WCMT 2017 in Advocating Music Therapy in My Home CountryAs much as I am mesmerized by the healing power of music, I have never had the chance to share my work and research widely as Music Therapy is not well-known in Indonesia. Being awarded the 2017 World Congress Scholarship Award for Students, did not only provide me with the privilege of getting noticed by random participants in congress halls, but my home country unexpectedly took pride of my achievement too! I have seen articles on national major news sites and even on my university’s webpage publicating my participation in the World Congress of Music Therapy, both in presenting my research poster and as the awardee of the Scholarship Award. It was personally the greatest experience I have ever had as an undergrad in advocating music therapy globally and in a way, given me an insight that the lack of music therapy recognition may not have been the acceptance of the intervention in the community, but rather the lack of awareness in Indonesia itself.After the lesson learnt during my participation in the 2017 WCMT, I stood the chance to give a talk on my Music Therapy research that I presented during the World Congress in the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) Course in Neuroscience. It was beyond my expectation how Music Therapy received so much acknowledgements by a number of neuroscientists, doctors, researches and neurologists.I am immensely thankful for the experience I had in the 2017 World Congress of Music Therapy, for the new connections made, motivations gained in continuing my studies and researches, exciting workshops, eye-opening presentations and lastly, for it opened doors for music therapy to be widely recognized in my home country.Jessica Hariwijaya2017 WCMT Student Scholarship Award Recepient
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