Adventures in Music Therapy Administration
When I review intern site evaluations as part of my role for the American Music Therapy Association, I often find that interns are not aware of what is meant by "administrative skills." I have to admit that I didn't know what those things were when I was an intern, and I don't think we (as educators and trainers) have done any better than in those dark ages of my own music therapy development.
This is unfortunate.
As any music therapist will tell you, there is so much more to being a professional than just grabbing your guitar and playing a song for a client. Many of us will say something along the lines of "This job would be perfect if it weren't for the paperwork...meetings...constant need for universal precautions..."
Welcome to the world of administrative tasks.
There are many different tasks, and they will vary based on what type of music therapy you practice. For example, if you are a private practice therapist, you have the joys of business administration as well as the tasks of a therapist. If you work for a facility (like I do at my primary job), many of the tasks that private practice therapists have to do are not part of your job, but you still have to organize instruments and materials, complete all documentation, attend meetings, schedule clients, remain within a budget, and make decisions about therapeutic interventions.
When I trained interns, I tried my best to label these tasks so they would know what was meant by the term, administrative skills. That meant that I had to figure out what was meant by the same term. It wasn't easy. I basically decided that anything that wasn't part of being in the presence of a client was an administrative skill.
Here are some of the administrative skills that you may be expected/required to do in your role as a music therapist:
My adventures in music therapy administration for today will be on a more global domain - instead of doing things for my clients, I have some work to do with the various music therapy organizations that I work for. These things are above and beyond the typical duties of my job as a music therapist - these are things that I volunteer to do because I love these types of things. I love making forms, coordinating online training, talking to other therapists about music therapy, advocating for music therapy, and dreaming about what music therapy can be.
My tasks for today include active brainstorming for a project with a colleague (we have no idea what we want to do, but we will figure it out), an online training for a keynote speaker for the Online Conference for Music Therapy (registration is open for the 2016 conference), and re-visioning part of the application to become a National Roster Internship program through the American Music Therapy Association. Not bad for a Wednesday (it is Wednesday, right?? The days are just kinda drifting together these days!).
Time to get some of these other types of tasks done. Happy Wednesday, music therapists!
This is unfortunate.
As any music therapist will tell you, there is so much more to being a professional than just grabbing your guitar and playing a song for a client. Many of us will say something along the lines of "This job would be perfect if it weren't for the paperwork...meetings...constant need for universal precautions..."
Welcome to the world of administrative tasks.
There are many different tasks, and they will vary based on what type of music therapy you practice. For example, if you are a private practice therapist, you have the joys of business administration as well as the tasks of a therapist. If you work for a facility (like I do at my primary job), many of the tasks that private practice therapists have to do are not part of your job, but you still have to organize instruments and materials, complete all documentation, attend meetings, schedule clients, remain within a budget, and make decisions about therapeutic interventions.
When I trained interns, I tried my best to label these tasks so they would know what was meant by the term, administrative skills. That meant that I had to figure out what was meant by the same term. It wasn't easy. I basically decided that anything that wasn't part of being in the presence of a client was an administrative skill.
Here are some of the administrative skills that you may be expected/required to do in your role as a music therapist:
- paperwork - assessments, evaluations, data collection, data interpretation, treatment planning, session notes, correspondence with other professionals, caregivers, and clients
- scheduling - putting client sessions into the calendar, choosing the types of music therapy sessions for particular clients, coordinating sessions with other obligations, coordinating the schedules of several other therapists as part of a master schedule
- budgeting - making sure that you are spending money where money is necessary, remaining within your monetary means, planning for financial issues in the present and future
- instrument care and maintenance - fixing things that are broken, replacing things that need to be replaced, cleaning things that are germy
- meetings - the bane of my existence, but necessary to coordinate client interaction and care across professions
- advocacy - talking about music therapy to those that know about it, those that have a passing acquaintance with the profession, and to those who have never heard about music therapy
- session planning - figuring out what to do with each and every client that comes into the music therapy space, using theoretical knowledge and personal philosophy of music, therapy, and music therapy
- music skill development - practicing, composing, improvising, making music outside of the music therapy session for the benefit of clients in the music therapy session
- business requirements - paying taxes, finding insurance, coordinating benefits, hiring/firing employees, finding new contracts, bookkeeping
My adventures in music therapy administration for today will be on a more global domain - instead of doing things for my clients, I have some work to do with the various music therapy organizations that I work for. These things are above and beyond the typical duties of my job as a music therapist - these are things that I volunteer to do because I love these types of things. I love making forms, coordinating online training, talking to other therapists about music therapy, advocating for music therapy, and dreaming about what music therapy can be.
My tasks for today include active brainstorming for a project with a colleague (we have no idea what we want to do, but we will figure it out), an online training for a keynote speaker for the Online Conference for Music Therapy (registration is open for the 2016 conference), and re-visioning part of the application to become a National Roster Internship program through the American Music Therapy Association. Not bad for a Wednesday (it is Wednesday, right?? The days are just kinda drifting together these days!).
Time to get some of these other types of tasks done. Happy Wednesday, music therapists!
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