Belgium

Definition of music therapy “Music therapy in Belgium can be defined as a form of psychotherapy with a focus on a musical, form-giving exchange between therapist and patient, undertaken during musical improvisations or via listening to music. The therapeutic frame of thinking for this exchange is psychodynamic. It is based on psychological theory describing mental structures and processes such as found in the work of Freud (1925), Winnicott (1971), Klein (1948) and Bion (1962). This describes a therapeutic frame that makes use of specific psychoanalytic phenomena and interventions, such as transference, countertransference, holding, containment, projective identification, free-floating attention and reverie. These are important psychoanalytic concepts that sit beside specific music therapeutic phenomena such as therapeutic provocation, anticipating inner silence, musical reverie, post-resonation (De Backer 2008). All these phenomena are ways of describing how one person may interact with another, and also where interaction changes and becomes relationship.The therapeutic relationship between patient(s) and therapists(s) is at the center of this thinking. In music psychotherapy it involves a process that relies on musical improvisation played by the patient and the music therapist. If the patient is not in a position to participate actively in the improvisation, we maintain that the musical improvisation is still present because treatment begins from the affective resonance of the patient. We believe that music takes place at the same level as the trauma experienced by the patient and thus is an ideal modality for treatment in this way.” (De Backer, 2010)

The training is recogized by the government, the profession itself is not. In the past a lot of effort has already been put in trying to close this gap and achieve official recognition as a profession. Problems are to be situated at a political and financial level, but also in the fact that that many other issues demanded the attention of the professional association and prohibited the gain of recognition so far. Next to this the recognition situation concerning the recognition of psychotherapy is very unclear, and music therapists would also like to be recognised as psychotherapists. In 2013 a working group has been established to enable continuity in the process of trying to gain recognition. The working group already has observed that there is a gap between the public opinion towards music therapy, which tends to be more and more approving, and the political opinion, that tends to base itself on incorrect information and takes a more negative stance. The tasks of the working group are now to get insight in the process of demanding recognition, give correct information to the governmental authorities and and make an official appeal for recognition.

• Master in Music – Music Therapy

Luca School of Arts, campus Lemmens, in Leuven provides an academic bachelor and master program.

Academic Bachelor & Master Program

• Bachelor after Bachelor Creative Therapy

Artevelde Hogeschool, campus Kantienberg, in Gent provides a bachelor after bachelor program in creative therapy.

Bachelor after Bachelor Program

Within a music therapy setting, improvisation is one of the most powerful methods. The Music Therapy Research Cluster at LUCA School of Arts focuses on the study of musical improvisation within the context of healthcare.

• Three Research Lines

The research projects of the Music Therapy Research Cluster at LUCA School of Arts are organized into three research lines:

• Research Line 1: Development of Music Therapy Interventions in Clinical Settings

Projects under this line focus on developing improvisational music therapy interventions that enhance creative capacity, embedded in clinical environments, and applied to specific psychopathologies (e.g., psychosis, autism, trauma, depression, personality disorders, dementia).

*UNMUTED

  *Composition Plus

  *Music in the Children’s Hospital

  *Music and Caregivers in Dementia

• Research Line 2: Development of Music Therapy Applications as Early Intervention

This line focuses on developing improvisational music therapy interventions that foster creative capacity, targeted at specific developmental stages and subgroups within the general population (e.g., children, adolescents, musicians).

*CTRL+ALT+DEL

*Study on the Health and Well-being of Professional Musicians

*Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities and their Siblings: The Musical Relationship

• Research Line 3: Understanding Mechanisms and Dynamics in Music Therapy

Projects in this line aim to define and understand the mechanisms at work in improvisational music therapy interventions, based on a theoretical multifactorial and integrative framework characterized by embodied interactions between the subject and their environment.

*UNMUTED

• Interdisciplinarity and Innovative Applications

The research cluster strives for advanced interdisciplinarity to generate new insights from the synergy between artistic and scientific disciplines. These insights are then implemented in innovative music therapy applications. Collaboration leads to the development of specific designs and methods, enabling research on complex improvisational processes. Last but not least, we use the artistic platform to creatively strengthen the interconnection between research, education, and society.

Researchers

Prof. dr. Jos De Backer

Prof. dr. Katrien Foubert

Dr. Anke Coomans

Leen Adam

Andreas Nollet

Birgit Sebreghts

Completed research:

• Music and Psychosis.The transition from sensorial play to musical form by psychotic patients in a music therapy process. Prof. Dr. Jos De Backer
• Music Therapy and Demention. The importance of musical improvisation to the development of a therapeutic relationship in music therapy with people with dementia. Dr.Anke Coomans
• Transformation in improvisation. Categorization of playing techniques and interventions in musical improvisations with patients with personality disorder. Prof. dr. Katrien Foubert

BMT asbl The Belgian professional association is BMT asbl, founded in 1998. BMT asbl negotiates with Belgian governmental departments concerning the legal recognition of the profession of music therapist. She offers legal assistance to its members and provides a half-yearly Journal for Music Therapy. She stimulates ongoing training by organising workshops, lectures and symposia, by informing her members on interesting relevant events, organised by other organisations, and by the network of group supervision she has created.

Furthermore BMT asbl has established a Commission for Independent Music Therapists, aiming to provide members who work in private practice professional support, uniformity and quality. Next to this, she has set up her Ethics Commission to monitor the complaint’s procedure BMT asbl has developed.

BMT asbl keeps a register of her members, who are graduated as Masters or are Bachelors with large experience in the music therapy field. Communication and public relations are maintained by the website www.muziektherapie.net and by regular e-mail contacts.

Contact:
BMT asbl
Amersveldestraat 150A,
8610 Handzame Belgium
E-mail: beroepsvereniging@muziektherapie.net
Website: www.muziektherapie.net

BVCT-ABAT asbl
This is the professional association of Belgian creative therapists. Creative therapists that have specialised in music therapy at a Bachelor level (f.e. by following the Bacher-after-Bachelor training in Ghant) are represented by this professional association.

Contact:
BVCT-ABAT asbl
Email: info@bvct-abat.be
Website: www.bvct-abat.be

Other music therapy organisations:

Muziek & Handicap
Muziek & Handicap is an organisation aiming at those who offer music(therapy) to people with a handicap. The organisation focuses on meeting, exchanging information and training.

Contact: Muziek & Handicap
Walenstraat 15 3150 Haacht
Belgium Tel.: 0032499/14 10 43 (Thursday 9u-12.30u)
E-mail:info@muziekenhandicap.be
Website: www.muziekenhandicap.be