The Great Lakes Music Therapy Conference Puts Focus on Health and Wellness with Help of ITA Team
The Great Lakes Regional (GLR) Music Therapy conference was held in Milwaukee March 16-18, and ITA was represented by four of our own! Executive Director Jenni Rook, Community Programs Manager Jeffrey Wolfe, School Programs Manager Rebecca West, and Alumni Kaillie Enser made the road trip north to promote ITA’s margin of excellence. The conference theme, Thirst for More: Tap into Your Greatest Potential, was apt for our attending ITA staff who were eager to share their field expertise with other regional professionals.
Jeffrey Wolfe serves as the Chair and Student Advisor of the Student Affairs Advisory Board for the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), and as co-chair of the GLR-AMTA Mentoring Program. He kept busy on Thursday, attending the morning Internship Supervisor Training, presenting at the executive board meetings, and co-facilitating the Mentorship Training Workshop.
Friday was just as packed with events. Jeff hosted a group for professionals interested in participating in GLR’s mentorship program, which he was instrumental in establishing. Jenni Rook hosted a networking lunch for music therapists who work with individuals on the autism spectrum and intellectual disabilities, while Rebecca West represented ITA at the Internship Fair and met music therapy students from all over the region.
ITA Alumni Kaillie Enser gave a highly involved presentation on clinical phonetics, sharing the knowledge she has gained through her graduate studies since her internship at ITA. (Kaillie is currently studying speech language pathology!)
Saturday saw the state meeting of the Illinois Association for Music Therapy, for which Jenni serves as Past President and was honored to distribute recognition awards for outstanding service and advocacy for the profession of music therapy. In the evening, Jeff was happy to co-facilitate a roundtable discussion for the current mentors of the GLR.
The conference was filled with a number of academic presentations on the most current and state-of-the-art developments in the field of music therapy, but most definitely left time for making music. ITA’s Music Therapists were thrilled to see notable growth this year, are looking forward to the action next year!