Riproaring and Ready to Go...Or Not
Today is the first day of the new school year (as far as the school district is concerned - for me, the first day of the 2018-2019 contract year was July 9th, but that's the way things go). Kids come back to school this morning and will be starting to be in the music therapy room at 8:30. I think I'm ready, but we'll see.
It is a bit strange for me since this is the first time in a long time that I've had an intern. I hadn't realized how much I had become accustomed to making all the treatment decisions. I had a set of routines and plans that are now disrupted with the presence of another person. These changes are not bad, by any means at all, but it is taking a bit of adjustment on my part. We aren't doing centers much any more. Themes aren't school-wide, and that's okay, but it has shaken up my routine.
Soon, we will welcome another intern to the facility. This will shake up my current intern as well as me and my clients. THREE MUSIC THERAPISTS? It will be a staggering idea for many of my students and co-workers. We will find ways to make it work, but it will require a period of adjustment.
For me, it means stepping back from my identity of music therapist to being more of an observer. This is the difficult part of being an internship director - giving up the role of therapist to step back and allow someone else to be in that role. There are times when I itch to step in and take over, but I know that my needs are so much less than those of my interns. Just so you know, I do step in when my clients need me to do so - ethical treatment and all - but sitting back and letting someone else find their way to becoming "therapist" is something both difficult and invigorating for me. I love being a supervisor, but I miss being therapist. This is one of the reasons why I don't often recruit interns to my facility. I take them as they arrive but don't open positions in a public manner. I need some time to be back in the role I love - that of being therapist.
It is time to head out into five group sessions and two individual sessions today. I'll be leading three of the group sessions (and probably part of a fourth) and both of the individual sessions. I will take my role of support staff and support musician for the other sessions to assist my intern with her continuing growth and development. We will do some entrainment exercises and some tempo coordination experiences, and we will enjoy being together in and through our music.
Happy New Year, all!
It is a bit strange for me since this is the first time in a long time that I've had an intern. I hadn't realized how much I had become accustomed to making all the treatment decisions. I had a set of routines and plans that are now disrupted with the presence of another person. These changes are not bad, by any means at all, but it is taking a bit of adjustment on my part. We aren't doing centers much any more. Themes aren't school-wide, and that's okay, but it has shaken up my routine.
Soon, we will welcome another intern to the facility. This will shake up my current intern as well as me and my clients. THREE MUSIC THERAPISTS? It will be a staggering idea for many of my students and co-workers. We will find ways to make it work, but it will require a period of adjustment.
For me, it means stepping back from my identity of music therapist to being more of an observer. This is the difficult part of being an internship director - giving up the role of therapist to step back and allow someone else to be in that role. There are times when I itch to step in and take over, but I know that my needs are so much less than those of my interns. Just so you know, I do step in when my clients need me to do so - ethical treatment and all - but sitting back and letting someone else find their way to becoming "therapist" is something both difficult and invigorating for me. I love being a supervisor, but I miss being therapist. This is one of the reasons why I don't often recruit interns to my facility. I take them as they arrive but don't open positions in a public manner. I need some time to be back in the role I love - that of being therapist.
It is time to head out into five group sessions and two individual sessions today. I'll be leading three of the group sessions (and probably part of a fourth) and both of the individual sessions. I will take my role of support staff and support musician for the other sessions to assist my intern with her continuing growth and development. We will do some entrainment exercises and some tempo coordination experiences, and we will enjoy being together in and through our music.
Happy New Year, all!
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