Marketing the music therapy profession: How can students, placement supervisors and universities build the brand of music therapy?
Tracks
Stream 2
| Friday, September 6, 2024 |
| 1:50 PM - 2:05 PM |
| Room 2 |
Speaker
Miss Teresa Lau
Neurorehab Allied Health Network
Marketing the music therapy profession: How can students, placement supervisors and universities build the brand of music therapy?
Abstract Overview
How strong is the Music Therapy 'brand'?
Music Therapy is an emerging allied health profession. We are at a point in time to uniquely position ourselves as ‘groundbreaking’, ‘new’, and ‘innovative’. Yet, how much do our professional allied health peers know about who we are, what we do, and how we deliver health outcomes?
As a new graduate and previous professional marketer within the healthcare industry, I offer my insights and reflections from my previous student clinical placements on how students, placement supervisors and universities can all play a part in strengthening the ‘brand’ of Music Therapy.
This presentation will draw on marketing strategy principles, suggesting every interaction a student music therapist has with a client, a patient, or professional peer is a brand touchpoint. It is not only a chance to educate them but also an opportunity to create positive experiences, laying the groundwork for future advocacy. As student music therapists, we may not have the confidence, life experience, and tools to create these positive interactions, in which case we will require the support from supervisors and universities.
This presentation will also discuss the results of a quantitative and qualitative survey conducted during my final clinical placement at a disability organisation that did not have music therapy presence. The results indicated minimal knowledge of the Music Therapy profession within the company prior to the music therapy student placement, the benefits that were observed from Music Therapy, and the potential opportunity of establishing Music Therapy in similar settings.
Music Therapy is an emerging allied health profession. We are at a point in time to uniquely position ourselves as ‘groundbreaking’, ‘new’, and ‘innovative’. Yet, how much do our professional allied health peers know about who we are, what we do, and how we deliver health outcomes?
As a new graduate and previous professional marketer within the healthcare industry, I offer my insights and reflections from my previous student clinical placements on how students, placement supervisors and universities can all play a part in strengthening the ‘brand’ of Music Therapy.
This presentation will draw on marketing strategy principles, suggesting every interaction a student music therapist has with a client, a patient, or professional peer is a brand touchpoint. It is not only a chance to educate them but also an opportunity to create positive experiences, laying the groundwork for future advocacy. As student music therapists, we may not have the confidence, life experience, and tools to create these positive interactions, in which case we will require the support from supervisors and universities.
This presentation will also discuss the results of a quantitative and qualitative survey conducted during my final clinical placement at a disability organisation that did not have music therapy presence. The results indicated minimal knowledge of the Music Therapy profession within the company prior to the music therapy student placement, the benefits that were observed from Music Therapy, and the potential opportunity of establishing Music Therapy in similar settings.
Biography
Teresa Lau is a newly graduated Registered Music Therapist from Melbourne, Australia. She currently works at NeuroRehab Allied Health Network, supporting people living with disabilities within a multidisciplinary allied health team. Prior to discovering the music therapy profession and her ikigai, Teresa worked in brand and product marketing in healthcare and pharmaceutical companies including Ansell, PharmaCare, and Pfizer across Australia and the UK.
