The Future is Unknown...What Will We Be Doing Very Soon?

Members of the American Music Therapy Association were sent an important email on Thursday entitled "AMTA Overall Update." A link to the full article is here if you did not see it or are not a member of AMTA. Basically, the email states that our professional organization has finally realized that there need to be some changes in how we interact with one another and to what we need to expect from AMTA.

Please note that this is a blog - not a definitive source of anything at all. In the next paragraphs, I will be sharing my opinions and observations about things through my own lens of experience as a music therapist and as a professional member of AMTA for almost three decades. My opinions are my own and are very specifically just that - OPINIONS! You are free to disagree with my views here or on other social media platforms. I always welcome debate, especially when you do not see things the same way I do.

In my mind, I think this conclusion has been inevitable since about 2019 (was that the Minnesota conference? I didn't go to that one for many reasons, and when I heard about things and controversies that happened at that conference, I am glad I did not go!). There were many issues raised at that conference, including the use of organization monies for meetings of specific groups of people that excluded some members due to how we identify ourselves. I can see both sides of the situation - specific members felt that they needed to have closed meetings to discuss specific issues that faced them in this profession in a space deemed safe to express their views, and the organization has to be very careful about the use of association monies for special interest groups. From an organizational point of view, if you allow one group to use meeting rooms and have exclusive times then you have to allow all groups to do the same. This could open up the Association to having to host self-avowed hate groups as part of our conferences. This was the turning point, and I do not think it was solved in any way shape or form by AMTA leadership at that time or in the subsequent years. After that, a pandemic happened and things escalated to this turning point.

In my opinion, one of the biggest issues that our association has had is a lack of communication for decisions made. I feel that this communication gap has been part of AMTA for a very long time - well before both the Minnesota conference and our COVID years. I can think of several situations where decisions were made by the Board of Directors that were released with a couple of paragraphs. (This overall update seems to exemplify this as well.) I know that running an organization of professionals is not an easy thing, but a couple of paragraphs is never sufficient to explain or demonstrate a well-thought out process. I do not like secrets or closed door conversations. I do not like that I can count on ONE hand the number of communications that I have received from the Association Internship Approval Committee of AMTA in the past seven years. I mistrust an organization that does not share information with members in a way that is easily accessible, comprehensive, and easy to find on the website.

(Ugh. The website - that is a completely different ball of wax, isn't it? My interns keep talking about how difficult it is to find ANYTHING on that website. There are also lots of comments about things like color choices and all that, but seriously, the website is a mess!)

Most of my feelings about this current situation stem from my need to know everything about every sort of situation that happens around me. I am a person who would rather know all the details than trust others to complete things for me. Is this a good thing? Perhaps not, but it is who I am, so I have to find times to trust others. It is difficult for me to do, but I keep working on it.

My first questions are all egocentric - What about me? What about my internship program? What about my membership dues? What happens if AMTA has to disband completely? How will internships happen? Then I move into some of my practical questions? How will AMTA continue to support National Roster Internships? The way they have been? What will our organization focus on in January? Will we streamline into focusing just on education, internships, and legislative concerns? Will we have to give up our legislative representation? Will we EVER change the website in a way that makes it a bit more user friendly? I also have some gossipy questions. Who got laid off? Why? What types of problems are we having other than loss of members?

When I am in need of some recentering (because, who doesn't have times when it becomes necessary to figure out why you do what you do?), I go to my mission statement - my core beliefs and personal philosophy of music therapy. Here is the mission statement of AMTA -

The mission of the American Music Therapy Association is to advance public awareness of the benefits of music therapy and increase access to quality music therapy services in a rapidly changing world. (AMTA, 2022)

Okay.

If we parse through this mission statement, we see lots of room for interpretation and misinterpretation. One part of our mission is to "advance public awareness of the benefits of music therapy." How does AMTA do this now? Advocacy, participation in governmental issues that affect health care, education, and other elements of our job? Lobbying?? Well, I can see that publication of our journals can be part of this mission, but how public are our journals? Not very, in my opinion. Publication of materials for us to use in our own practices - they are being slowly updated...very slowly, again... in my opinion.

The second part of our mission statement is to "increase access to quality music therapy services in a rapidly changing world." Okay, I think this where we justify oversight of education and clinical training programs, but that is not the only thing that happens. AMTA offers referrals to music therapists for people seeking services, I hear. I think we get a bit squishy when it comes to the word "quality." How do we guarantee quality in this profession? I'm not sure that we do other than the ethical and professional expectations that MEMBERS have placed upon them that non-members do not. I am not sure that any professional organization can claim to ensure that the practices of their professionals are "quality" without more rigorous oversight and demonstrations.

If we, as a professional organization, were to completely embody our mission statement, what would we look like? What would we be doing? Would we still be doing what we have been trying to do in the decades of our existence? Would we change things up a bit? Would we make definitive statements about what we will NOT do in the name of all members? Would we make definitive statements about what we WILL do in the name of all members? Can we make those types of decisions for all members??

There will always be conflicts within groups of people. We need to embrace the idea that we will not all agree all the time about all topics and subjects in our profession. We need to seek resolution to serious issues that are relevant to our profession, not to things that are not under our control. We cannot be arguing about how much money a college education costs. That is not something that we can control - that is in the hands of the universities. This organization cannot be held accountable for what universities do. AMTA is not responsible for how much money music therapists earn in their various jobs. All AMTA can do is offer ideas, suggestions, and ways of advocating for members, but members have to do most of the work themselves. AMTA cannot oversee what professors tell students about the state of the profession or how easy it will be to get a job. That is not part of AMTA's job, role. or mission. There are some things that AMTA cannot do for us.

I am proud of our current leadership for taking this audacious step. It is not easy to stand up in front of an angry mob of social media posts and admit that things are not working. I stand willing to join the discussion sooner rather than later because I want to be part of the solution rather than continuing to be part of the problem. I hope that there are others out there who will join the conversation in a way that shows support for the core of our profession and for each other in ways that we have not envisioned at this point.

Are you ready, music therapist? Are you ready to move forward? It is time to start this next step in our professional journey.