Greetings dear NER folks! It gives me great pleasure to be addressing you for the first time as the new NER president. I have long served our professional organizations, and it seems that the time has come for me ake on this leadership position for our region. So let me just say right off that I will always do my best to fulfill this ffice with clarity of vision and an attempt to lead our region as aptly as those who came before me.

We have had many wonderful leaders in the NER in past years, and I have so much to learn and will need to rely on heir expertise and council for sure. That being said, I also have a lot of experience in this field over the past 28 years, both in this organization and in various clinical and academic areas of our profession. Therefore, I feel that I am ready to take this on for the next two years and am really quite excited now to be at the helm of our “small but mighty region”!

So here we are in the glorious late Spring! This is always such a momentous time of year for me in so many ways. I especially just love the fact that every day literally looks so different with new life exploding forth, right before our very eyes. It reminds me that there is always some new possibility in every moment if we are able to be open and available to it, because it is going on around us all the time. So if it’s been a hectic time for you these days, be sure to take a few moments to just stop and look around - and listen – and smell - and feel - and be reminded of the abundance and resiliency of life that is just everywhere these days. It is such a good time for us to consider that we are all cogs in the ongoing wheel of life!

This is also a time for the winding down of many things and gearing up for a different time of year for most of us. The academic year has come to a close for those of us involved in collegiate settings and soon to be for the rest of those involved in educational worlds - or those just looking forward to summer! This next season is not far away at all and perhaps beckons most of us to slow down just a little after this very long hard winter and busy spring that followed. Perhaps vacation plans are taking shape for many of you – bringing a much-needed break and chance to get away? To rejuvenate and have a little more down time and to do the things we often have had to set aside for another time? I truly hope that this message finds each of you in the process of creating some kind of open space for yourself and those that you love - time to relax and reconnect. I say this because we wonderful, generous, caring beings are not always the best at taking care of ourselves in the midst of our passion and dedication to serve others. Self-care and time off are not always on our to-do lists. So I thought I would take this opportunity to encourage and remind us all to consider moving this notion a bit higher on our list of priorities at this time of year.

But before we all get too relaxed and move into summer mode, I would also like to take a few moments to look back at this busy spring and acknowledge a few NER members, special events and those that made them happen. It is always most important to thank each and every one of our board members for their service and commitment to NER. These people take a great deal of their own time and energy and give of it willingly in order for us all to have such a thriving and prosperous region that provides for the needs of our membership as well as those that we serve. Most of our current officers and committee representatives will continue to be on the board this year, but a few are moving on as well. So I’d like to acknowledge and thank Lynne Patnode, the outgoing Vice-President for all of her contributions and hard work as conference chair for the past two years and several years on the board prior to that. We will miss you Lynne and hope that you enjoy the benefits of membership without quite so much work! Another board member stepping down at this time is. Sarah Gagnon, who has been our representative to the Affiliate Relations Committee. Thank you Sarah for your energy and passion and always being willing to make your voice heard! I am sure you will continue to do so in the other areas of your life and work – we will miss you too.

We also have some new officers this year, a few people taking on differing roles, some new faces and returning ones as well. In addition to my new role as President, Eve Montague is now the President-Elect and will continue to serve as the Association Internship Approval Committee Representative. Christine Routhier has now become the past-President, but I do not intend to let her skills get much rest, as I will need her support and guidance as I move into my new role. Christine will also continue to serve as co-chair of the Student Advisory Board. Heather Bloam-Wagner now steps up as Vice-President, and we elected Judy Engel as the new Vice President-Elect. Judy recently joined the board as the Research Committee Representative last year, and we are grateful to have her also take on this additional important role. These two V-P officers are the conference chairs, so they have taken on a special kind of commitment and service to our membership. Lisa Kynvi has returned to the board as our new Secretary, a role she is quite familiar with and we are pleased to have her with us again. Dorothy Stapleton will continue as our fabulous and indispensable Treasurer for yet another term - thank goodness! Our newly appointed representative for the Affiliate Relations committee, Shanna Clark, will join us this year. And all of our other committee representatives will graciously continue their work and efforts. Please look further in this ewsletter for some introductions to our new members and officers as we welcome them and thank them in advance for their commitment to the NER board.

I would also like to acknowledge the student board for a very busy and productive year. Jared Leaderman, now a graduate of Lesley University, led the NER-AMTAS this past year. We are so appreciative to all of those who were involved this year, but particularly to Jared for his ability to motivate others and generate several new and exciting ideas for this year and the future. One of these was a new scholarship fund that provided four students with $50 scholarships to attend the NER spring conference. New NER-AMTAS student officers were elected at the conference, with all three of our regional college programs being well represented. The new president is Kerry Leavell, graduate MT student at Lesley University, and you can view the rest of the new officers on-line at www.musictherapynewengland.org. A new student board position was created and approved at the meeting this year: National/International Service Project (NISP) Chairperson. This position will be responsible for organizing local, national, and international service projects. This new board is very excited to carry on with the ongoing vision of various service projects, begun several years ago by the student board.

Of course, the biggest event for us at this time of year is always the regional conference, and in true NER style, it was again just excellent and stayed true to our reputation of “small but mighty”! The spring conference was held March 26-28, 2009, at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The conference had 161 registrants in attendance, which is a very similar number from last year. We were concerned that we might loose attendance and it was reassuring indeed that our conference participation did not decrease in this unsure economic climate. The theme of this year’s conference was Port of Harmony: Celebrating Diversity in Music Therapy and one of the highlights was a dynamic CMTE presentation by Karen Wacks, Karen Estrella and Claudia Eliaza, entitled Multicultural Music Therapy: From Awareness to Action. Four other CMTE presentations were also given that helped to further develop clinical musicianship and internship development: Kimberly Khare – “Listen to the Music: Deepening our Clinical Musicianship”; Eve Montague – “Supervising the Music Therapy Intern”; Suzanne Sorrel – “Creating Musical Form in Clinical Piano Improvisation”; and Ed Sorrento and Dennis Cotton – “Rhythm Speaks”. Following the CMTE presentations, we had the opportunity to hear a unique instrument, the nykelharpa, a traditional Swedish instrument played along with various other stringed instruments in our opening night band, Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers. They performed several original compositions as well as some tradition tunes from all over the world and definitely got us all up and dancing! Overall, the conference was very successful, with a total of five CMTE presentations and twenty-seven concurrent sessions offered, with several of these sessions focused on issues of multiculturalism in music therapy. And of course, the annual not-to-be-missed Cabaret was an evening of fun, traditions and surprises for us all. Stay tuned for plans for next year’s conference!

The last thing I’d like to mention is an event that took place in Washington this past spring that was attended by Stephanie Clark, our Government Relationships committee representative called “Arts Advocacy Day.” This was a conference that we were pleased to have Stephanie attend on our behalf, as we believed that it could benefit us all in terms of how the arts might be included in healthcare and educational services in the future. Please see Stephanie’s article for a report and more details about her experience at the conference and continued work in Government Relations.

In closing I would like to reiterate my wishes to you all that we fully enjoy this beautiful and meaningful time of year – and may we find the time to step back and enjoy a sense of fresh air and new life in the course of our busy lives. I am so very honored to serve the region as president at this time. It potentially could be a very challenging year for us all in terms of the economy and those that we serve being affected severely by budget cuts and restructuring. We need to stay connected to our fellow colleagues and students. We need to tap into our collective knowledge, energy and passion for this work - and be proud and vibrant members of this association and region, one that has so much to offer and often seems to pave the way in terms of new and innovative ideas and projects for our profession. New England is our home and I feel so grateful to be part of this wonderful community. May you all have a grand summer - and I look forward to catching up with you again in the fall. Please feel free to contact me any time with your ideas, questions, hopes and dreams for our community and the work that we all care so much about.

Yours in the spirit of kinship & love of music – Carylbeth Thomas