Blog Post Take Two: Seeking a More Fluffy Type of Post Than My First Attempt

I am frustrated.

This probably doesn't come as much of a surprise to those of you who have been reading my posts lately, but it might surprise new readers (Hi, there, new reader!) that I am frustrated with the world of music therapy in general these days.

Now, my own job is fine (just got carpet in my room), but I am extremely frustrated with things happening in our professional organization, the American Music Therapy Association. I am tired of people who decide not to be members of the organization making demands on what my organization does. 

I do not have the right to demand that the Canadian Music Therapy Association do anything. 

The reason? I am not a member of the Canadian Music Therapy Association!

Why do we feel that we have to cater to the demands of people who do not pay money to be members? Why do we feel that we have to change everything to accommodate the demands of those who have chosen NOT to be part of our group? Is this an example of being a therapist getting in the way of business? I think so.

I have always felt that there was a difference between being a good entrepreneur and a good therapist. I am not suited to being an entrepreneur. I want to give my stuff away to people, but I've been told over and over again that I need to do more and respect my own intellectual property more than I have in the past. I think we start to get into therapist mode when people are talking about their personal situations, and I do not think that is a sustainable model for AMTA.

I want some definitive statements from our Board of Directors about what they can and cannot do. 

I saw several rants about how the AMTA Code of Ethics does not apply to anyone other than AMTA members. People wanted the AMTA Code of Ethics to be shifted over to the Certification Board for Music Therapists. Um. This cannot be done because the two organizations are separate from one another. The primary reason for this is that there were some ethical situations with professional organizations (not ours, as far as I know, but all sorts of organizations) being in control of all aspects of becoming therapists - testing as well as membership. The CBMT was established to provide a more objective testing and certification process than was present prior to that point. AMTA is not CBMT and vice versa. They are completely separate except for the fact that music therapists are often in both organizations. 

(By the way, there is a way to report violations of the Code of Professional Practice through CBMT, if you ever feel like you need to report a fellow certificant. Again, though, this does not apply to people who are not board certified.) 

There are limits to what can be done by a professional organization. Those limits are sometimes self-imposed, but more often seem to be imposed upon organizations from outside regulatory bodies. We cannot have closed sessions for one or two special interest groups that are paid for by the membership without allowing all special interest groups to demand the same treatment. That's a political thing. 

We cannot bend to the wishes of people who are not members - how could we? We have to focus on the people that choose to be part of the entire thing - the good and the bad. We do not have control over how much a music therapy degree costs at any university. We cannot demand that a university make more diverse applicant decisions. The university controls that. We cannot demand that an internship director offer a stipend. The internship director has to be able to do that in their individual employment situations. We cannot demand that we become a more diverse work force without putting in work to fix systems that oppress specific groups. 

We cannot demand immediate change - we have to do these things in their turn. We also have to trust that the people we choose to lead us will make these changes. We can ask for more information to be shared with members, but we cannot demand that we be part of every single decision. We will not be asked to vote on whether the national office staff can change the type of pens that they use in their work - sounds silly? I think there are some people out there who want that sort of control over things.

I do not.

I want an organization that will take over some of these types of decisions and processes for me. I want to hear that we have made strides in the things that members find important. I want to see non-members thanked for their opinions and then set aside rather than trying to accommodate every single complaint.

These demands of mine require something from me as well. I have to keep asking questions, seeking answers, and talking to others about this topic.

I have rights and responsibilities as a member of the American Music Therapy Association, but I am not in charge of every single thing that my association does. I do not have to agree with everything, but I certainly have to be involved if I want my voice to be heard.

By the way, I voted for my choices on the board. Have you?