National Endowment of the Arts Expands Creative Arts Therapies on Military Bases

A recent Washington Post article reported that approximately 350,000 U.S. service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries since 2001. This expanded Creative Forces Program puts creative arts therapies at the center of patient care at ten new clinical sites—for a total of twelve—that allow military members, veterans, and their families to have access to one or more of the creative arts therapies in dealing with trauma and other psychological health issues.

This is a huge success for increasing access to quality music therapy services and programs, which is the American Music Therapy Association’s (AMTA) mission. Funding directly results in new jobs available to board certified music therapists.  AMTA is advertising three of these positions around the country at the Naval Hospital Pendleton in Oceanside, California; the Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska; and the Joint Base Lewis McChord in Tacoma, Washington.

Current AMTA members can access these job descriptions by logging into their account at www.MusicTherapy.org, clicking on Member Resources> Job Center> Job Hotline.  Be sure to search for the position by state and find it listed as “Contract Music Therapist.”  Listings are also accessible through the American for the Arts Website.