Voices ResourcesA website for the worldwide community around the journal Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy

The Canadian Association for Music Therapy (CAMT) was incorporated in 1977 (www.musictherapy.ca) but had its beginnings as far back as the 1950s in the grassroots work of pioneer music therapists like Fran Herman, Norma Sharpe, and Thérèse Pageau. 1977 was the same year that Nancy McMaster and Carolyn Kenny co-founded Canada's first music therapy program at Capilano College (www.capcollege.bc.ca) in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Since then five more programs undergraduate degree programs have emerged across this vast country, spanning 5,930 kilometers (or 3,685 miles) between North Vancouver, British Columbia on the West Coast and Wolfville, Nova Scotia on the Eastern seaboard:

• Acadia University (Nova Scotia) www.acadiau.ca
• Université du Québec à Montréal (Québec) www.uqam.ca
• Wilfrid Laurier University (Ontario) www.wlu.ca
• University of Windsor (Ontario) www.uwindsor.ca
• Canadian Mennonite University (Manitoba) www.cmu.ca

There is also a Master's level degree program at Wilfrid Laurier University, where they recently opened the Laurier Centre for Music Therapy Research (http://soundeffects.wlu.ca). Much has changed since 1977. Liz Moffitt, instructor at Capilano College and first certified trainer in Canada of the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery & Music, spoke at a recent musical evening celebrating 30 years of music therapy at Capilano College. She said how we've come such a long way, yet in other ways "it still feels like we're breaking new ground," meaning our modality is an exciting, emergent, and vital space of play and continues to unfold into new directions.

An example of these new directions comes from the Music Therapy Association of British Columbia (MTABC, www.mtabc.com). It has been a chapter of the CAMT from early on. In 1990 MTABC incorporated as a provincial association. The motivation to incorporate was to be listed in the phone book. The intent was that the public could access information and practitioners. This was the deciding factor in putting "Music Therapy" first in the association's name, knowing that when people looked in the telephone directory, they would readily find our profession. This hallmarked the shift to a more independent status that included adopting bylaws, a code of ethics, and standards of practice. It became apparent that each of the provinces in Canada regulate health care differently and autonomously.

Québec music therapists had formed their association under that provinces unique set of provincial laws, establishing a thriving, largely francophone community of music therapists, many of whom are the backbone of the CAMT's commitment to a bilingual organization. Other provinces and before long Canada had music therapy associations in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and an alliance among the eastern provinces with the Music Therapy Association of the Atlantic.

Designation as a Health Care Profession

It was also in 1990 that B.C. began a process through the provincial government called Occupational Title Protection (OTP). Through a rigorous process that took several years, MTABC was moving towards protection of the public by seeking to have the title 'music therapist' reserved for only those trained in the field at a recognized educational institution. A few years later when I was on the CAMT board and Dr. Johanne Brodeur was president, we trademarked our official credential, Music Therapist Accredited (MTA) to add a layer of title protection at the national level. As of this writing there are 331 music therapists who have gone through the accreditation process. As the association neared completion of the OTP process, the provincial government enacted the Health Professions Act (HPA). People who do counselling of various types have long been unregulated in the province. Any individual could be a self-declared counsellor, thus presenting a public harm concern. The government decided that the field of counselling needed to fall under the HPA, and they recognized several professions as being counselling in nature that would come under this umbrella. During the OTP process the association consulted about other professions who were also seeking OTP status or HPA status and asked for input. This put MTABC on the radar as a profession that would belong in the Counselling College, "College" being a term that means a regulatory body for a profession, established by government. Such colleges are not available on a national level, only provincially. Several provinces do not have either an OTP or HPA process, or may have a different configuration. MTABC was informed that their numbers were too small to be granted a regulatory college solely for music therapists, and they were also told that if they applied for Title Protection at this time, it would be rejected, because the Health Professions Act would be replacing the former. While frustrated, we saw opportunity. The members supported our move to pursue forming an alliance with other professions and with the dedication of Susan Summers on the Task Group and Stephen Williams and I on the working committee; we have spent the past few years actively preparing for the government to pass legislation to form what is proposed being called the College of Counselling Therapists. Our intention is that the MTA credential will be a requirement for membership in this regulatory College.

A Sound Opportunity

The opportunity has created exciting alliances among several health care providers. They even banded together for a national symposium on the topic. While other professions are welcome to join the table, the core group at this time includes:

• Association for Marriage & Family Therapy
• American Association of Pastoral Counsellors
• BC Art Therapy Association
• Music Therapy Association of British Columbia
• Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice & Education
• BC Association of Clinical Counsellors
• Canadian Counselling Association (BC Chapter)

The provincial government asked the collective to come up with common ground in order that a person would meet entry level requirements to be a College member. We knew from the beginning we wanted a competency based model rather than a credential (or masters degree only) based requirement. You can imagine the process of finding commonality, yet it has been an informative and inspiring process.

The CAMT's role has been evolving as certain endeavors such as advocacy for health profession regulation status are necessarily handled at the local level. Essential services of the CAMT include (but certainly aren't limited to!): continuing education, accreditation, publications, national conference, advice in ethics and discipline, access to the internship registry, qualification to apply for funding through both CAMT and Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund (CMTTF) bursaries, professional liability insurance, and more.

Why do Professions Regulate?[1]

In B.C. the government passed legislation called the Health Professions Act and designated an agency called the Health Professions Council to regulate professions into a legal entity called a "College" in order to protect the public from harm. The advantage to the professions is to have a standardized and legal entity that validates their professional services, protects untrained people from offering counsellingeling and therapeutic services without proper training and credentialing, and standardizes the kinds of counsellingeling and therapeutic services that clients and patients in BC receive.

What Benefits Would Music Therapists Gain from Being Regulated?

The initial reason that MTABC started work on application for regulated status in 1990 was to gain title protection - to ensure that those using the title of "music therapist" had appropriate training. This would prevent non-trained individuals from calling what they did music therapy, and would define who a music therapist is and what they can do (their scope of practice).

The main advantage to music therapists will be visibility and legal validation of their services to the public. It is anticipated that the members of the College of Counselling Therapists will gain from their legal status by having third party insurance companies request and pay for their services, in turn increasing employment. There will be title protection. There will be increased dialogue and sharing of continuing education and professional development opportunities amongst the six associations sitting currently at the Task Group table. There will be increased opportunities for cross-referral between members of the College and for music therapists, increased promotion of music therapy services with clients of clinical counsellors, marriage and family therapists, pastoral counsellors, etc.

Are There Other Countries or Canadian Provinces Where Music Therapy is Regulated?

It seems the only other country that has achieved regulated status is the United Kingdom, a journey that reportedly took them twenty years (http://www.hpc-uk.org/). Other Canadian provinces that are actively in the process of application include Ontario and Québec.

What Happens to CAMT and Provincial Memberships?

Once the College of Counselling Therapists becomes the legal entity, it will be compulsory to join the College, and optional to join the professional associations (either provincially or nationally). There are, however, many reasons why someone would continue to belong to their professional associations, including liability insurance, continuing education workshops and conferences, newsletters and journals, job referrals, advocacy, professional support, networking, and qualification for bursaries and grants from both the CAMT and the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund.

The Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund[2]

The Trust Fund (www.musictherapytrust.com) was formed in 1994 through the efforts of Bernadette Kutarna, Doug Ramsay, Susan Summers, and Colleen Purdon. It took about two years to get set up and organized, which was accomplished under the stewardship of Colleen Purdon. Fran Herman took over as Chair in May of 1995. At that time the board felt it was ready to start fundraising. It was apparent that we needed to seek possible donors. Knowing that in England the rock industry was helping to support music therapy we decided on a similar approach to build our own fund.

In August of 1995, John Marshall, then producer of the New Music at MuchMusic, agreed to join the Trust Fund board at the invitation of Fran and Carl Herman. Marshall had previously contacted Fran while working on a television story about music therapy. That first step changed the history of music therapy in Canada forever. Within the first ten years the Trust Fund raised $4 million, gave assistance to more than 340 projects from coast to coast and into one of Canada's northern territories (The Yukon), and significantly raised the profile of music therapy in this country.

It took about one year to involve the different labels that were operating in Canada at that time. These included Polygram, A&M, Sony, Warner, Universal, MCA Concerts, BMG, Virgin, EMI, and Zomba. MuchMusic, HMV, CHUM and other industry initiatives also brought support. Once funds began to roll in, the Trust drew up a blueprint as to how distribution would take place.

Disbursement

Twice a year, music therapists (members in good standing of the CAMT) are able to submit proposals that are given to a group of five people to judge and prioritize. This committee is made up of four accredited therapists from the CAMT, as well as one outside professional. Once reviewed, the coordinator of disbursements and the Chair then decide how to divide the funding according to the reviewers' submissions and the funding on hand. To support students training in music therapy, scholarships have evolved and funding has been made available for post-graduate work by the Michael Cohl Fund. For those doing internships, a $500 bursary has been set up to assist, in a small way, the financial difficulties students face for this time in their careers. This is applicable to all students except those who are being paid for their internship hours. To date, the Fund has disbursed over $150,000 to over 300 students.

By the year 2000, with the help of Michael Cohl, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and other donors, the Trust Fund had sufficient revenue to open a music therapy centre. This Centre opened its doors in Toronto, Ontario in autumn of 2001. It is a freestanding street-front facility, which serves both as a clinical space and as a national office for the Trust Fund. By opening up the Centre they have provided visibility and profile to music therapy in Canada.

Research

Financial support from the Trust Fund and the CAMT means that those pursuing advanced education are engaging in research. More than ever, Canadian music therapists are doing further studies after their undergraduate degree in fields such as counselling psychology, music therapy, education, creative arts, and other topics. Research is changing and challenging the way we do music therapy, how we write about it, and what informs our practice.

Is There a National Identity to Music Therapy in Canada?

With students from all across Canada and internationally attending music therapy programs, the question arises, "Is there is a national identity to music therapy that is distinctly Canadian? The answer is both yes or no. No in that each program is unique, with its own teaching philosophies, style, origins, and methods. All music therapy programs, it should be noted, voluntarily meet approval standards established by the CAMT. The beauty of this is that these standards do not compromise the unique character of each program. Yes in that this diversity becomes our defining national characteristic. By embracing a spectrum of both educational and music therapy models, Canada offers a rich variety of approaches to the training and practice of music therapy.

Notes

[1] Summers, S. (2005). Health Professions Act Q & A. The Drumbeat, 6(4), 20-22.

[2] Herman, F. (2006). The beat goes on: A decade of the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund. Canadian Journal of Music Therapy, 12(1): 62-66.

How to cite this page

Kirkland, Kevin (2007) Music Therapy in Canada. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=country-of-the-month/2007-music-therapy-canada