Using music therapy assessment to adapt to client and society needs

Assessment is a fundamental component of music therapy treatment, which begins at referral and concludes following discharge from care. In comparison with other allied health disciplines, standards of assessment within music therapy must improve ensuring quality and integrity of the profession.
This requires a change of culture from within the music therapy community, leading to an increased awareness of how we create, understand and use assessment. Luckily, assessment within the field of music therapy is rapidly evolving across the areas of clinical practice, training, research and the
commercial side of the profession, as assessment is used to connect with, and adapt to current client-based and societal needs and challenges. Assessment as a tool to respect diversity (of individuals and populations) enables music therapists to use assessment to be flexible in their approach to working
with different settings, needs, and challenges. The International Music Therapy Assessment Consortium (IMTAC) was founded to address the complexities of assessment by strengthening and promoting best practices in the profession. The purpose of this presentation is to contextualize music therapy assessment and how we adapt our processes to be relevant for macro society (big-picture)
situations and micro (session-focused) situations. The discussion will include an overview of theory, research, and in depth case examples and needs of assessment development which we hope will engage and involve the audience in an open conversation about this subject.