Around 15 years ago Sheila Hill ofthe School of Inner Sound approached me (Lyz Cooper) informing me that ThePrinces Trust had started the process of regulating the Holistic Health Field.They began with the ‘high risk’ categories such as acupuncture, osteopathy andare moving through the medium risk to the low risk categories (which is wheresound Therapy & Healing resides). At that time there was no representingBody for Sound Healing or Sound Therapy. We realised that if the field had norepresentation then there would come a time in the future when sound therapyand sound healing would not be able to be practised legally. We also knew thatthis field would become more and more important as people began to realise theefficacy of the modality and sought sound therapy and Healing as a way toimprove their health and wellbeing. It was time to set some standards for thetherapeutic sound field and invite people to ‘stick their flag in the sand’ asSheila put it.
We purchased a template to help uswith the process and set to work. A year or so later we met with variousluminaries in the therapeutic sound field and presented the idea of theAssociation to them. The College of Sound Healing joined us for meetings andtogether a set of standards for training and a code of ethics and best practicewas set.
A couple of years ago it was decidedthat the Sound Therapy Association (as it was then named) was to become a notfor profit limited company and renamed to encompass a much wider sector of thefield. The Therapeutic Sound Association now encompasses fields such asVibroacoustic Therapy, Music medicine and some areas of music therapy. This isa really exciting time, basic standards have been set, we have a code of ethicsand best practice, a website and professional register. We are now lookingforward to organising a conference, webinars, podcasts and a whole host ofdifferent ways to support our members. We are also looking to expand the bodyof research in the field and would love to support members with this.
We are excited to be welcoming newtraining schools, workshop facilitators and/or therapists all of the time. Weare also looking for board members to help with some of the exciting newprojects we have planned. If you are passionate about taking this exciting,creative and effective field forward, we’d love to hear from you!
We would also welcome dialogue from people in the field that want to know abouthow we can help and what the benefits are of joining anassociation.
