Diversifying the workforce to creatively meet service demands in contemporary music therapy private practice in Australia - the implications and ethical considerations.
Tracks
Stream 1
Stream 2
| Saturday, September 7, 2024 |
| 4:15 PM - 4:35 PM |
| Rooms 1&2 |
Speaker
Dr Vicky Abad
Managing Director
Music Beat Australia
Diversifying the workforce to creatively meet service demands in contemporary music therapy private practice in Australia - the implications and ethical considerations.
Abstract Overview
Contemporary music therapy practices in Australia present exciting opportunities to meet the needs of people through our unique services with greater equity and accessibility than ever before. Much of this is due to the roll out of the NDIS this past decade, creating change to the landscape that many RMTs, particularly those in private practice, work in.
With the NDIS now supporting more than 646,000 participants nationally, but only 152 RMTs registered as providers with the NDIS, the issue of access seems to have shifted from funding barriers to supply and demand, including staffing, professional and qualification barriers.
To help address this need, our business devised a music therapy allied health assistant training program for staff who have a background and interest in music and health, but not the formal qualification of music therapy. The aim of this training program is to support allied health assistants to develop a foundational understanding of music therapy theory and practice, to ensure quality service provision, and reduce time spent by already time poor practitioners in educating.
This paper will share new ideas and innovations that emerged from the breadth of experiences of our team that went into creating this course and reflect on the process of writing this training course. Learnings and challenges will be examined, including content creation, relevance and diversity; depth of the information included, adapting to the everchanging disability landscape within the course material, and time restraints of people undertaking the course.
The presentation will conclude with a debate of the ethical implications in training assistants in music therapy for the participants, the assistants, the therapists, and the businesses that conduct the therapy, whilst reflecting on the future of contemporary music therapy private practice in Australia and the implication of setting ethical standards.
With the NDIS now supporting more than 646,000 participants nationally, but only 152 RMTs registered as providers with the NDIS, the issue of access seems to have shifted from funding barriers to supply and demand, including staffing, professional and qualification barriers.
To help address this need, our business devised a music therapy allied health assistant training program for staff who have a background and interest in music and health, but not the formal qualification of music therapy. The aim of this training program is to support allied health assistants to develop a foundational understanding of music therapy theory and practice, to ensure quality service provision, and reduce time spent by already time poor practitioners in educating.
This paper will share new ideas and innovations that emerged from the breadth of experiences of our team that went into creating this course and reflect on the process of writing this training course. Learnings and challenges will be examined, including content creation, relevance and diversity; depth of the information included, adapting to the everchanging disability landscape within the course material, and time restraints of people undertaking the course.
The presentation will conclude with a debate of the ethical implications in training assistants in music therapy for the participants, the assistants, the therapists, and the businesses that conduct the therapy, whilst reflecting on the future of contemporary music therapy private practice in Australia and the implication of setting ethical standards.
Biography
Dr Vicky Abad is a Registered Music Therapist, business owner and researcher with extensive national and international clinical experience in paediatric and early intervention music therapy and music early learning. Vicky has published widely and presented her work both nationally and internationally. Vicky has played an important role as a pioneering clinician and researcher in the field of music therapy, having established more than 30 positions and created employment for more than 200 clinicians. She continues to be actively involved in ongoing student mentorship, research and teaching and is the immediate Past President of the Australian Music Therapy Association.
Mrs Katja Enoka
Registered Music Therapist
Music Beat Australia
Diversifying the workforce to creatively meet service demands in contemporary music therapy private practice in Australia - the implications and ethical considerations.
Abstract Overview
Contemporary music therapy practices in Australia present exciting opportunities to meet the needs of people through our unique services with greater equity and accessibility than ever before. Much of this is due to the roll out of the NDIS this past decade, creating change to the landscape that many RMTs, particularly those in private practice, work in.
With the NDIS now supporting more than 646,000 participants nationally, but only 152 RMTs registered as providers with the NDIS, the issue of access seems to have shifted from funding barriers to supply and demand, including staffing, professional and qualification barriers.
To help address this need, our business devised a music therapy allied health assistant training program for staff who have a background and interest in music and health, but not the formal qualification of music therapy. The aim of this training program is to support allied health assistants to develop a foundational understanding of music therapy theory and practice, to ensure quality service provision, and reduce time spent by already time poor practitioners in educating.
This paper will share new ideas and innovations that emerged from the breadth of experiences of our team that went into creating this course, and reflect on the process of writing this training course. Learnings and challenges will be examined, including content creation, relevance and diversity; depth of the information included, adapting to the everchanging disability landscape within the course material, and time restraints of people undertaking the course.
The presentation will conclude with a debate of the ethical implications in training assistants in music therapy for the participants, the assistants, the therapists, and the businesses that conduct the therapy, whilst reflecting on the future of contemporary music therapy private practice in Australia and the implication of setting ethical standards.
With the NDIS now supporting more than 646,000 participants nationally, but only 152 RMTs registered as providers with the NDIS, the issue of access seems to have shifted from funding barriers to supply and demand, including staffing, professional and qualification barriers.
To help address this need, our business devised a music therapy allied health assistant training program for staff who have a background and interest in music and health, but not the formal qualification of music therapy. The aim of this training program is to support allied health assistants to develop a foundational understanding of music therapy theory and practice, to ensure quality service provision, and reduce time spent by already time poor practitioners in educating.
This paper will share new ideas and innovations that emerged from the breadth of experiences of our team that went into creating this course, and reflect on the process of writing this training course. Learnings and challenges will be examined, including content creation, relevance and diversity; depth of the information included, adapting to the everchanging disability landscape within the course material, and time restraints of people undertaking the course.
The presentation will conclude with a debate of the ethical implications in training assistants in music therapy for the participants, the assistants, the therapists, and the businesses that conduct the therapy, whilst reflecting on the future of contemporary music therapy private practice in Australia and the implication of setting ethical standards.
Biography
Katja Enoka (she/her) is a Registered Music Therapist working in Meanjin, Brisbane. She has been working in collaboration with clients and families for five years in a wide range of areas including: early childhood intervention, disability, mental health, and dementia. As a passionate advocator of music therapy, Katja spent several years on the Queensland branch board of the Australian Music Therapy Association, through which she established regular events to advocate for music therapy and educate future students. In her work, she focuses on supporting young neurodivergent people to build their relationship with music as a tool for coregulation and connection. Katja has presented at several conferences and published an article in 2022 in the Australian Music Therapy Journal.
