The State of Music Therapy in the Southwestern Region of the United States
This Country of the Month article continues the series of local reports from various regions of countries we have represented previously as national Country of the Month contributions. Please see entries by Luce, Abrams and Sutton, referenced below, for other regions in the US and Canada.
Where are Southwestern Region Music Therapists located and what are our priorities?
The Southwestern Region encompasses Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Music therapists in this region are concentrated in larger cities, like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin, and are more isolated in the rest of the region. There are almost 300 music therapists in Texas, 16 in Oklahoma, and eight in New Mexico. We are a small, but influential group!
Music therapists in Oklahoma are leading the path to having the MT-BC recognized as a State License, with legislation being presented this year. The Oklahoma Music Therapists are organizing presentations and meetings with their State representatives to gain authors of the legislation. They have strong support from many influential people in Oklahoma and I am confident that they will be successful in the very near future. In the United States, the MT-BC (Board Certified Music Therapist, Certification Board for Music Therapy), is a national certification. In some States, like Oklahoma, music therapy is not included in some funding opportunities because the funding source only recognizes State licenses rather than national certifications. Many States are seeking recognition of the MT-BC or have alternative credentials, such as the WMTR in Wisconsin or the LCAT in New York.
New Mexico music therapists are spread very thin with one to three music therapists in four or five cities in the State. They are a dedicated group that occasionally network with music therapists in El Paso, TX.
The majority of our members are in Texas, but they are also spread out across the State. There have been some major achievements in insurance reimbursement for music therapy obtained by the Music Therapy Center of Houston. They have successfully billed insurance companies for some of the clients seen at the Music Therapy Center, while other clients are served through private pay or grant funding and scholarships. Music therapists in Texas successfully got an exemption from the Licensed Counseling Practitioner bill, which would have limited practice of music therapy to those having a counseling license in addition to the music therapy credential. As part of that exemption, music therapists in Texas do not practice psychotherapy techniques without proper training and credentials.
The Southwestern Region members have been influential in shaping the development of music therapy in our country and indeed aspects of the work of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) . This was the first region to have a website and one of our members, Amanda Ambrosio, encouraged AMTA to begin a task force on technology, which later became the Technology Committee, whose goals include educating members on current clinical technology resources, practices, and applications; serving as a technology resource for members, and promoting technology-related events and training at national and regional conferences.
Music Therapy Education and Training in our Region
There are five University Programs in the Southwestern Region: Texas Woman's University, West Texas A&M University, Southern Methodist University, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Sam Houston State University, and University of Incarnate Word. Texas Woman's University and Sam Houston State University offer Masters’ and Bachelors’ degrees in music therapy, and all the universities in the region offer Bachelor's degrees.
Music Therapy Practice and Development
While music therapy in the Southwestern Region is practiced in a wide variety of locations and settings with every population, a majority of music therapists in this region work in hospitals, school districts, and private practice. We network well together and have a regional listserv through which we share ideas and offer support, as well as disseminate regional information.
To illustrate some of the work that we are engaged in, within the Southwestern Region, here are some examples of music therapists’ writing and practice contributions: Jacqueline S. Peters wrote Music Therapy: An Introduction (Peters 2000) and was a strong leader in our region, including serving as President. Don Michel was a pioneer in our field and helped to develop the program at Texas Woman's University, served as President of the National Association of Music Therapy, and published research and textbooks for music therapy (for example Michel & Pinson 2005). Kathleen Coleman, one of the founders of Prelude Music Therapy (www.preludemusictherapy.com), was instrumental in getting music therapy into many of the school districts in Texas. She also maintains the regional listserv and created the Special Education Music Therapy Assessment Process (SEMTAP), along with Betsey Brunk (Brunk & Coleman 1999). Joe Pinson wrote our Regional Song: The Music in My Heart is for You, which is sung at every regional meeting. I created and am the host and producer of The Music Therapy Show with Janice Harris, which is the first weekly call-in show about music therapy (which can also be found on iTunes).
References
Abrams, Brian (2007) The State of Music Therapy in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved January 04, 2011, from http://www.voices.no/?q=country/monthusa_december2007
Brunk, B.K. Coleman, K.A. (1999) SEMTAP: Special Education Music Therapy Assessment Process Handbook. (2nd Ed) Grapevine, TX: Prelude Music Therapy Products
Luce, David (2008). The State of Music Therapy in the Western Region of the United States. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved January 04, 2011, from http://www.voices.no/?q=country/monthusa_march2008
Michel, D & Pinson, J. (2005) Music Therapy In Principle and Practice. Springfield: Charles C Thomas.
Peters, J. S. (2000) Music Therapy : An Introduction. (2nd Ed) Springfield: Charles C. Thomas
Sutton, David (2007). Music Therapy in Northern Canada. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved January 04, 2011, from http://www.voices.no/?q=country-of-the-month/2007-music-therapy-northern-canada
Web Links
For additional information, please visit the following sites:
- Southwestern Region, American Music Therapy Association : http://www.swamta.com
- Sam Houston State University: http://music.shsu.edu/degrees/therapy.php
- Southern Methodist University: http://www.smu.edu/Meadows/AreasOfStudy/Music/UndergraduateStudies/DegreePrograms/MusicTherapy.aspx
- Southwestern Oklahoma University: http://www.swosu.edu/academics/music/index.asp
- Texas Woman’s University: http://www.twu.edu/music/
- University of Incarnate Word: http://www.uiw.edu/home/academics/programs/musictherapyprograminformation.html
- West Texas A&M University: http://www.wtamu.edu/academics/music.aspx
- The Music Therapy Show with Janice Harris: http://themusictherapyshow.blogspot.com
How to cite this page
Harris, Janice (2011). The State of Music Therapy in the Southwestern Region of the United States. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 13, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=monthusa_jan2011
About Janice Harris
Biography
Janice Harris, MA, MT-BC, Private Practice, Dallas, TX. Harris has been a music therapist since 1995 working with a wide variety of populations in a wide variety of settings. She received her Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy from Sam Houston State University , and a Master of Arts in Music Therapy from Texas Woman's University. She served as President of the Southwestern Region of the American Music Therapy Association (2009-2011) and is host and producer of The Music Therapy Show broadcast on BlogTalkRadio.com.