We are happy to announce that registration is open for our summer program: Musical Connections.
Children and young adults with special needs will make friends while exploring music in a variety of ways!
Please read the details below:
We are happy to be announcing the dates for our June and July Family Music Therapy Group sessions. Also, all sessions take place at our Watertown, Connecticut office. These groups are in collaboration with our friends at Sun, Moon & Stars. We hope to see you there!
Would you like to share this class with others? Download our Family Music Therapy Group flyer or simply share this blog post. Thank you for helping us spread the word!
We have teamed up with Sensation Station in Guilford to offer Summer Music Therapy Classes!
Want to learn more?
Contact Emily for details and registration at 860-558-0802 or emily@ctmusictherapy.com.
Don’t miss out!
We are excited to offer this inclusive music theater camp for adolescents with special needs and their peers. Learn songs from popular musicals and experience the wonderful community music theater creates! Don’t miss out on this fun time!
Registration deadline: July 30th!
Ages: 12 – 18
Dates: August 7 – August 17,
Two week camp, Monday – Thursday
Time: 9:00am – 11:00am
Location: Our Watertown office: 51 Depot St. Suite 214
Register Now!
Call Kelsy Gati at 203-770-9187
Connecticut Music Therapy Services, LLC is happy to announce that we are looking to add a board certified music therapist to our clinical team! The start date of this position will be immediate. This will be a .5 part time position anticipated to move to a full time/benefits eligible position by early winter.
This position is right for you if:
- You are passionate about working with children and adults with special needs, as well as with older adults within a relationship-centered, music-centered framework.
- You are a skilled clinical musician, strong in voice, guitar and piano.
- You live in, or are willing to live in and travel within Connecticut.
- You enjoy a variety of clientele and enjoy a variety of clinical settings- private homes, schools, clinic, nursing homes, community settings.
- You are flexible and willing to work afternoon/evening hours and potentially on Saturdays.
- You are dependable, responsible and a team player.
We are looking for a responsible and dynamic therapist to join our team, therefore this might not be the right position for you if you are looking to establish your own private practice right now, if you are not a good communicator via writing, email and phone, if you are not able to provide transportation between clients or willing to travel throughout your day or if you are not willing grow as a person or clinician.
Connecticut Music Therapy Services, LLC is an established private practice that serves children and adults with developmental and brain health needs in home, school, community, and nursing home settings throughout the state of Connecticut as well as in our Watertown, CT center.
We are seeking to provide an exciting and supportive work experience for a flexible, motivated, energetic, and talented clinician. Some equipment and instruments, clinical supervision and continuing education experiences will be provided. Along with a competitive pay rate, health insurance and other additional benefits are available to our full time employees.
Please view/download a complete job posting and application details here.
Registration is open for our group music classes! “Throughout the school year we get so many requests to expand our early childhood programs,” said Jennifer Sokira, director of Connecticut Music Therapy Services. “We are thrilled to be able to offer these groups with Cassandra after last summer’s wonderful turnout!”
Led by board-certified music therapist, Cassandra Mulcahy, these weekly group classes are designed for the whole family to move, laugh, and play in a fun, goal centered, learning environment. Newborns, toddlers, preschoolers and their siblings will learn priceless socialization skills as they explore music. Classes run from July 14 – August 18 with no class held on July 28th at the United Methodist Church of Monroe located at 515 Cutlers Farm Road in Monroe.
Offering 2 classes on Tuesdays:
- 9 – 9:45am, 0-9 months, Pre-Walkers
- 10 – 10:45am, Ages 0-6, Children & Families
Please register online by filling out Registration Form posted below or by calling 1 800-796-4914.
Judy Simpson, MT-BC
Director of Government Relations, American Music Therapy Association
When I started my career as a music therapist in 1983, it was not uncommon for me to describe my profession by comparing it to other professions which were more well-known. If people gave me a puzzled look after I proudly stated, “I use music to change behaviors,” I would add, “Music therapy is like physical therapy and occupational therapy, but we use music as the tool to help our patients.” Over the years as I gained more knowledge and experience, I obviously made changes and improvements to my response when asked, “What is music therapy?” My enhanced explanations took into consideration not only the audience but also growth of the profession and progress made in a variety of research and clinical practice areas.
The best revisions to my description of music therapy, however, have grown out of government relations and advocacy work. The need to clearly define the profession for state legislators and state agency officials as part of the AMTA and CBMT State Recognition Operational Plan has forced a serious review of the language we use to describe music therapy. The process of seeking legislative and regulatory recognition of the profession and national credential provides an exceptional opportunity to finally be specific about who we are and what we do as music therapists.
For far too long we have tried to fit music therapy into a pre-existing description of professions that address similar treatment needs. What we need to do is provide a clear, distinct, and very specific narrative of music therapy so that all stakeholders and decision-makers “get it.” Included below are a few initial examples that support our efforts in defining music therapy separate from our peers that work in other healthcare and education professions.
- Music therapist’s qualifications are unique due to the requirements to be a professionally trained musician in addition to training and clinical experience in practical applications of biology, anatomy, psychology, and the social and behavioral sciences.
- Music therapists actively create, apply, and manipulate various music elements through live, improvised, adapted, individualized, or recorded music to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals of all ages.
- Music therapists structure the use of both instrumental and vocal music strategies to facilitate change and to assist clients achieve functional outcomes related to health and education needs.
- In contrast, when OTs, Audiologists, and SLPs report using music as a part of treatment, it involves specific, isolated techniques within a pre-determined protocol, using one pre-arranged aspect of music to address specific and limited issues. This differs from music therapists’ qualifications to provide interventions that utilize all music elements in real-time to address issues across multiple developmental domains concurrently.
As we “celebrate” 2014’s Social Media Advocacy Month, I invite you to join us in the acknowledgement of music therapy as a unique profession. Focused on the ultimate goal of improved state recognition with increased awareness of benefits and increased access to services, we have an exciting adventure ahead of us. Please join us on this advocacy journey as we proudly declare, “We are Music Therapists!”
About the Author: Judy Simpson is the Director of Government Relations for the American Music Therapy Association. She can be reached at simpson@musictherapy.org
The staff of CTMTS offers our most sincere condolences to the people of Newtown, CT in light of the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. As people who work with children, alongside teachers, and as parents and neighbors, we have been personally and professionally touched by this event and share in your heartbreak. We stand ready to help in any way that we can, and will be maintaining contact with resources in the community to offer our services and assistance when they are needed or to make appropriate referrals.
Advocacy –> Recognition –> Access
Since 2005, the American Music Therapy Association and the Certification Board for Music Therapists have collaborated on a State Recognition Operational Plan. The primary purpose of this Plan is to get music therapy and our MT-BC credential recognized by individual states so that citizens can more easily access our services. The AMTA Government Relations staff and CBMT Regulatory Affairs staff provide guidance and technical support to state task forces throughout the country as they work towards state recognition. To date, their work has resulted in 35 active state task forces, 2 licensure bills passed in 2011, and an estimated 10 bills being filed in 2012 that seek to create either a music therapy registry or license for music therapy. This month, our focus is on YOU and on getting you excited about advocacy.
Many typical jobs and professions are relatively self-evident- mechanic, teacher, doctor, lawyer, chef, accountant, singer. Others are a little less obvious but don’t raise eyebrows: project manager, consultant… When your profession is “music therapist” you get raised eyebrows and questions. The responses we get can be both exciting (“I really believe in that, how wonderful”) to insulting (“so, you didn’t have to go to college for that, did you?”)
Part of the life of a music therapist is knowing an adaptable “elevator pitch” that can satisfy the most skeptical and the most excited asker of the question “So, what is this music therapy thing”. If we are lucky, we get 60 seconds to turn someone into a believer with our elevator pitch. If we are really lucky, we get a few more minutes than that with the promise of a phone call or meeting to come. AND if we are off the charts lucky we get a year like 2011.
2011, was the year that “our time has come” according to the AMTA Executive Director Andrea Farbman. I am inclined to believe her too- this past year has seen a NY Times Bestseller featuring a MT-BC as a main character, and another very popular novel doing the same—and the promise of feature films in the future. Then there was the movie “The Music Never Stopped” based on a true story, again prominently featuring music therapy. Two states (Nevada and North Dakota) passed legislation licensing music therapists and recognizing our credential MT-BC. Ben Folds attended our AMTA national conference so he could learn more about music therapy. Finally, the recovery and continued rehabilitation of Rep. Gabby Giffords included music therapy as an important part of her treatment.
By the very nature of our profession we are advocates for the profession. At Connecticut Music Therapy Services, practice we do this
-by providing the best possible clinical services to every client we work with
-by being generous with our time in educating the public about music therapy
-by creating quality jobs for excellent music therapists
-by working with AMTA on the Connecticut Task Force for State Recognition
-by volunteering our time contributing to our regional and national organizations
We are doing all of these things to provide access to music therapy to more people who need it! We advocate for music therapy because our clinical experiences and the research all say it works- we know it deep down. And when you know music therapy can help someone live a better life, heal, communicate, become more independent, and achieve health, why wouldn’t you want to remove every obstacle that stands in their way?
Advocacy goes far beyond our feelings over the “general public” not knowing what it is that we do. Advocacy is about people who need music therapy being able to access music therapy, provided by qualified professionals, easily, with as few barriers as possible. So we advocate and will keep on advocating.
And a funny thing happens- advocacy is contagious. We music therapists believe it and act on it every day…then suddenly our co-workers, colleagues, administrators, clients….they become advocates too, with an equal level of passion
Our “time” may have come in 2011 but I think in 2012 the best is yet to come.
Autism Families Connecticut is sponsoring another round of music therapy groups, called “Songs on the Spectrum” this time in South Windsor CT. Groups begin on 11/19. For more information, check out their events here.