An 'emergency' podcast recorded and released amidst the current events regarding proposed changes to music therapy funding and the NDIS in Australia. We've just learnt that one of the key critiques of the NDIA, is that music therapists are not providing sufficient "clinical evidence" for their work. While some of this is likely coming from non-RMTs, acting fraudulently, the reports of all RMTs are clearly under examination. To support RMTs to be giving sufficient clinical evidence, I speak to my OT friend Melissa Hale. Mel is a highly experienced OT and understands how to measure and set mea ..read more

This episode is a condensed version of an online PD Joe ran on using standardised assessments in measurement and reporting for music therapy.  ..read more

Julie Bill is a Danish born art therapist who is currently working and living in Australia. Julie graduated in 2021 from Western Sydney University with a master degree in art therapy and has been working with children in clinical settings since 2023. Julie has also worked a year in Denmark, where she ran two community based art therapeutic groups for children.  In this episode, Joe and Julie discuss a framework for implementing art materials in art therapy and the potential insights it provides music therapists on their own work ..read more

Behiye (Be) Suren is an Australian born singer/songwriter. Her original fusion folk music (in English and Turkish) weaves the rhythms and melodies of her two homelands Sydney and Istanbul.  Behiye’s artistic practice and her belief in the healing power of self-expression through singing and songwriting is summed up by a quote from Turkish folk musician Erkan Owur "Everybody should make music, every creature and every object has music inside it and everybody should search for their own."   This belief is what lead Be into the field of music therapy where she spent her studies foc ..read more

My interview as a guest on SurroundSounds. Listen to SurroundSounds on... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/surroundsounds/id1705938397 Or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@APlaceToBe/videos ..read more

Today I speak with two UK-based music therapists about their journeys to Neurologic Music Therapy Services Of Arizona. Emma Bailey is a UK-based Music Therapist and music therapy Supervisor. Originally trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Emma has studied infant mental health and child development at the Tavistock Clinic and the School of Infant Mental Health in London, and she completed the additional NMT training in 2019. As a Music Therapist in a National Health Child Development Service, as well as in private practice, Emma specialises in short-term interventions with child ..read more

Ingrid Gruett completed her Bachelor of Music degree from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, her Music Therapy Equivalency from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, and her Master of Music Degree from Alverno College.  Ingrid is a board-certified music therapist, a Wisconsin Music Therapist-Registered and a Certified Dementia Practitioner who specializes in providing evidenced-based services and 1:1 support to persons with dementia and to their caregivers. Ingrid is the owner and director of Middleton Music Therapy Services, LLC.   Her master’s thesis is a philosophical inquiry en ..read more

Joe Thompson is a Neurologic Music Therapist currently working at Spring Forward Family Centre in Penrith, NSW. He specialises in using the properties of music, especially rhythm, to support Autistic people to navigate their sensory and movement challenges. Much of his approach is informed by experiences he gained while working overseas at Neurologic Music Therapy Services Of Arizona in Phoenix, USA.  As well as a clinician, Joe has served as past chair of the AMTA NSW branch, and creator and host of this podcast ..read more

Suzanne Oliver is the founder and executive director of Neurologic Music Therapy Services Of Arizona - an NMT clinic based in Phoenix, AZ that has been serving the community there for over 40 years. Over the years, she has employed up to as many as 21 therapists at one time, and currently has 6 NMTs working in their clinical setting serving a variety of children and adults with neurologic impairments. Additionally, from 2007 thru 2019, NMTSA  had a school for non-speaking students with autism, providing them with grade level curriculum and communication and behavioral support at a 1:1 lev ..read more

Today’s guest on baselines is Samantha Schoeler Jones. This episode continues with our international theme, but allows for a hiatus from the people I met on my America trip, as we follow Sam’s own extraordinary journey which took her to the other side of the northern hemisphere. There are few people who can claim to have a more colourful answer to ‘how did you become a music therapist’ than Sam   Samantha completed a Bachelor of Music in Performance in flute at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts with the late Richard Gill as the Dean in 1991. After graduating, she commenced ..read more