SacredFlight | Music-Thanatology Training

MUSIC-THANATOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM

Lane Community College
This two year, non-degree training program utilizes the adult learning model. The current class includes students from Oregon, Washington, and Utah. They attend 20 didactic weekend intensives in Portland, Oregon with clinical internships alongside MTAI certified music-thanatologists in their home communities. Areas of study include, but are not limited to:

Contemplative studies
History of music and medicine
Anatomy and physiology
The biology of dying
Prescriptive music analysis
Properties of sound
Vital signs
Medical terminology

The nature of suffering
Clinical narrative writing
Harp and Voice
History of death and dying
Ethics
Spiritual pain assessment
Establishing a M-Th practice
Clinical discussions

Students deepen their learning experience through independent study as well as on-going clinical internships. These internships provide the student with on-site experience in the field working alongside music-thanatologists. The program is designed to prepare students to meet the Standards and Competencies of Music-Thanatology Association International (MTAI), the independent certification body for music-thanatology worldwide.

The program includes a contemplative component in which the student is supported to grow in his or her own personal and spiritual life. Each student will have over 500 contact hours working alongside music-thanatologists who are actively working in the field in hospitals and hospices throughout the Pacific Northwest. Our faculty consists of MTAI certified music-thanatologists, medical doctors and registered nurses. There will also be opportunities to attend master classes with other professionals that work closely with music-thanatologists.

Students will be involved in clinical discussions in which music-thanatologists and students discuss clinical narratives, case studies and on-going areas of growth and development in the field. Students will have an opportunity to participate in annual concerts throughout the region. These concerts are established and draw large audiences.

Admission to the program is by application only. The next two-year training program begins in January 2010.