I'm a Music Therapist

I’m in my seventh year of being a board-certified music therapist and it’s just about that time in my 5-year recertification cycle when I start actually thinking about how I’m going to get the required 100 continuing education credits (called CMTEs in music therapy jargon). During my first cycle, I did the most lazy, cost-efficient option available to me: citing two of my grad school classes that made up 97% of my needed CMTE hours. This time, I’ll probably need to actually keep track of my credit hours as I earn them (unless I end up doing my doctorate before 2022). 

As most music therapists know, the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) puts out a handbook (which can be found here) outlining all of the options for getting your 100 CMTE credits. The cost of getting these credits can wildly vary though with many different factors to take into account: cost, flexibility, relevance of CMTE options to your clinical practice, etc. Depending on how strategic you are, you may be able to earn all 100 CMTEs for free(ish). Or, in a worse case scenario you could end paying over $2000 for your certification.

To help you (and me) figure out the most time and cost-efficient way to get recertification credits, I’ll be outlining three ways of earning CMTEs by cost across two blog posts. Part 1 outlines:

1. Completely FREE Options: ways to earn credits without spending any money

2. Free(ish) Options: ways to earn credits for things you’re already doing (that may have a  minimal associated costs).

Click HERE to jump to Part 1 of the Ultimate Guide to CMTE Options.

Part 2 of my Ultimate Guide to CMTE Options outlines:

3. Paid Options: Dozens of companies are approved CMTE providers that offer online CMTEs for a fee. In Part 2 of my Ultimate Guide to CMTE Options, I’ll focus on online providers. Spoiler alert: the market for these paid options often is wildly disparate, with some providers charging $6/credit up to $50/credit. 

Click HERE to jump to Part 2 of the Ultimate Guide to CMTE Options.