that typically receives clinical MT.   As long as we are all clear on definitions and expectations of no data etc, (and a lesser fee), is this ethical? What do you think?    Or perhaps this is too far off topic, and that’s fine too!

[Kristen Macleod]

I think this is such an interesting discussion and I am glad that this was touched upon in the videos this week. I feel that since beginning my practice I have constantly been having this discussion in my head as I have been trying to educate people in my community about the benefits of music therapy. Where is the line between community based music therapy and music groups for entertainment purposes? And I feel that this is something I have needed to try and be very clear about in terms of telling people about my training and about goals and objectives.  I have a few community MT groups that do not require clinical documentation but I do have goals and objectives for so I feel that what Lisa is saying about her experience with an elementary autism classroom resonates with me.  I think it is important that we emphasis that benefits of overall health and wellbeing in community music therapy experiences and let those that are part of our groups or parents etc know why it is we do certain interventions/ activites/ experiences and highlight areas of growth and development for clients within the musical experiences.

[Meredith Pizzi]

Thank you all for taking this conversation to a deeper level. The arena of music therapy in early childhood really stretches the boundaries of therapy and development.  If I am working with children with special needs, even if I am not required to document, I  still am goal based….providing that this is the understanding of the parents and/or staff involved.

[Michelle Muth]

This concept of music therapy in community based settings has brought me back to my interest in community music therapy in which taking in the full context of a person’s life (society/natural environment/health/relationships) all influence what takes place in a session.  To Meredith’s point that Sprouting Melodies (SM) is not clinical music therapy (sans assessments, goals/objectives, progress notes, etc.) it is embraces the community music therapy model.  As SM providers or music therapists using SM as a framework we are to understand the broader community.  What are recent happenings?  What ethnic groups live here?  What are traditions? We need to keep a pulse on the community at large AND the community within our sessions.  What ethnic backgrounds are represented in SM sessions? Intergenerational influence?  Percentage of families that are working while raising their child?  Income levels of families, religious influences, etc.  We bring our training and insight about music (in all its aspects), child development, wellness, assessment and flexibility to our sessions.  While, we may not set clinical goals I expect we do set goals e.g. create a safe and relaxed environment to encourage child-parent/caregiver bonding.  We understand the importance of being flexible in the moment, watching for reactions, being alert to the pace of the session. 

These are aspects that music therapy can bring to a community based activity.

[Megan Goddu]

I agree with all that was talked about above. In my understanding, I would say that even though the majority of community based music therapy does not require extensive documentation on written goals/objectives, IEPs, treatment plans, etc; I believe that on a basic level community based music therapy is still have goals. However, those goals are just subconsciously being accomplished. For example, I think the main goals for SM 1 is: 1. giving parents an opportunity to bond with their infants. 2. for infants to explore their environment in a musical way. The goals/community based music therapy purpose is to help the community build healthy relationships with all while enhancing everyone’s development (infant and adult/parent).

[Vanessa Talbott]

I think we have unique skills that can bring families together in a community setting. Music is such a part of most people’s lives, what a great opportunity we have to invite families to share music together and in turn take that music home into their daily lives.

[Carla Carnegie]

I like reading what you all are saying in regards to the community setting.  I just got done trying to bring “music experiences” to 2nd-6th grade kids in the Parks and Rec setting.  Through them, I found that a program called Tune Tales, is providing music using mostly CD’s for the Parks and Rec.  They also show on their website they provide music to developmentally challenged kids.  It is very important we have a distinct separation between “clinical”  settings, with goals and objectives, and “community well-being” settings.  The facilitators seem to have music skills, but I wonder about the background and training such as we have received as MT’s, and the continuing ed we continually add to our professional lives.   The more I learn about what my community is currently providing, the more I can see the unique position I am in to bring my skills  both as an MT, musician, and more fully educated professional to enrich the lives of families, helping and encouraging, and equipping them to bond, grow, and develop together through music.

[Courtney Fanello]

As I read these, I can’t help but think of the many people I have talked with who have said, “Oh yeah, my friend does music therapy, she plays piano for people at the rest home.” I feel like I am pretty good at explaining to them the difference between music therapy and what their friend is doing, but as we move into community music therapy, the lines become more fuzzy. In my mind, in that case, we are doing the same thing, just accomplishing it in what I feel is a more informed and evidence based way. This all comes back to the fact that sprouting melodies is similar to many of the programs out there, but we, the music therapists, trained with skills of observation, clinical analysis, and many different styles of interventions, offer a very well rounded package. SO yes, we are creating more jobs, and opening ourselves up to the public, but we are fuzzing the line between our professional practice and what other people are able to do. I still think this is better, because then we, ourselves, get to educate people about our profession as opposed to the “friend of a friend” whose uncle had music therapy in rehab.

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