E-Book of Articles - World Federation of Music Therapy

Wheeler, Barbara: WMFT Proceedings of the Education Symposium
Qualifications of Clinical Training Supervisors for Entry-Level
This section was developed as a discussion by all attendees
and thus is summarized as a discussion.
Some of these issues were addressed from the U.S. viewpoint by
Marilyn Sandness’ presentation on Qualifications of Music Therapy
Educators.
Students
In the UK, they have an approved procedure for approving supervisors
for professionals. This does not apply to supervising clinical training
supervisors who are in training.
In Helen Odell Miller’s course, they say that supervisors in the field
should have at least 5 years of clinical experience (not necessarily 5 years
full-time); the only qualification is being a qualified music therapist.
In the course run by Connie Isenberg-Grzeda in Canada, people must
have a minimum of 3 years’ experience to be a supervisor.
It was suggested that the amount of experience needed and other
qualifications of a supervisor depends upon what supervision is needed; the
depth of supervision is dependent upon the depth of placement (e.g.,
internship vs. pre-internship). It was stated that they had found in the UK
that when they sent students to people who had only recently qualified, the
supervisors were identifying more with the students than functioning as
supervisor. This led to choosing 2 years experience as necessary to become
a supervisor. Another person commented that some of the worst supervisors
have 20 years of experience. She said that she is not opposed to
recommendations for bettering the quality of supervisions or internships,
but also wants to encourage people to go on for more training. She
emphasized that we cannot get ahead of ourselves with qualifications -- we
need to look at quality vs. quantity.
The question was raised whether the/an association or individual
program should determine where students should go. Barbara Hesser said
that she determines, but also wants to keep it clear that we are talking
about whether an association or national group tells us what will make a
person a good supervisor. It was stated that in Israel, qualifications were
given by the association (an umbrella association for all arts therapies); the
example was taken from the clinical psychology association. A supervisor
needs a minimum of 5000 supervised clinical hours, and supervision in the
last year must be supervision on supervision. The supervisor must be
recognized as a qualified supervisor, as a registered music therapist through
a set of examinations. In the first year after Chava’s course, students have a
music therapy supervisor and also another supervisor, such as a psychologist
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