In honor of Older Americans Month and the theme Communities of Strength, we are focusing on the community music therapy (CoMT) lens and how to apply it in eldercare settings.

In this free webinar, you'll learn practical techniques to address social goals for clients and ecological goals for the communities where they live.

And, we'll share some out-of-the-box ideas to inspire you in your work with older adults in 2021.

Here's what you'll accomplish:

One year after uprising following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, how are you doing with learning about and fighting against systems of oppression in your eldercare work?

As music therapists, we must explore our own cultural lenses and biases while continuously expanding our understanding of cultural lenses other than our own. Rather than expecting to reach an endpoint of cultural competence, we must learn how to practice reflexively and look for opportunities to learn and explore.

With an attitude of humility and an openness to learning and unlearning, join this exploration of cultivating cultural humility especially for work in eldercare settings, including senior living communities, hospice, and community-based settings for older adults.

Here's what you'll accomplish:

Ah, advocacy. Such a weighty word in our field of music therapy.

We know as music therapists that we often will have to educate folks in eldercare settings about our qualifications, what we do and why, and how to define music therapy separately from other ways people do music in various settings.

And yet, it can feel like banging your head on the wall, trying to get your administrator or your patient or your co-worker to understand that you aren't a big-hearted volunteer with an angelic voice.

Advocacy for music therapy in eldercare is both necessary and exhausting. In this webinar, we'll discuss how to do advocacy more effectively and efficiently, so you can get your message across where it's most effective, without wearing yourself out.

Here's what you'll get from this webinar:

A well-known rule of thumb in music therapy practice is that older adults often prefer music that was personally significant or popular in their culture groups when they were teens and young adults.

While we don't have to (and probably shouldn't) use this music exclusively in our sessions with older adults, it is a good starting point, especially for the purposes of assessment and in group settings.

The thing is, all of us keep getting older. People who turn 85 in 2021 turned 20 in 1956. The oldest members of the Boomer generation are 75 years old. We should no longer be relying on the music of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. And yet, the idea of doing classic rock or disco singalongs may be a little daunting.

Let's freshen up our toolboxes with some musical experiences using repertoire from the 1960s and beyond. You'll walk away with some new ideas and a plan for continuing your repertoire development for this newest generation of older adults.

Here's what you'll get from this webinar: