How to Recognize a Good Music Therapist

od for you! It looks like you finally found a music therapist! Now, in the words of Uncle Ben, "with great power comes great responsibility." Music therapy is a profession working diligently to establish itself as a credible and legitimate therapy, so someone calling herself a music therapist has a lot to answer to. The average person hasn't even heard of music therapy and surely isn't familiar with the ins and outs of the field, so let me give you a leg up. Your music therapist should roughly resemble the following description.

 A music therapist will have an actual degree in music therapy (sounds so new age, doesn't it?) from an accredited school of music, within a legitimate university. (This generally rules out most online programs.) This could be in the form of a bachelor's degree or a bachelor's equivalency and they might also have a master's degree or even a PhD in music therapy. Higher education is all the rage these days. By the way, this means that she auditioned and was accepted based on her musical skill on a particular instrument, meaning she was pretty much on par with all those other elitist music students (I was one, so I can say bad things about us).

 MT students are required to complete a 6 month internship at a site that has been approved by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA, musictherapy.org). Not only are they monitored and evaluated by the site's music therapists, they also complete undergrad coursework during the internship for their professors back at school. Each university handles this a little differently...some schools will award just a plain music degree at the end of the student's on-campus coursework, and then further bestow the music therapy degree once he finishes the internship. Others withhold any degree until the internship is complete. Either way, you can feel confident that your hand-picked therapist has worked her butt off to get an internship. The world of music therapy is small and the world of approved internships is even smaller and increasingly selective.

Often a student attempts to secure an internship with a population they are interested in. For example, I happen to enjoy psychiatry and thus, completed my internship in a psychiatric hospital. (Did I mention that I am, in fact, a GOOD music therapist? Thus my ability to comment on this topic.) Anyway, you definitely want to ask your MT about her internship (no matter his or her age-there are lots of "non-traditional" MTs out there who could have very likely entered the field at the astonishingly old age of 50 or get this-even older!).

 After MTs complete their internships, they are eligible to take the music therapy board certification exam. That's right...your music therapist should be able to tell you all about her horrible experience at the "local testing center" where she was required to take her exam (mine was at a dirty H&R Block in a bad part of town). The exam is a comprehensive review of topics ranging from data collection and statistics to music theory to counseling models. If you pass, you get exciting initials to put at the end of your name (you also get to pay $80 a year to maintain those initials...not so exciting). Those initials are MT-BC, which stands for music therapist-board certified. It is absolutely essential that your music therapist carry those initials or at the VERY LEAST be preparing to sit for the exam. (She could be in music therapy no man's land...between the end of her internship and the completion of the exam). If she doesn't pass the test, you need to pass on her. Harsh, I know, but this world is rough.

 A board certified music therapist is expected to practice according national standards and ethics. The standards provide a benchmark against which to measure a music therapy practice. I won't insult you by explaining what ethics are. Anyway, as a consumer of music therapy, this is basically what you can expect to experience regarding the standards of practice:

Assessment-Your MT should complete a well-rounded assessment of the client, including at least the following: history, interviews with caregivers, and behavior both in and out of a musical setting.

Recommended Treatment Plan-After the assessment is complete, the MT will decide whether or not MT will be beneficial to client (usually yes, but sometimes not). The basis for this decision will be evident in the assessment report, of which you should absolutely have a copy. Such paperwork is not a secret and if your therapist ever declines to show you this assessment, dump her immediately. This treatment plan should also give the amount of treatment recommended (usually on a weekly basis) and what goals will be addressed over what time period (these goals should reflect what you were seeking, at least in part). A GOOD MT will give you the opportunity to agree or disagree with the projected course of treatment before anything can be implemented.

Appropriate Termination-A responsible music therapist will terminate therapy when goals are met or no further progress can be made.

 Once you are in a long-term relationship with a music therapist (ooh, commitment!), you will notice that she disappears every year or every other year around Thanksgiving. This is because she is attending a conference...the national conference to be more specific. And depending on where you live, she may disappear more often to attend smaller regional or state conferences. THIS IS A SIGN OF A GOOD MUSIC THERAPIST! She is undoubtedly participating in continuing education and more importantly for you, is combating burn-out. MTs are required to re-certify every 5 years either by accruing 100 hours of continuing education classes (CMTEs-continuing music therapy education) or by re-taking the certification exam. Now, what I am about to say is an extreme personal opinion-be wary of a MT who chooses to re-take the exam over completing the 100 hours of CMTEs. I say this because a person who chooses the exam is not necessarily keeping current with emerging research and/or new techniques and interventions. Over time, she will become a dinosaur...like the creepy librarian at my high school who put duct tape lines on the floor to keep us from looking at each other's computers. Forgive your MT for her absences, for you shall be the benefactor.

 Lastly, there isn't much that can substitute for experience. Only being a 5 year old therapist myself, I realize that I am risking a loss of business for those of us around my age. However, for anyone that has ever worked, you know that even ONE year of experience can put you light years ahead of those graduating behind you, so don't totally count out the "young and inexperienced." They do have the most recent research and "best practices" stored somewhere in their brains, even if they don't know what to do with it yet. My point is, if you have someone that fits into all the above criteria and has at least one year of experience under her belt, she is probably going to work out just fine.

If your MT rarely plays live instruments and relies mostly on recorded music, get rid of her.

If your MT keeps no paperwork, turn her out on her ear.

If your MT is performing and not interacting, get your light saber and look threatening.

This article is by no means an exhaustive list of what makes someone a good music therapist. It is simply to give you, the non-music therapist, an idea of what to look for and expect. It would probably take me 30 articles to go into detail about the importance of interpersonal skills, to preferred models of practice, to something simple like payment and reimbursement. Like I said, the above is just a skeleton...lots more goes into making a whole body.