10 Ways You Can Advocate Your Therapy Services

There is rarely a full-time job opening in Music Therapy (MT), therefore, creating one’s own private practice is a very common occurrence in the MT field. So, essentially, you start out your therapy service with no clients, no instruments, no materials, and no experience setting up contractual work. A daunting task, yet an exciting adventure.

My private practice journey was definitely a learning process, but being so passionate about music therapy and ready to start practicing, it was easy to funnel that energy into advocating for the incorporation of music therapy into established clinics or to individual clients and families.

Here are just a few things I did. Those who are starting or thinking about starting their own private practice in music therapy, speech language pathology (SLP), occupational therapy (OT) or physical therapy (PT), you may find these helpful:

1. First, I made sure to go into the various pediatric therapy clinics in person. I came armed with a presentation folder that included my business card, a brochure about what I do, specific population sheets with MT goals/objectives, sample session plans, and reimbursement/payment materials. I laminated a copy of my brochure so they could have one at their office and in the waiting room (and since it’s laminated, it would stay in good shape and it’s cost-efficient).
    
2. I then dropped off tons of bright, colorful informational postcards for the parents that had information about music therapy, my therapy services, and me (history, contact info, etc.). I also offered a free 30 minute session for all first-timers (sometimes groups, sometimes individuals). I believe that this is one of the smartest decisions I could have made – it allows the family to see what I do and how I use music to address non-musical goals without them having to pay for it first! It was a non-threatening way to get my foot in the door, so to speak.
    
3. To learn more about the facility and its employees, I spoke to and met all of the therapists at a lunch meeting since most pediatric therapy clinics have a monthly meeting. In my opinion, talking to them in person, rather than just having them see me in passing, really helped. Once they knew who I was and what I did, they could feel comfortable recommending me to their clients!
    
4. I also passed out business cards like it was my therapy job. I ordered these for cheap from vistaprint.com, but I’ve heard great things about moo.com, as well.
    
5. In addition to the marketing mentioned above, I made several fliers to post in coffee shops, waiting rooms, grocery store bulletin boards, and support group websites.
    
6. I soon found that many clinics were “on-board”, but were wondering what my payment options would be. Be prepared for this. Know your hourly rate, and whether or not you will accept insurance. What I found out was that insurance is a nightmare. This is one aspect of the private practice process that I would truly like to tackle at some point. I purchased Judy Simpson’s “Music Therapy Reimbursement” book and scoured websites, forums, and therapy professional advice in person and online.
   
   Since I am the sole MT for my private practice, I realized that taking on private insurance would be way too time consuming, would involve entirely too much red tape for me at the moment, and was something I would rather tackle with a co-worker or another staff member. I believe Music Therapy should be available to all clients and covered by insurance. While some have success with third party reimbursement, the success rate is still quite low. Therefore, at the moment, I only accept out-of-pocket payment.
    
7. Because the families pay out-of-pocket, I offer several different session options, such as every other week, once-a-month, once-a-week, etc. Doing sessions in pairs and groups are another great option for the parents and a way to reduce the individual cost for each client.
    
8. I’m doing a lot of half an hour sessions, due to the out-of-pocket costs. But, I do hope they see the benefit and, over time, increase their session times to an hour per week.
    
9. One thing to keep in mind is that you usually have to pay an hourly building fee/overhead cost to the clinic. Therefore, if I charge $50 for a 60-minute session, I receive $40 ($10 goes to building fee).
    
10. Be involved with other blogs that are about SLP, OT, PT, etc.
    Having an open dialogue with other professionals about music therapy and how it can complement and not replace their therapy practices is extremely important. Since my undergraduate degree was in communication disorders, I have several strong relationships with SLPs across the country and this allows me to have wonderful conversations as to how these fields (MT and SLP) can work together to better benefit the client and the client’s communication, social emotional, cognitive, and behavior goals.

It’s still a learning process, but since I have started my practice offering therapy services, I have been fortunate enough to gain contracts with two pediatric therapy clinics – Language and Movement, and The Live Oak Center for Communication Disorders, a music academy, Velocity Music Academy, in addition to seeing several individual clients.

About the Author: Rachel See Smith is a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) with a Master’s in Music Therapy and a B.A. in Communication Disorders. Smith has had extensive experience leading music therapy sessions with children with hearing aids and cochlear implants at the University of Iowa Speech and Hearing Clinic (Listen and Speak Up), and was employed as a research assistant for Dr. Kate Gfeller’s Music Perception Team in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, which involved researching music perception abilities of children and adults with cochlear implants.

Smith is currently employed as an independent music therapy contractor and is the owner of Music Therapy Services of Austin. She also maintains the music therapy blog, Explore Music Therapy. Smith currently lives in Austin, Texas.