I'm a Music Therapist

Below is an outline of free and free(ish) ways to earn music therapy continuing education credits. This blog post is intended to be an overview, but be sure to double check the CBMT Recertification Manual (HERE) for the most accurate details. For paid CMTE Options, check out Part 2 in this blog series.

Completely Free CMTE Options

• Some very generous CMTE providers offer FREE online CMTE options like Music Therapy Ed’s Professional Success Course (3 credits), Music Therapy and Neuro Ed’s Disaster Preparedness Course (10 credits), and the Spiegel Academy’s discussion about working with transgender clients (1 credit)!

• Reporting a refereed journal article
  • Earn up to 20 CMTE credits at the rate of 1 credit/article

• Publications
  • Earn up to 80 credits for writing a book, thesis, dissertation, journal article, grant, book review, or original music composition. See handbook for details.

• Writing a proposal for an AMTA National Roster Internship 
  • Earn 50 credits

• Presenting a talk at a conference, professional meeting, being on a panel, or a poster session
  • Earn up to 10 credits

• Developing an AMTA-approved college or university educational program (yea, not likely for many of us, but still technically free credits)
  • Earn up to 80 credits

• Developing a university-affiliated clinical training program such as a university-affiliated internship or practicum site
  • Earn up to 30 credits

• Developing and implementing a professional workshop (something bigger than a conference presentation)
  • Earn up to 20 credits

• Serving a music therapy or other professional organization by serving on a board, task force, committee, etc.
  • Earn up to 20 credits

• Supervising music therapy practicum students and interns
  • Earn up to 20 credits

---

Free(ish) CMTE Options

• College Classes (cost varies with tuition): You’re already taking the classes, might as well get CMTE credit
  • Can earn up to 100 credits for 6 semester hours or 9 quarter hours of graduate coursework
  • Can earn up to 20 credits for undergraduate coursework as mentored self-study

• Free AMTA Conference CMTEs ($4-7/credit)
  • During every conference, AMTA offers a free CMTE as a membership benefit, but there’s still a nominal $20 processing fee. You can still get a phenomenal deal! Check out AMTA conference registration for details on this year’s offerings. 

• Attending conferences (cost of conference attendance)
  • Earn up to 5 credits/conference with a max of 15 credits per cycle just for attending conference

• Umbrella Groupings at Conference (cost of conference attendance)
  • You do need to get a little creative and figure out a unifying topic or theme for several concurrent sessions for a minimum of 3 CMTE hours

Check out Part 2 of this blog series for paid recertification options with a comprehensive spreadsheet of in-person and online options, costs per credit, and pros/cons of twelve online CBMT providers.