Music Therapy in Ireland
|Background and overview| |Accreditation| |Associations| |Education & Training| |Professional Activities|
Background and Overview
There are two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom, comprising the six Counties in the north-east, and the Republic of Ireland, comprising the other 26 counties and a sovereign entity in its own right. The term Ulster is sometimes used for Northern Ireland but is rather confusing, since three Ulster counties, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan are part of the Republic. There are some 3.9 million people living in the Republic of Ireland while together with Northern Ireland, the population count is 5.6 million for the island as a whole.
When discussing music therapy here it is regular practice not to distinguish between music therapy in Northern Ireland and music therapy in the Republic. For example, regular meetings of music therapists have been held over many years with participation from practitioners from all of Ireland whether held in Northern Ireland or the Republic. There are differences in the ways in which health and education are administered between the UK and the Republic of Ireland so not all experiences of development of programmes and the steps taken in the development of the profession are shared. However, mutual co-operation and shared interests support and foster ongoing relationships between practitioners throughout Ireland.
Accreditation
One of the main differences between the experiences of practitioners in Northern Ireland and those in the Republic is governance of the profession. In the Republic the government, through the Department of Health and Children, have proposed to regulate music therapy through a registration council governing Complementary and Alternative Medicine. In the UK however, music therapy is governed through the Health Professionals Council so that music therapists along with other creative arts therapists are registered under the same programme as other allied health professionals.
Associations
Qualified practitioners wishing to work in Northern Ireland need to be registered with the Health Professionals Council and can have membership of the Association of Professional Music Therapists (APMT) however in the Republic anyone can call themselves a music therapist at the present time. The Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists offers membership to music therapists and is also developing a system of registration for qualified practitioners.
A music therapy email group was set up in November 2001 for qualified music therapists working on the island of Ireland. Jane Edwards originally moderated this group and now Áine Flynn has this role. The group has 32 members and is regularly subscribed with information about posts on offer, issues surrounding the development of music therapy and also notification about conferences and seminars.
Education and Training
While currently most of the music therapists in Ireland have qualified from courses in the UK, there is an MA course available at the University of Limerick offered at the Irish World Music Centre (www.ul.ie/~iwmc). This course offers a coursework and clinical training programme over two years full-time that leads to qualification as a music therapist. The course has graduated 12 practitioners since its first intake in September 1998. Two of the graduates have so far applied for registration with the Health Professionals Council in the UK and both were successful.
The MA in Music Therapy course was developed during the period of start-up for the Irish World Music Centre and Professor Kaja Jensen, Professor Leslie Bunt and Professor Tony Wigram were involved in advising and directing the establishment of the programme. The course directors for the programme to date have been:
Professor Kaja Jensen (Autumn semester 1998)
Dr. Wendy Magee (Spring & Summer semesters 1999)
Dr. Jane Edwards (Autumn & Spring semesters 1999/2000)
Bent Jensen (Autumn semester 2000)
Dr. Jane Edwards Spring semester 2001 -
There are currently 8 students in the programme and all students attend a variety of supervised placement experiences in each semester of the course with music therapists working in the areas of intellectual disability, hospice care, mental health services, special education and services for older adults.
The Irish World Music Centre also offers opportunities for further study to Masters or PhD level in music therapy through research.
Professional Activities
For such a small professional group, the amount of activity undertaken to promote music therapy through conferences and workshops is impressive. The first music therapy conference in Ireland was held at Our Lady's Hospital in Dublin on 7th November 1998. Titled Sound & Silence - The Art & Science of Music Therapy it was organised and co-ordinated by Dr. Julie Sutton and Ruth Walsh, both qualified music therapists who will be well known to many. Keynote papers were presented by Dr. Michael Swallow, OBE on the topic "Brain and Emotions: A key to the therapeutic value of music?" and Jim Cosgrove on "Music, Metaphor and Movement: A creative conceptual framework for Music Therapy practice". Julie Sutton, Ruth Walsh, Úna McInerney, Judith Brereton, Annie Birken and Celia Compton presented papers covering a wide range of music therapy subject areas. Workshops were conducted by Martin Fahy on "Music Playshop-childhood play and links with improvisation", and Trudi Carberry with Danusia Oslizlok on "Music
A recent conference, Music, Music Therapy and Trauma - A creative response to trauma in the community was held at the Dalriada Complex, University of Ulster, Jordanstown on 25th November 2000. The Millennium Commission, via a Sustainable Communities Millennium Award received by Dr. Julie Sutton, provided support for the event which was organised by Dr. Sutton. The conference drew together many experts working in the area of trauma from within Ireland, the UK, Bosnia and South Africa.
Keynote presentations were made by Dr. Marie Smyth on "The role of creativity in healing and recovering one's power after victimisation", Dr. Mercédès Pavlicevic on "Fragile rhythms: Music Therapy and the South African context", Louise Lang with Úna McInerney on "A Music Therapy service in a post-war environment" and Hilary Bracefield on "The politics of silence: The Northern Ireland composer and the troubles". Mathew Dixon, David Stewart and Ruth Walsh also made presentations. Karen Diamond and Brian Smith conducted a music-making workshop.
The Irish World Music Centre regularly presents opportunities for professional development in music therapy through the annual Leigheas an Cheoil[Healing and Music] seminar series. Speakers have included Dr. Joanne Loewy, Dr. Julie Sutton, Helen Odell-Miller, Dr. Jane Edwards, Dr. Anne Gaffney, Dr. Wendy Magee and Elaine Streeter. Some of these events have been open to the public.
How to cite this page
Edwards, Jane & Leslie, Ian (2003). Music Therapy in Ireland. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=country/monthireland_january2003
