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Dear Colleagues,It is amazing what can be accomplished when we work together. I am reminded of this each and every day. I marvel at what 13-month-old Elsa (not her real name), recovering from heart surgery, can accomplish when her physical therapist and I collaborate and have her work on trunk control while playing a drum sitting up. I am amazed at the insights of practicum students when we co-facilitate a music therapy session and they are able to identify some of the nuanced achievements or progress of a patient. I am thrilled at those moments of working with my research colleagues when that long-awaited article is accepted for publication at a premier medical journal. I am honored by those teaching moments when students are highly engaged and learning from each other as well.We really accomplish amazing things when we work together. I am fortunate (and I hope you are, too) to witness these things every day. I also see these great things happening within the World Federation of Music Therapy. Yes… there is a WFMT Council made up of eighteen individuals from eight regions around the world, and each month they volunteer their time to advance the profession of music therapy globally. And… then there is each one of you. There are many of us from all around the world that come together as a part of this organization, and we work together on a variety of levels to advance music therapy globally. Did you know that what you are doing in your part of the world is contributing to this cause? Well, I am pleased to tell you that it does!We achieve even greater accomplishments when we come together and combine our efforts. I encourage you to consider how you can join the cause of advancing music therapy around the world in new and different ways. You can renew your WFMT membership in 2014, encourage a colleague(s) to obtain membership, plan to attend the World Congress in Vienna/Krems, Austria (July 7-12, 2014), contact the WFMT and discover ways you can become involved in the organization, or volunteer. You can become a member, make a donation to support music therapists that have experienced crises, become a friend on the WFMT Facebook page, and stay connected with other music therapists from around the world. You may even have your own thoughts or ideas about how to connect and get involved.Together we can accomplish and achieve wondrous things. I look forward to even greater achievements in the months ahead.Sincerely,Annie Heiderscheit, Ph.D., MT-BC, LMFTFellow of the Association for Music and ImageryInterim President, WFMT
