Music Therapy services under threat in Australia
December 5, 2024 02:03 PM
The Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA-AUS) urgently needs support from the worldwide music therapy community. Regional representative to WFMT - Australia and New Zealand, Alison Short’s blog post this week brought to worldwide attention a decision in Australia that would discontinue music therapy services for thousands of Australians. Excerpts from the blog are below, and a link to the Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA-AUS) page that outlines what is happening. According to Alison, “… AMTA-AUS has been advised that gaining international awareness and traction is an important factor in this situation, and we encourage all music therapists and those supporting music therapy around the world to support us in lobbying for a proper recognition of music therapy by the Australia Government.“
The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA-USA) is looking at how we can best support our partners and colleagues in Australia. One, initial way, is to communicate this situation in Australia to our community and ask that you consider reviewing the material and responding.
From AMTA Australia website
https://www.austmta.org.au/news-item/17823/urgent-action-needed-to-protect-ndis-participants
Excerpt from Alison’s Blog with a link to the full blog
https://www.wfmt.info/post/music-therapy-services-under-threat-in-australia
The National Disability Insurance Agency, which services 650,000 Australians across a wide range of disabilities and conditions via the National Disability Insurance Scheme, has now decided via a recent review report to remove professional music therapy services to the currently 8,000 clients being serviced across Australia, stating that music therapy has “no evidence” for therapy that does not improve “functional capacity” of clients. No consultation with the Australian Music Therapy Association occurred prior to the release of this report, which also targets other well-established creative and integrative therapies.
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