The Annual Nazareth College Mini Conference for Music Therapists was held on February 29th. The all-day event was a wonderful opportunity to attend presentations, meet area professionals and students, and learn more about what is changing in the music therapy community. Advocacy was a key element of the conference and we were very fortunate to have Judy Simpson, Director of AMTA government relations, opening the conference on that important topic.
Upstate Music Therapy Center employees were eager to participate this year. During the lunch hour an Internship Fair was offered. Two of our Internship Supervisors, Rebecca Szalay, LCAT, MT-BC and Erin Valvo, MT-BC ran the UMTC agency booth. Discussions were held with students from Nazareth College, Marywood College, and Fredonia College. Rebecca Szalay, our Education Coordinator, shared that she was very excited to see so many students interested in the profession of music therapy. Many signed up looking forward to receiving applications for our upcoming school year internship opening.
Erin Valvo, MT-BC also was part of a presentation team, joining employees Kayla Davitt, MT-BC and Jamie Swieringa, MT-BC after the lunch break. Their presentation was titled “Tell Me a Story: The Use of Children’s Books in the Music Therapy Setting”. Erin, Jamie, and Kayla work with children ranging from pre-school to school age each week. As a result, they had a plethora of book recommendations to pair with music intervention. They spoke about the highly motivating aspect of books in music therapy, as books can provide exciting and interesting visual cues for our students. Paired with music, books can be an enticing means for kids to work on socialization, communication, and cognitive-based goals.
Continuing education is a priority for employees at UMTC. Local events offer area Music Therapists and students the ideal opportunity to stay in tune and in touch with others in our music therapy community. Learning and collaboration are essential for the continued growth of our field. Employee Katie Hall,
MT-BC attended a session called “MT-BC and Licensure Lingo: A Crash Course in What You Need to Know”, presented by Donna Polen, LCAT, MT-BC and Alex Palese, a music therapy student. This is an exciting time for music therapy in New York, as the effort to obtain licensure for Music Therapy in New York continues and is gaining momentum. This session was timely in helping us stay on track with the changes that are being proposed at the state level. The next Hill Day in Albany NY is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13, 2020. This offers a specific time to meet our representatives and have face-to-face conversations to explain the importance of consumer protection and other rationale of the need for a separate licensure. We will be sharing a future blog on participating in this upcoming event.
A main takeaway from the conference was to treat every chance to speak about music therapy as an opportunity to advocate. Music Therapists and current students in New York have an incredible chance to help make a historical change through their advocacy efforts in the coming year. If you are reading this and have questions about Music Therapy, we would love to talk with you more. Send your questions to us using our Contact Us tab on our website. We look forward to answering your questions.
This blog was submitted by Amy Thomas and Katie Hall