It goes without saying that organizing a conference takes a lot of work and many volunteer hours both before, during and after the conference. This conference, even though it will be a virtual conference, is no exception! So who are the people behind this conference?
The organizing committee for the conference is made up of four individuals, all of whom are practising music therapists. Together, we reflect almost 40 yrs of experience in the field, reside in a variety of countries and employ a variety of philosophies in our employment with a variety of clinical populations.
John Lawrence (chairperson) completed a Bachelor of Music (Queen University ’91) and a Masters degree in music therapy (Temple University ’95). He currently resides in Edmonton, AB (CANADA) where he works predominantly with geriatric clients/elderly. John is affiliated with the Canadian Association for Music Therapy (CAMT) and holds the MTA (Music Therapist Accredited) certification. He has presented at a variety of national and international music therapy conferences and instructs an “Introduction to Music Therapy” course at Concordia College University of Alberta. John is very interested in the role of e-learning and technology in collaborative education, jazz music and posts frequently on various bulletin boards/e-mail lists/websites pertaining to music therapy.
Mary Jane (MJ) Landaker has been a music therapist for the past seventeen (17) years. She is affiliated with the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) and is Board-Certified. Mary Jane obtained a Bachelor of music education (music therapy) and a Masters of music education (music therapy). She is currently living in Lawrence, KS (USA) where she runs a music therapy practice specializing in persons with developmental disabilities, music therapy with persons with psychiatric diagnoses and music therapy clinical training.
Aksana Kavaliova-Moussi is our “international” representative. She is affiliated with the Canadian Association for Music Therapy (CAMT) and the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) and also holds the MTA (Music Therapist Accredited) certification. She graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of music therapy degree (Honours) from the University of Windsor (a bi-national accredited training program for music therapy (Canada/USA)). She previously completed a Bachelor of Arts (Cultural Studies) and Bachelor of Music Education in Belarus. Past professional involvements include participation in the “Soundboard” project of the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) and serving as a member of the organizing committee for the International Conference on Music Therapy and Supportive Cancer Care, held previously in Windsor, ON. Her present area of concentration is children with special needs and she currently resides in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Demian Kogutek is a music therapist in Waterloo, ON (Canada). He is affiliated with the Canadian Association for Music Therapy (CAMT), having graduated from the Honors Bachelor of Music Therapy program at University of Windsor in 2008. He is currently in private practice, specializing in geriatrics, oncology and palliative care.
Online Conference for Music Therapy 
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