Florida Senate - 2013 (NP) SR 1294
By Senator Sobel
33-01334-13 20131294__
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution recognizing music therapy as a valid
3 health care service.
4
5 WHEREAS, music therapy is defined as the clinical and
6 evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish
7 individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a
8 person who is Music Therapist–Board Certified (MT-BC) and who
9 has completed an approved music therapy program, and
10 WHEREAS, a person representing himself or herself as an MT
11 BC must be board certified by the Certification Board for Music
12 Therapists (CBMT), an independent, nonprofit corporation whose
13 certification program is fully accredited by the National
14 Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), and
15 WHEREAS, the MT-BC credential has been fully accredited by
16 the NCCA since 1986, and the American Music Therapy Association
17 was founded in 1998 as a union of the National Association for
18 Music Therapy and the American Association for Music Therapy,
19 and
20 WHEREAS, music therapy is an allied health field that
21 offers benefits across all developmental domains and supports
22 patients of all ages and ability levels, including, but not
23 limited to, children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly who
24 have mental health needs, developmental and learning
25 disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease and other aging related
26 conditions, substance abuse problems, brain injuries, physical
27 disabilities, and acute and chronic pain, and
28 WHEREAS, music therapy maintains or increases the quality
29 of life for patients and their families, alleviates stress, and
30 works on many different levels at once to improve the condition
31 of the patient, and
32 WHEREAS, decades of empirical research documented in peer
33 reviewed journals have found music therapy to be a cost
34 effective service, NOW, THEREFORE,
35
36 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
37
38 That the Florida Senate recognizes music therapy as a valid
39 health care service.
40 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
41 presented to the president of the Florida Association for Music
42 Therapy as a tangible token of the sentiments expressed in this
43 resolution.