Converging Reflections on Music Therapy With Children and Adolescents: A Collaborative Seminar on Diverse Areas of Music Therapy Practice and Research

Abstract

Four music therapists working at the Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (GAMUT) in Bergen, Norway, collaborated in providing a seminar at a national conference called “Barn og deres andre” [Children and their others] in November 2012. The four therapists were educated in different music therapy training courses in four different countries, and have worked and carried out research in distinctly different areas of music therapy practice: pediatric traumatic brain injury, children with autism, and children and adolescents in child welfare. Significantly, their experience of creating a collaborative seminar led to an awareness of each other’s work and also a process of identifying shared perspectives about music therapy with children and adolescents. This report on the symposium presents the three seminar papers and documents the journey of a team-building process within the music therapy discipline.