Greetings! I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2008. My committee was busy this year! We redefined our role in the organization, discussed the use of the current AMTA website and have been urged to help you, the membership, to better use the information provided on the Affiliate Relations link on the AMTA website. We also discussed how to work with I&T and Advocacy to help create educational and informational materials about music therapy. Two new populations, Forensic and Hospice/Palliative Care, have been defined and officially added.

Another discussed goal for 2008 is to work closely with the Information and Technology committee to enhance the AMTA website as it is a primary target in the public’s perception of music therapy. There is a great deal of information on other associations, conferences and other professionals there and we hope you are using it to your benefit.

The Special Target Populations Committee and the Standards of Clinical Practice Committee completed the development of general Job Descriptions for a music therapist as well as job descriptions for each population that is included in the Standards of Clinical Practice document. The Special Target Populations Committee hosted the Networking Sessions at the Louisville conference.

The committee discussed ways to encourage attendance at the roundtable networking sessions as well as discussed items to include in the agenda for these meetings that would best serve the needs of conference attendees. It was decided to allow each networking group to identify three top areas of interest for networking for the respective population served by that group. If the attendees needed help to generate three top areas of interest, this list was created to serve as examples: swap shop, reimbursement, creation of e-mail list, research needs, mentor list, related conferences to attend and related conferences for which music therapists could submit proposals, specialty trainings, and title protection issues. The committee also decided to have the facilitators for each group point out sessions in the conference program that are related to this population.

It was decided to allow each group to elect a chair or co-chairs for each population if anyone was willing to serve in this capacity but not to staff each position if any groups did not have volunteers for these positions. The committee is honoring the desire of the charge to allow the groups to evolve from a grass roots effort.

The committee decided to invite representatives from the Research, International and Government Relations Committees to visit each table during the roundtable networking sessions to further stimulation networking for the groups. More planning time for this connection will be available for next year's conference.

The committee has a vision for the networking groups to evolve to the point of having:

• population/setting-specific tracks at each regional and national conference an active e-mail or g-mail communication list
• a newsletter published on the members only section of the website
• supportive resources published on the members only section of the website

Discussion of the need for follow through on dissemination of information gathered through the networking groups at the conference and through the e-mail and g-mail correspondence during the year resulted in a decision use the regional newsletters and possibly Music Therapy Matters to print a listing of the desired information for the Members Only section of the AMTA website. It was felt that people did not arrive to the conference with this information at their fingertips. Structures to locate people who would be interested in collating this information for web publishing and for encouraging members to submit information were discussed. The desired information for the template for publication on the Members Only section of the AMTA website includes:

• List of music therapists working with each population
• Mentors for music therapists working with each population
• Speakers to represent music therapists working with each population
• Newsletter for music therapists working with each population
• Information from clients and significant others related to music therapy with each population
• Helpful resources for music therapists working with each population:
  Bibliography, discography, videography, web links
• Government Relations issues of special importance to each population
• Continuing Education opportunities for each population:
• Specialty trainings
• Upcoming conferences - for attendance or for proposals for a music therapist to present
• International involvement with each population
  
  The International Committee invited members of the Special Target Populations Committee to attend the International luncheon at the conference on Saturday to begin the networking process with international attendees as well as to track the populations being served in different countries and develop a database to reflect the international scope of practice with each population. We anticipate the possibility of working with another committee to develop a network with mentors who would be involved in pilot testing the peer review project.
  
  The Special Target Populations Committee has one request for the Standards of Clinical Practice Committee to consider moving from population specific standards to the general standards. The Special Target Populations Committee would like to point out that in addition to serving the members, the networking resources created by these groups might serve as invaluable tools for colleagues who also work with these populations and for the people we serve and their families. We hope to be able to display more information on the Members Only section of the AMTA website to support our members. We are also requesting consideration of future web space for access by the public who may benefit from our resources. This is an exciting opportunity for members to give and receive support and take ownership for this process. We hope that you will join us to make the networking groups work for you.

Just a reminder to everyone out there, it may be possible for you to be reimbursed for your music therapy services by third-party health insurance providers. While not a typical or “core” service, some insurance providers will pay for music therapy when medical necessity of music therapy can be shown for an individual client, as well as a few other circumstances. Don’t know how? Well, the reimbursement committee is finalizing a revised Power Point presentation that can be used to teach reimbursement basics to MT students and interns, and we’ll be working to share information from music therapists who have made successful insurance claims through a survey. So please, if you’ve been successful and you get a survey- please answer it. It will help us to help other music therapists! Any reimbursement questions? Please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The future of music therapy is promising because state of the art music therapy research in physical rehabilitation, Alzheimer's disease, and psychoneuroimmunology is documenting the effectiveness of music therapy in terms that are important in the context of a biological medical model.