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Dear Friends and Colleagues,This is my final message to send to you as Interim President of the World Federation of Music Therapy. As I craft this final message, it is a flurry of activity as I work on the final preparations for the World Congress (preparing meeting agendas, reviewing PowerPoint presentations, making final edits to the strategic plan, completing the annual report, etc.) and prepare for my travels to Austria. It is with great excitement that I anticipate this event as I look forward to greeting a thousand colleagues from over forty countries. I became involved with the WFMT as a result of my own passion to learn more about music therapy from an international perspective and to build collaborative relationships.Throughout my five years serving on the WFMT Council as Secretary/Treasurer and Interim President, I have been blessed immensely with countless opportunities to meet, learn, talk, present, and work alongside so many wonderful colleagues who have become dear friends. While my roles have been those of service, I truly feel I have gained so much from these opportunities to serve.I wish to extend my thanks to the WFMT Council for their constant commitment and service to the organization. Each of them continues to do all this work in addition to their full-time employment and professional and community commitments. I ask that when you see them in Austria or anywhere else in the world that you thank them for all their efforts.Dr. Gerhard Tucek and the congress organizing committee have been working tirelessly for months along with the WFMT Council and there many wonderful spotlight sessions, presentations, workshops, and cultural events in store for us. I thank them for the warm welcome we are to receive in Austria.As an organization, we conduct a great deal of business at the World Congress. The Council meets for our annual meeting, we distribute the WFMT awards, we acknowledge our student scholarship winners, we hear proposals and bids for the 2017 World Congress, we present a meet the council and candidates roundtable, we hold our elections, and we approve revisions to bylaws all during our General Business Meeting. Following the elections, I will transition my role from Interim President to Past President. I will step into a role where I support and advise the new President and Council. I look forward to yet another role in the WFMT and to beginning the process of unveiling and implementing the WFMT’s first strategic plan. See you on the journey.Sincerely,Annie Heiderscheit, Ph.D., MT-BC, LMFTFellow of the Association for Music and ImageryInterim President, WFMT
