Advocacy

It’s social media advocacy month. I don’t know if I’d call it a pleasure to publish this article. Frankly, I don’t see eye to eye with this guest author, a music therapist by the name of Mr. G.T. Atonal. But I do think it’s important that all views have a forum. And now, I unfortunately present to you… Why You Shouldn’t Advocate For Music Therapy: Five Sound Reasons by Mr. G.T. Atonal If advocacy were a bubblegum flavor, it would be blueberry and liverwurst. Advocacy stinks, and I will tell you…

The time is here again for the annual Social Media Advocacy Month. I remember when this project first took off in 2011, and I think it’s safe to say it has been a success. My first Advocacy Month post, now 5 years ago, was about teaching others, sometimes subtly, to be music therapists. You can find it here: Teaching Advocacy

The following is a guest post from Dena Register, PhD, MT-BC, the Regulatory Affairs Advisor for the Certification Board for Music Therapists. This post is part of an annual advocacy drive for music therapy. See what she has to say about declaring our independence! ……………….. Welcome to 2014: Declaring Our Independence Dena Register, PhD, MT-BC Regulatory Affairs Advisor, Certification Board for Music Therapists “In 2014, it is imperative that we declare “I am a music therapist” and understand how to articulate our unique qualifications and distinctions from our other therapeutic…

This post relates to a very basic part of what we consider to be “advocacy”. It is yet another response to that question we always get: So what do you do? We have all rehearsed little elevator pitches and definitions. My approach to answering this question changed a bit over the course of last year, and I hope it will spark some ideas in others. Whereas I used to launch into a mini-lecture involving several buzz words (goals, objectives, non-musical, outcomes, research-based, blah blah blah…), I now say, “Do you…