Today is Friday...Right?

Conference time is something surreal for me. Getting out of my regular routine makes me a bit disoriented and unsure of what is happening in the outside world. 

Wow - I got distracted and didn't finish this post, yet I left it up (and an unsecure internet connection up almost all day!

Eek!

See what I mean about disorientation and being unsure? It happens during this time we all like to call conference.

I am almost finished with my day - only one more thing to do, and that is a presentation about becoming a more research-informed clinician in about an hour and a half.

I went to three concurrent sessions today. I've really missed being able to hear what others are doing and thinking in and about music therapy. In addition, I facilitated a discussion in the Special Populations forum centered around trauma-informed care. I'm hoping a couple more folks will find our Trauma Centered Music Therapy group and will start to talk on that Facebook forum.

Today, I decided to go with my plans rather than just choosing something to see randomly. I started the day with a presentation about Curriculum-Based Music Therapy - let me get my notes so I can give you the full information...be right back...

Here we go - Curriculum-Based Music Therapy: A Guide to Writing Structured Interventions presented by Ryan Carroll, MS, MT-BC and Kate Stanley, MT-BC. It was what I thought it would be - a description of a multi-session format centered around a common therapeutic outcome. The presenters offered a model and their own curriculum and encouraged us to write our own. I would recommend seeing their presentations - they spoke well and acknowledged that our profession is diverse and amazing.

The second presentation I attended was Learning Opportunities: Examining Strategies for Learning to Work with a New Population. This presentation was offered by Alaine E. Reschke-Hernandez, MA, MT-BC and Meghan Ross, MT-BC. They are both graduate students at the University of Iowa and led us through a journey of self-examination and assessment.

The last session I attended was titled, Contemporary Social Movements in the Autistic Community: Implications for Music Therapy Research. Dr. Ken Aigen (one of the keynote speakers for the Online Conference for Music Therapy (OCMT) 2017. (I actually got up enough nerve to go over and introduce myself to him - thought it would be a good opportunity seeing as how I had never met him before but wanted to do so for years.) The most interesting part of the session was the review of the history of the neurodiversity movement. 

In my opinion, the best thing about attending concurrent sessions is the opportunity to see my profession from another person's viewpoint. I strongly believe that our strength is in our diversity, but I need to be reminded of that on a regular basis.

In a bit, I'll go down to be one of the six presenters who are talking about music therapy research and music therapy clinicians (all at different times so we don't conflict with one another - good planning AMTA!). I am going to talk about what I do as a guilt-ridden clinician who only reads research when she has her own research project to do for a class or something. I'm trying to change that about my professional habits and focus on my own personal enrichment. Hopefully others will find the information interesting and helpful. We'll see. I have brought some of my journals so we can go through the exercise that I've gone through. I also have links to my website (that reminds me, I need to upload some stuff!) for the supplemental information. I hope I'm not forgetting anything, but you never do know on conference days.

I am going to wrap this up, brush my teeth, and go stalk the presentation room so I can get in as soon as I possibly can. (I do SO much better when I present first rather than last in the presentation day!) Then I am coming back here and eating cookies (maybe I'll get something more healthy to eat before I eat cookies - maybe not!).

Goodbye for now, music therapy friends. See you soon!!

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