Continuing professional development – Why, what and how?

Abstract

This paper examines the role of continuing professional development (CPD) in sustaining and enriching the professional lives of music therapists. Drawing on knowledge and experience of the system in the UK, there is a detailed description of the requirements of the profession’s regulator, the Health and Care Professions Council. There is reference to the ‘developmental stages’ of the profession across Europe and the means by which these are shared through the European Music Therapy Confederation (EMTC) and the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT). Finally, there is consideration of ways in which therapists might be motivated to view CPD as an essential means of upholding standards of practice, education and research.