The MT-BC Credential

This blog is in response to discussion points concerning the MT-BC Certification raised in our facebook group The Global Music Therapy Project.

Introduction:

The MT-BC stands for "Music Therapist - Board Certified" awarded by the Certification Board for Music Therapists after an individual completes
1. an accredited training program in the United States in music therapy,
2. a 1040 hour internship at an American Music Therapy Association (AMTA)-recognized site, and
3.succeeds in the national board-certification exam and maintains such status.

My understanding of the two comments posted:

A. Music therapy is provision of services by a trained professional only. There is some evidence to suggest that efficacy is greater when music therapy is provided by a trained therapist.
B. MT-BCs don't have the right to the term music therapy, and hence are in no position to stipulate what is music therapy and what is not. Additionally, there are no state or federal laws that regulate the practice of music therapy.

My response:

I am not sure I am the most qualified person to address these interesting comments, but having dual qualifications as a physician and a board-certified music therapist, I do have some insight into clinical process. I dont think the AMTA's definition of music therapy is indicative of control, but one of educating the public concerning the potential benefits of music therapy and creating the premise for its provision as a professional service. It makes total sense for health care service delivery to warrant accountability, standards of clinical practice and ethical decision-making, especially when one charges money for potentially changing health outcomes or indicators. No one has control (or trademarked rights) over the term doctor, medicine, social work, psychotherapy, or yes, even music therapy. I would only hope that as a patient, one does not seek assistance indiscriminately from an untrained service provider, a cause for potential harm and risk.

In response to the MT-BC being a meaningless certification, I would simply refer anyone to fully understand the training, accreditation and credentialing processes in place prior to making a naïve and ignorant assumption such as this one. There are many online resources that can provide this information. Secondly, while I don’t have a textbook definition of “accountability”, a good dictionary should be able to provide this. I do think there is a strong case for ethics in the business of health service delivery, which makes such a credential far more meaningful for physicians, employers, insurance companies, educators, students, allied healthcare providers and of course, the millions of patients whose lives are measurably impacted as a result. The efforts in establishing the MT-BC are reflective of progress being made toward procuring a platform for federal and/or state-recognized qualifications for the ethical clinical practice of music therapy and to increase accountability, both to ultimately result in better patient care.

Why is this a problem?

Some real life examples of abuse include referring to oneself as a trained music therapist after attending a 3-day workshop conducted by a visiting foreign expert, scaling the sale of recorded compact discs claiming that music can cure disease (and therefore occluding the role of the therapeutic relationship), assigning the area of focus in a thesis dissertation to replace a broader and related subject area (doctoral program in psychology where the thesis was the exploration of music therapy) or self-assigning letters that have no realizable affiliation to a credentialing body (such as using initials like MT after one's name). There are clear-cut answers to some of these, while others are ethical dilemmas, especially in countries that lack training programs or credentialing societies.

Regardless, music does not equal music therapy.

For more information, please visit:
Certification Board of Music Therapists
American Music Therapy Association

Happiness is not always a state of mind. But it can be shared

I turned 30 last December when I thought that my life was not just fulfilling enough at this auspicious time (yes, despite the full ride to Harvard!) so I decided to forgo all earthy celebrations and instead emailed everyone I knew on this planet who I considered a good friend or acquaintance and said “I want to do good, can you help?”.

My initial proposal was to invite folks to send me 30 dollars as a birthday gift, that I would in-turn simply give away to Project Haven, an amazing effort envisioned, created and nurtured by my dearest friends Neil and Tara. The money would be used to create a music program for the kids, so they, like the privileged rest of us, would also get to feel, see , read, play and hear music. (The initiative was to rehabilitate homeless street girl children, who were also orphans and may otherwise fall prey to social menaces left there. My friends at that time had recently moved from the United Kingdom to India on a diplomatic mission and therefore were clearly going beyond the call of duty to establish the effort, a remarkable challenge given the regulatory challenges of India, let alone the state of West Bengal. But sooner than later, they pushed away any challenge that came their away and rented a large apartment and infused the space with color, warmth and love that today 13 girl children call “home”. I am only lucky to have been briefly associated with the project when I lived and worked in Calcutta, when I helped with fundraiser concerts (thanks to Neil’s own obsession with classical music!) or spent time with the kids either teaching them “Somewhere Over the Rainbow!” or translating in broken Bengali the themes of a movie like “ET” during Neil’s English lessons. )

The proposal saw a remarkable response - at least 150 people signed on to the idea, but very few acted on the pledge. But some is indeed better than none, especially when those “some” individuals decide to give much more than asked for! The good news was that there was enough for a year’s worth of lessons for at least some of the kids. It naturally took time to transfer the money to India, deal with weird regulations about foreign dollars coming in for charity and finding a good model to work with. Finding a teacher was impossible! But to make this long story longer, we recently broke barriers and found an opportunity at the Calcutta School of Music for the kids to study with someone who seems like the right and perfect fit! Neil sent me these pictures from Calcutta recently and I am most delighted and grateful to everyone who supported the cause.

My 2nd annual virtual fundraiser for the music program at Project Haven is scheduled for December 7th 2009.

Thank you to those who generously contributed the first time:
Amit K, Amy R, Ashok R, Billy S, Carlos A, Celine S, Christina P, Connie A, Elad S, Greg P, Jamie Z, Jane P, Jennifer D, Jennifer F, Junaid U, Niranjini I, Meredith B, Michael M, Rohan G, Orli F, Sangeeta P, Saravanan J, Suganth C, Suzanne C, Teresa C and Zhao D

If you would like to make a donation, please see details on our Facebook Group "Project Haven"

Or you can directly go to our PayPal Page to make a payment using your credit card.

Thank you for your contribution!

Access

I know most people in public health would agree with me that one of the most serious issues that plague healthcare systems today is inequitable access to services. A sophisticated healthcare institution, special education center, psychiatric rehabilitation center or a hospice in the United States bolstered with philanthropic funding in addition to a successful revenue model may all have one thing in common - the presence of a creative arts program aimed at therapeutic gain, and perhaps even a board-certified music therapist. On the other side of the globe, one encounters robust third-world economies with healthcare infrastructure focused on development, tropical medicine and primary care. These countries are just about groping to find the means to empower their healthy population through the creation of equitable access, affordable care and efficient delivery models. The picture continues to look grim for vulnerable populations, urban or rural, such as the mentally and/or physically challenged, the profoundly diseased and the terminally ill. These populations have one thing in common universally– there is very little that medicine can do to improve their lives, let alone offer a permanent cure. Several of my board members were at a meeting earlier this past week at VSA Arts (a Kennedy Center Affiliate) in Washington DC to discuss the role of music in wellness and healthcare. Orli Frenkel MD, a key member of our team kept bringing up the issue of access to music, and how we as a team are indeed directing a holistic effort to create channels to either promote or provide for the use of music in well-being, be it through education, performance, or treatment. However, the choice is entirely yours, but there's got to be one! It matters.

Think now.

Birth of The Global Music Therapy Project

Its about music. And its about time.

It has been a splendid year for me at Harvard. I graduated last week with a Masters in Public Health concentrating in Health Care Management. While every single day was a learning process, and more than just one amazing thing happened that was life-changing, I am most proud of my initiative to drive awareness on music therapy within the student community especially within the School of Public Health (HSPH). I did this mostly through intent conversations, presentations and concerts, the most recent one being a fundraiser for music therapy in pediatric cancer featuring 43 musicians university-wide and from the community in a packed event at Harvard.

On arrival at Harvard, I founded the Musicians@HSPH Student Group which helped procure funding for events of this nature. Another lasting highlight was meeting with Michael Kaiser, President and CEO of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, possibly the largest arts and art advocacy organization in the world. As many of you might know, the Kennedy Center IS indeed engaged in the translation of arts into action, where there is some common ground visible between the performing arts and the wonderful work that we all do, as evidence-based therapists.

The overwhelming inspiration for me nevertheless, came from a year-long concurrent fellowship at the Kennedy School of Government where I was a Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship at the Center for Public Leadership, a division invested in social transformation led by former Presidential Adviser David Gergen. In less than a year, I was featured in at least 5 press office articles, including a 2 page feature in the Harvard Public Health Review (Winter 2009). The most humbling honor was to be featured as one of 13 "Faces of the Future", in a commencement release, selected from over thousands of graduating students campus-wide.

Alas, now it is time for me to move into the real world, away from the comforts of a campus, which has been my loyal friend for the last 13 years (on and off) i.e. it's time to find a real job! Through a series of introspective exercises, I realized that it would be hard in the end for me to find the ideal job which brought together my medical, music therapy, health care management and business skills without being entrepreneurial (I still AM looking for a real job!). I decided that it was important that I invest in a career in healthcare management and pursue in a sense, a parallel mission to grow the profession of music therapy. I figured this was the best strategy to allow my in-depth training to make a difference so it does not dilute expertise, but allows specialization to the point of excellence that eventually becomes meaningful, powerful and beneficial to the world at large.

In the true spirit of public leadership that is home to the Catherine B. Reynolds Fellowship at Harvard Kennedy School, which not only funded my education but provided a real-life laboratory to grow my dreams big, I thought it wise to at least, consider a non-profit initiative that would promote the use of evidence-based music therapy throughout the world, but in ways never conceived before. I don't have the all the answers but I know I am asking the right questions. Yes, this would be my weekend job and will be a volunteer effort, but I do think that the work needs to be done.

To help me think through this process, I am joined by 6 fellow peers from Harvard (my WOW factors!) with backgrounds in medicine, psychology, diplomacy, policy, business and marketing who simply 'believe without seeing'. I only came this far because the world's best leaders in the field of music-medicine have been my long term mentors at Berklee College of Music, Boston. I trained at a Harvard Medical Associated Institution in India. And through this year, I have greatly benefited from the mentorship of a host of leaders, faculty, fellow students from Harvard including two very special people: My academic adviser Meredith Rosenthal, one of America's leading health economists and policy analysts and my mentor at the Center for Public Leadership, Billy Shore, Founder and CEO of the largest anti-hunger organization in the nation, Share Our Strength. Perhaps, we all, you included, have one thing in common - The drive to innovate a novel revolution built on solid expertise and empiricism.

I am writing this blog to seek your initial inputs, support, thoughts, criticisms, ideas and questions, so we can together, help change the world.

Its about time.