What is Music Therapy
This week on the Village Blog, we welcome Certified Music Therapist Patricia Hortop, BA, GCMT, MTA. Trish has been offering both group and one-on-one music therapy at Grace Village since 2012! Join us as we learn more about Music Therapy and the impact it can have on people.
What is Music Therapy?
According to the Canadian Association for Music Therapists, “Music therapy is a discipline in which credentialed professionals (MTA’s) use music purposefully within therapeutic relationships to support development, health, and well-being. Music therapists use music safely and ethically to address human needs within cognitive, communicative, emotional, musical, physical, social, and spiritual domains.”
Music therapy is an allied healthcare profession that is very interested in how music affects people, and a music therapist’s scope of practice often provides an approach that exists outside of the more traditional models of healthcare.
The 3 essential ingredients of music therapy are:
- the client
- the music
- the certified music therapist
Who is a Music Therapist?
A fully qualified music therapist is an individual who holds a bachelor or masters degree in music therapy, has completed over 1,000+ hours of supervised clinical training, and also has passed a board certification exam.
In a nutshell:
Music therapists are trained professionals who are passionate in helping others achieve goals by using music as a means to get there!
Why Music and Music Therapy Matter
Music is a very powerful tool that can enhance and improve life quality. The music therapy profession serves several populations across the entire lifespan. From pre-term infant care in the NICU to school classrooms across the country, from mental health facilities to palliative care, from prisons to nursing homes to hospice - music therapy’s holistic approach reaches far and wide in an effort to positively impact peoples’ lives.
As we all face the many challenges that arise over the course of our lives, having the right support for some of us could mean having access to professional music therapy services.
There is a fair amount of evidence-based research that supports the many benefits of music therapy within a variety of settings. For further online resources, visit our Canadian Association for Music Therapists here: www.musictherapy.ca, or for the provincial chapter visit www.musicotherapieaqm.org/en/. For an in-depth look at music therapy literature online, please visit this peer reviewed journal: www.voices.no.
Patricia Hortop, BA, GCMT, MTA
Certified Music Therapist at Grace Village from 2012 to present.
If you have a loved one at Grace Village that you think can benefit from Music Therapy, reach out to a nurse who can guide you!
We are always on the lookout for gently used iPods and MP3 players for our iPod program which allows us to get more music into the lives of our Memory Care residents!
If you have a loved one at Grace Village that you think can benefit from Music Therapy, reach out to a nurse who can guide you!
We are always on the lookout for gently used iPods and MP3 players for our iPod program which allows us to get more music into the lives of our Memory Care residents!