1. An Introduction to Music Therapy
Presented by:
Jaycie Voorhees, MM, MT-BC
Director, Harmony Music Therapy

2. Questions for an MT?
What questions initially come to mind when you hear the term “music therapy”?
If you were a professional or an administrator and a music therapist approached you about starting a program, what would be your questions?

4. What is Music Therapy?
According to AMTA… “Music Therapy is an established healthcare profession that uses music to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals of all ages. Music therapy improves the quality of life for people who are well and meets the needs of children and adults with disabilities and illnesses.”
According to me:
“Simply put, music therapy helps strengthen relationships, lengthen attention span, express difficult emotions, and even improve communication, speech, and language. We do it all with music, with an emphasis on creating as opposed to simply listening.”

5. Music Therapy as a Creative Arts Therapy
Professional Certification: MT-BC (Board Certified Music Therapist)
Requirements to become an MT-BC
Bachelor’s Degree in Music Therapy
6 month 1,040 hour internship
Pass National Exam
Maintain 100 Continuing Ed credits every 5 years
Master’s and Doctorate programs also available, but not required to practice as an MT-BC

6. Professional Music Therapy Organizations
American Music Therapy Association (AMTA)
Responsible for advancement, education, training, professional standards, credentials, and research in support of the music therapy profession
Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT)
Responsible for certification and credentialing of Music Therapists
Can look up any MT-BC on this site to verify credentials
Utah Association of Music Therapy
Provides support, resources, conferences, and continuing education opportunities for music therapists in the state of Utah

7. Collaboration with Music Therapy
“Music Therapy is not a single, isolated discipline with clearly defined and unchanging boundaries. Rather it is a dynamic combination of many disciplines around two main subject areas: music and therapy.
This figure is a representation of how music-related disciplines merge with therapy-related disciplines to form the hybrid called music therapy.
Music often overlaps with the other arts, and therapy often overlaps with other human professions, thereby creating many fuzzy areas.”
--Ken Bruscia, Defining Music Therapy, 2nd Edition, p. 6-7

8. Scope of Practice When to use Music:
In a supportive role to help clients talk more about their lives
i.e. client brings in a song, then you talk about that song
How NOT to use music
In a Facilitator or Therapeutic role
To guide or shift a client’s mood--may cause more harm than good without proper training
If music is the driving force of the therapy, it becomes a gray area and may stray from your scope of practice.

10. Music Map
Make a “map” of various emotions and the songs or genres of music you are drawn to when experiencing those emotions. (This is your “attendance activity” for the day)
Excited
Happy
Calm
Sad
Lonely
Angry
Confused
etc.

11. Goals in Music Therapy Music therapy interventions can be designed to:
· Promote wellness
· Manage stress
· Alleviate pain
· Express feelings
· Enhance memory
· Improve communication
· Promote physical rehabilitation

12. Where do Music Therapists work?
· Treatment Facilities
· Hospitals
· Patient Homes
· Schools
· Private Practice

13. Paradigms in Music Therapy
· Improvisational Music Therapy
· Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT)
· Bonny Method of Guided Imagery in Music
· Orff-Schulwerk
· Psychodynamic
· Humanistic
· Person-Centered

14. Populations Served · Behavioral & Emotional Disorders
· Special Needs (i.e. Autism, Down Syndrome, Developmental Delay, etc.)
· Neurologic Disorders (including stroke)
· Medical/Surgical (including NICU)
· Elderly & Alzheimer’s
· Hospice

16. Music Therapy with Special Needs
Goals
· Communication
· Social Skills
· Fine & Gross Motor
· Emotional Regulation
· Cognitive Development
· Sensory Integration
Case Examples
· Speech Development with child with William’s Syndrome
· Emotional expression with nonverbal teen with Autism
· Address memorization for teen with seizure disorder

17. Music Therapy with Older Adults
Goals
· Memory & Reminiscence
· Socialization
· Motor coordination
· Emotional support
· Disruptive Behaviors
· Agitation
Case Example
· Musical reminiscence with 92 year old man on Hospice

19. Music Therapy in Neurologic Rehabilitation
Goals
· Speech & Language
· Sensorimotor Development
· Cognitive Development
Case Example
· Speech Rehabilitation (Senator Gabby Giffords)
· Gait Training (Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation)

21. Music Therapy in Hospice & Palliative Care
Goal areas
· Physical Issues
· Pain management
· Spiritual needs
· Psychosocial Issues
· Bereavement needs
· Emotional needs (anxiety, isolation, family cohesion, autonomy & control)
Case Examples
· Hospice Patient
· Charlee’s song

22. Music Therapy in Mental Health
Goals
· Improved coping skills
· Decreased anxiety/agitation
· Decreased depression
· Increased motivation
· Improved emotional state
· Reduced Muscle Tension
Case Example
· “I Won’t Give Up” lyric analysis with adults with Depression & suicidal ideation
· Reality orientation with High Acuity patients

23. Experiential Music Therapy Group on Support Systems
Instrument Improvisation
Music for group support
Peer support
Discussion

24. Lyric Analysis: “I Won’t Give Up” Jason Mraz
When I look into your eyes
It’s like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
There’s so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you’ve come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?
I won’t give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I’m giving you all my love
I’m still looking up
And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find
Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make
Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use the tools and gifts We got yeah we got a lot at stake
And in the end you're still my friend at least we did intend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn, how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I got, and what I'm not, and who I am
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
God knows I'm tough, he knows
We got a lot to learn

25. Questions? Please feel free to contact me directly
Jaycie Voorhees, MM, SCMT, MT-BC
Director, Harmony Music Therapy