Australian Music Therapy Association

10/02/2026

🎤 We’re thrilled to share the latest episode of the British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) podcast, Music Therapy Conversations, which was recorded mostly at AMTA’s national conference this year.

In this episode, presenter Luke Annesley talks to AMTA member Anita Connell, PhD RMT. Then we hear Anita's interviews with Prof. Denise Grocke RMT and A/Prof. Alison Short RMT. Sandwiched between these 2 longer interviews are shorter conversations with Pip Reid RMT, Lucy Bolger RMT, Wendy Magee, Helen Cameron RMT, Catherine Threlfall RMT and Dr Emma O'Brien OAM RMT.

AMTA sends a sincere thank you to Anita for undertaking this project, which places more Australian RMT voices on the world stage and celebrates the association's 50th anniversary. We understand a second episode will drop in coming months.

🎧 Have a listen: https://www.bamt.org/DB/podcasts-2/anita-connell-at-the-australian-music-therapy-conference-2025-part-1


📷 Text: "Podcast: Music therapy conversations. Dr Anita Connell at the AMTA conference 2025." Headshots of Denise Grocke and Alison Short. Logo: British Association for Music Therapy.

10/02/2026

The Australian Music Therapy Association joins the call for the Commonwealth Prac Payment to include all allied health students.

We invite the music therapy community to sign the petition calling for equitable placement support across health disciplines, launched yesterday by Dr Helen Haines MP, Senator David Pocock and Allied Health Professions Australia.

Allied health students – including music therapy students – complete extensive mandatory unpaid placements, often at significant personal cost.

Expanding placement support is a practical step to reduce financial hardship, strengthen workforce sustainability and ensure students can complete their training without unnecessary barriers.

🔗 If you want to help end placement poverty for allied health and medicine students, sign the petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/expand-prac-payments-to-allied-health-and-medical-students?source=direct_link&

08/02/2026

AMTA has lodged its pre-Budget submission to the Federal Government, continuing our advocacy for fair, sustainable access to music therapy across health, disability and aged care systems.

Our submission focuses on reducing structural barriers to care, improving affordability and recognition, and ensuring music therapy is appropriately embedded within national funding and policy frameworks, such as including Medicare, the NDIS and aged care reform.

This work sits squarely within AMTA’s mission to advocate for access to music therapy. By addressing pricing, funding mechanisms and regulatory settings, we aim to support both the people who rely on music therapy services and the workforce delivering them.

Thank you to the members whose input continues to strengthen AMTA’s advocacy at a national level.

📷 Read the submission:http://www.austmta.org.au/public/151/files/Website%20advocacy/AMTA%20Prebudget%20submission%2020%20Jan%202026%20final.pdf

04/02/2026

Australian music therapists will be saddened to learn of the death of Professor Emeritus Barbara Wheeler, one of the most influential pioneers in the field of music therapy.

Emeritus Professor Denise Grocke AO PhD sent AMTA the following tribute:

“She was an erudite thinker and a prolific author, particularly on research methods. She edited or coedited 3 editions of Music Therapy Research, edited the first edition of the Music Therapy Handbook, and coauthored Clinical Training Guide for the Student Music Therapist. She received lifetime achievement awards from the World Federation of Music Therapy and the American Music Therapy Association, Inc.

“Barbara came to Australia as a guest speaker at NaMTRU and was often an examiner of Masters and PhD theses at the University of Melbourne. She was always supportive and encouraging of new research ideas and maintained close involvement with the field beyond retirement. Barbara was involved with the World Federation of Music Therapy in the early days as Director of the Clinical Practice Commission 1999-2002 and as a contributor to the International Guidelines for Music Therapy Training Courses World-Wide in 1996.

“Her contributions to the field leave a significant legacy, and she will be greatly missed.”

📷 Barbara L. Wheeler holding her guitar and smiling at the camera.
Photo credit: World Federation of Music Therapy.

27/01/2026

AMTA would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our new registered music therapists.

After completing their masters degrees, graduates are ready to embark on their first year of practice as fully qualified professionals.

Congratulations also to the teams who support music therapy students enrolled in the only two AMTA-accredited music therapy programs in Australia:
- the Master of Music Therapy at University of Melbourne and
- the Master of Creative Music Therapy at Western Sydney University.

It's so rewarding to see students become graduates and then registered music therapists, ready to show how music therapy changes lives.

We can't wait to see what you do next, and to share the resources of the Australian Music Therapy Association.

18/01/2026

Singing for breathing (SFB) programs can help people with chronic respiratory illnesses to live well. Well-established in other countries, we have not yet seen SFB programs implemented in Australia.

A practice article in the latest edition of the Australian Journal of Music Therapy offers insights into how SFB programs can be developed within the Australian context, including by incorporating an online element.

Congratulations to researchers Stefanie Zappino, Amy Pascoe, Catherine Buchan, Lena Ly, Jennifer Philip, Nicole Goh, Peter Hudson and Natasha Smallwood.

🔗 Read the article: https://www.austmta.org.au/australian-journal-of-music-therapy/read/volume-361-2025/singing-for-breathing-program-for-COPD-&-ILD/

🔗 Explore volume 36(1): https://www.austmta.org.au/australian-journal-of-music-therapy/read/

Source: Zappino, S., Pascoe, A., Buchan, C., Ly, L., Philip, J., Goh, N., Hudson, P., & Smallwood, N. (2025). Key reflections from implementing SINFONIA, a singing for breathing program for people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease. Australian Journal of Music Therapy, 36(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.65328/2025.ntkx4667

11/01/2026

If you’re a doctor, registered nurse or allied health clinician who works in hospitals, tune in.

If you've ever wanted to learn more about music therapy in the neonatal intensive care unit, this is your chance.

AMTA is offering the rare opportunity to undertake training in First Sounds: Rhythm, Breath, Lullaby (RBL), an internationally recognised, evidence-based neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) training developed by Professor Joanne Loewy (USA) and world leaders in NICU music therapy.

The training will take place in Melbourne in May this year. Tap below for detail, and keep an eye on AMTA socials to see when registration opens.


📷 A registered music therapist strums a guitar near a crib in the neonatal. intensive care unit. Text: "First Sounds: Rhythm, Breath, Lullaby (RBL). Advanced competency training 2026." AMTA logo.

08/01/2026

So it was great to see the Australian Journal of Dementia Care run an article by prominent registered music therapists and AMTA members Phoebe Stretton-Smith RMT, Zara Thompson RMT and Felicity Baker.

"For people living with dementia, music therapy can improve mood, memory and cognition, reduce depression, anxiety and agitation, as well as support engagement and social connection," they write.

Learn more at the link below, including why it's important that music therapy interventions are only delivered by a registered music therapist who holds expertise in both the beneficial and potentially harmful effects of music.

🔗 https://journalofdementiacare.com/articles/music-therapy-interventions/

By Phoebe A Stretton-Smith (MMusThrp), Zara Thompson (Phd), Felicity A Baker (PhD), The University of Melbourne The benefits of music therapy for people living with dementia are increasingly becoming recognised. The specific approach involves the intentional and therapeutic use of music by a qualifi...

06/01/2026

AMTA has published a fact sheet about the state of music therapy funding under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Written with participants and their carers, plan managers, support coordinators and the general public in mind, we hope it clarifies the rules for accessing music therapy under the NDIS.

Here's the most important part:
- Music therapy is still an approved therapeutic support under the NDIS.
- Music therapy remains a funded therapy support under Capacity Building.

Check it out: https://www.austmta.org.au/news-item/21809/music-therapy-under-the-ndis-still-an-approved-therapeutic-support

📷 A registered music therapist and NDIS participant enjoy a music therapy session together.

31/12/2025

🎉 Happy new year from all of us at the Australian Music Therapy Association!

We have a lot to look forward to in 2026, starting with a terrific opportunity for health professionals who work alongside music therapists in NICU settings or who are interested in integrating a NICU music therapy program on their unit. Watch this space!

And it's a Census year. That means. for the first time on Census night, our members will have the opportunity to write 'Music Therapist' as their occupation and be counted as a unique occupation: 'Music therapist: 261933'. Thanks, Australian Bureau of Statistics!

With music therapy a part of important government programs being rolled out in aged care, schools, primary health networks, creative therapies programs and more, AMTA will remain focused on our mission to advance equitable consumer access to music therapy across the lifespan.

Here’s to a year of harmony, growth and making a difference together.

#2026

📷 A person blowing a red toy trumpet

29/12/2025

AMTA's leadership team would like to send a heartfelt thanks for your support for music therapy, particularly this year.

For, although the Australian Music Therapy Association had a lot to celebrate in our 50th anniversary, we also had a lot to advocate for. After the independent review of NDIS funded music and art supports by Dr Stephen Duckett AM, music therapy retained its place in the NDIS as a therapeutic support. However, a price cut for 19.5% seriously risks consumer access to music therapy.

Over the next few weeks, the NDIS Evidence Advisory Committee (EAC) will review music therapy (and other supports, too). It’s a public consultation - which means you can have a say! - and they want to hear from NDIS participants. They’ve even provided Easy Read materials to help.

The EAC will make recommendations to government on the safety, suitability and value for money of supports for NDIS funding, drawing on the best available evidence.

If it’s appropriate for you, do send your thoughts on how music therapy has helped you or someone you care for. The consultation closes on 20 January 2026.
https://consultations.health.gov.au/evidence-advisory-committee-eac/december-2025/

Again, thank you for helping the association show how music therapy changes lives.


📷 Seniors in a music therapy session sit together.