Professional Advocacy Committee of AMTA Jaime L.R. Plancon, MT-BC, LPC
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The goals of the Professional Advocacy Committee are to advocate for the professional representation of the field of music therapy and to assist membership in responding to misrepresentation of music therapy in the media and in public. Promoting music therapy means advancing public awareness of music therapy as a viable health care profession and as an efficacious clinical intervention. In addition, AMTA must continue to advocate for the provision of music therapy services in medical, educational, community-based and other settings. The job of the regional representatives to this committee is to assist the region's members in recognizing and addressing individuals and/or companies that are misrepresenting the field of music therapy. The regional representative will provide information, guidance, feedback, and promotional material needed to any member who has identified an area of concern pertaining to the misrepresentation of the field of music therapy. Also part of the regional representative's job description is to educate the region's members on how to recognize and address misrepresentation through sessions and workshops at the regional conference level, as well as at the national conference.
 
Please contact me if you are in need of assistance and to inform me of the wonderful work you've done addressing misrepresentation. I take this information to our Chair so that it can be documented and praised.
Oct 23 2007
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Written by Jaime Plancon   
Tuesday, 23 October 2007

The New England Region has been quiet yet influential as far as Professional Adovocacy goes. Though there has not been a great deal of misrepresentation brought ot the board, as those situations that have been presented have been addressed with positive results. Our most influential change occured within a well-known national chain. We were successful in creating a description change for a product being sold.

Brookstone® sells a product called OSIM iSymphonic® Massage Chair. In this product's description, it was originally being marked as a "Massage Chair with Music Therapy - The OSIM iSymphonic® Massage Chair combines massage and music therapy for greater health benefits." This description was listed both in their catalogue and online. As the Professional Advocacy representative for the New England Region, I wrote a letter to the company's president in hopes of clarifyling the difference between music therapy and the benefits of synchronized music and massage. In the next catalogue I received there was a more accurate description, with the remoal of the words "music therapy" from the description. It now reads "OSIM iSymphonic® Massage Synchronized to Music!" with an explanation of how the massage synchronizes to the music being played.

Along with this positiely successful change, I have been busy assisting those in need of direction pertaining to professional advocacy. I've had several emails and phone calls from region members looking for help in addressing misrepresentation. Several regional members have emailed me misrepresentations that they have found from online sites or online newspapers. I am in the process of addressing these misrepresentations in hopes of attaining the same success.
 
about_jaime.gifMy name is Jaime Plancon and I am the New England Region Representative to the Professional Advocacy Committee. I have had the joy of holding this position for the past 4 years. I work full time at a regional education service center school for special needs children here in Connecticut. I also have a small private client base as well, focusing mostly on children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. It has been an honor and a privilege to represent the region on this committee. In my time serving this position, I have had much success in identifing and addressing several regional companies and individuals who have misrepresented music therapy. I've assisted many members in our region in promoting music therapy when misrepresentation has been evident.