Society for Music Therapy and Remedial Music x British Society for Music Therapy

Society for Music Therapy and Remedial Music x British Society for Music Therapy

The British Society for Music Therapy was founded in 1958 by Juliette Alvin and her colleagues as The Society for Music Therapy and Remedial Music. Its aim was to promote the use and development of music therapy. It changed its name to The British Society for Music Therapy in 1967. The Society was a Registered Charity, Number 260837.

The British Society for Music Therapy supported the work of early music therapists and researchers, and helped the developing profession gain respect and status. The Society acted as an advisory body and disseminated information on services, training, bibliography and research. One of the ways it did this was through its regular journal, The British Journal of Music Therapy.

The Society was run by a Chairperson, Executive Committee and the office administration team (The Administration Officer of the Society acted as Secretary). The Executive Committee organised the everyday business of the Society, and planned its future direction. The Executive Committee was supported by an Advisory Council, which provided advice and expertise as required.

Further committees were set up to deal with other events and different circumstance. One of the most notable events was the 10th World Congress of Music Therapy. This event was planned by an Organising Committee and International Scientific Committee, and was held in Oxford from the 23rd-28th July 2002 with over 800 therapists attending. The journal was overseen by a separate management board.

The majority of the members were based in the United Kingdom, and in 2000 all members of the Association of Music Therapists automatically became members of the British Society for Music Therapy. However by 2010 there were also around 800 international members, including musicians, teachers and medical workers.

In April 2011 The Society amalgamated with The Association of Professional Music Therapists to become The British Association of Music Therapists, Registered Charity number 1137807 and Company No. 07301585. This new organisation will continue the work of The British Society of Music Therapists.

Source of information: http://www.bsmt.org accessed May 2011.