Engaging with the revised Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)  Standards of Proficiency as an opportunity for growth in our understanding of disability in the music therapy profession

The music therapy profession has traditionally aligned itself with the medical model of disability: however, in more recent years this approach has been criticised. There has been an increasing engagement within the music therapy literature with more contemporary perspectives on disability, including centring the lived experience of disabled people, considering the role of privilege and power dynamics within music therapy practice, updating language used around disability and engaging with new models of disability, such as social and cultural models and the neurodiversity paradigm. The recently-updated HCPC Standards of Proficiency (SoPs) support critical perspectives, emphasising equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging, collaborative and anti-oppressive practice, and a more ecological, socially-situated attitude towards disability.

This roundtable brings together a panel of music therapists with lived experience of disability and their allies, to share perspectives on how changes in the HCPC SoPs relate to the emerging critical discourse on disability and music therapy.  Topics explored will include reflections on music therapy pedagogy, co-production and collaboration with disabled people both in research and practice, the role of language in creating perceptions of disabled people, and shifting paradigms around disability within music therapy, including re-thinking aims, goals and assessment procedures. 

We acknowledge the complexity of these issues and aim to focus on raising questions rather than providing answers, exploring change within the profession as an active, ongoing process, and providing a space for participants to reflect personally on the topic, particularly in relation to the impact of the revised HCPC SoPs on clinical practice and reflective processes.



References

Cameron, C. (2014) “Does Disability Studies have anything to say to music therapy? And would music therapy listen if it did?” in Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy 14 (3) 



Davies, H. (2022) “Autism is a way of being”: An Insider Perspective on Neurodiversity, music therapy and social justice” in British Journal of Music Therapy  36 (1)



Hadjineophytou, S. (2022) “Becoming “Unknowing” and “Inexpert” Exploring the Impact of Language on Perception and Power in Music Therapy with Kirsty” in Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy 22 (3)



HCPC (2023) The Standards of Proficiency for Arts Therapists. Available at: https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-proficiency/arts-therapists/ (accessed 28th September 2023)



Pickard B (2020) “A critical reflection on the Health and Care Professions Council Standards of Proficiency for music therapists: A critical disability studies perspective” in British Journal of Music Therapy 34(2)


Roman, T. (2022) “Developing a research approach to explore therapeutic relationships with children and young people with complex needs: A critical reflection” in British Journal of Music Therapy 36 (1)