Happy World Music Therapy Week!
Hi, everyone! This month is an exciting one for the music therapy community, April 10th-15th is World Music Therapy Week! Originally recognized as World Music Therapy Day, the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) further developed the celebration to encompass an entire week in April 2023 when we realized our celebration overlapped with Disability Day of Mourning on March 1st each year. As music therapists, it is immensely important to us that we support the communities we serve, not shadow them. This is what prompted the change. The purpose of Disability Day of Mourning is to stand with disabled people and remember those who experienced life altering harm from their caregivers. It encourages us to reflect on ableist issues that exist within society, as well as within the music therapy field. The purpose of World Music Therapy Week is to raise awareness and celebrate the impact of music therapy across the globe. Last month I addressed cultural competencies in music therapy which includes being aware of our biases. I think the adjustment made by WFMT in 2023 is a prime example of music therapists checking in to maintain a standard of practice that is supportive, inclusive, and compassionate.
If you’re new to GSMT or music therapy, welcome! We are so happy you’re here! Let me quickly express what music therapy is so we’re all on the same page. By definition, music therapy is the clinical and evidenced based use of music interventions conducted by a board certified music therapist with the purpose of assisting clients in reaching their specific goals. These goals can be music related, but typically they’re more generalized. Our interventions are designed with the seven domains of music therapy in mind. Those domains are communicative, emotional, cognitive, social, physical, musical, and spiritual. To put it simply, board certified music therapists use client preferred music to assist our clients in meeting their specific goals.
The WFMT is a non profit corporation based in the United States that acts as the international umbrella organization for the profession of music therapy. Dating back to 1985, the WFMT was formally established in Italy. Today, there are a multitude of music therapists all around the world who serve as part of the WFMT. These music therapists are elected from within the community to serve for 3 years.
In addition to a president, secretary, treasurer, and executive assistant, there are commissioners tasked with a variety of topics including, but not limited to: to promote and advance equivalencies in clinical practice standards, training, and education in music therapy; to promote the integration of research and ethics in music therapy practice; to support international research; to share information and accreditation on licensing procedures; to promote the official recognition of music therapy as a profession throughout all regions of the world, etc. Finally, the WFMT also maintains regional liaisons to provide updates regarding music therapy in their specific areas. Those regions are Canada & USA, Australia/New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Africa, Western Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean, Latin America & the Caribbean, and Europe. Most recently, the Australia/New Zealand liaison wrote a blog post about the current state of music therapy in Australia. Using that resource, I was able to communicate about it in a blog post for GSMT earlier in the year. Without access to that, music therapists outside of Australia/New Zealand wouldn’t have known about the actions being taken in that part of the world. We are always stronger when we work together!
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating and supporting music therapy everyday, but especially during World Music Therapy Week!
References:
World Federation of Music Therapy. (2023). About. https://www.wfmt.info/about#leadership
World Federation of Music Therapy. (2025). World Music Therapy Week Toolkit. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l63qM33ugKSWvfGwAbwF4ZFSsUeMdE-Y/view?usp=sharing
World Federation of Music Therapy (2023). [Black image on white background, hand holding guitar neck with another hand reaching out, the body of the guitar is represented by the earth. Text below image reads World Music Therapy Week April 10-15].
Author: Kelly Weaver, MT-BC
Editor: Cassadi Kulak, MT-BC