A Defining Moment
Context and Capacity to Shape Our Practice and Work
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v26i2.4377Mots-clés :
reflexivity, resource-oriented, noninterference, defining music therapy, anti-colonialismRésumé
In this article, the author offers exploration and insight, building on Dr. Carolyn Kenny’s metaphor of the great river of humanity that flows underneath all music therapy practice. Adapted from a recent music therapy regional conference keynote, the author draws on
local contexts and themes of resource, relationship, and refusal, to frame insights for readers to apply to their reflexive thinking in music therapy. These ideas are grounded on examples from theory and practice representing scholarship in areas such as Indigenous ways of being, resource-oriented music therapy, anti-colonial framing, human flourishing, cultural humility, and Disability justice. From this foundation for reflexivity, the question is asked, “How would we define music therapy differently if we are reframing in these ways?” A definition for music therapy is offered from this context that is not meant to be the newest and best definition, but to give a grounded example of how our resource- and ecologically-oriented dispositions should shape our thinking. Instead of viewing ourselves in fixed roles and as centered with the most resources for change in therapeutic contexts, we are invited to a sustained reflexive process through a journey of capacity building that supports transformation.
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© Hakeem Leonard 2026
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