Who Ever Said That This Job Would Be Easy??

Lately, I've been kinda disgusted with some of the things that I've been experiencing in my job, reading on social media, and watching develop in the music therapy professional forums that I've decided to be part of. Every thing is just converging upon me along with my annual descent into Seasonal Affective Disorder (yep, mine happens in the summer), so I'm feeling more and more of the negativity that's in the air. It's somewhat hard for me to release all of this emotion because it seems to be permeating every single cell in my body.

Wow.

That sounds a bit dark. I am okay, but I am a bit disappointed in what I am exposed to right now. I am considering getting off a specific Facebook group where people seem to less considerate than what is expected of therapists (in my opinion, of course!). It is getting so that you cannot post an opinion without being ridiculed for your language or told that the system that you are a part of is illegal or discounted because of your experience. Things are very negative - all anyone talks about is how they can't sustain themselves as music therapists. I guess that's because those of us who are sustaining ourselves as music therapists are out there, busting whatever we have to bust in order to keep doing this job, and don't have lots of time to be reading social media posts. Hmm.

Reading all these comments from people who are angry about not being able to get lots and lots of money while being a music therapist makes me wonder...

Who ever guaranteed that this job would be easy?
When I started as a music therapist, there was one music therapy job in the state that I lived in. That job was not only for music therapists, but music therapists could be part of the job listing. Any other music therapy opportunity that arrived had to be nurtured and pursued. It was very difficult to get any sort of recognition or to find any sort of position. I had to move to get my first full-time music therapy job - and not to another town, but to an entirely different part of the country. I had to make sacrifices to be employed as a music therapist - I took a cut in pay several times to make this profession work for me. I have worked part-time jobs in addition to my full-time jobs so I can afford things like going to conference and continuing education and advanced university studies. I have worked very hard to get where I am now, and I still work full-time and three part-time jobs as well! I do this because I used to have to - I couldn't afford to eat meat some months without my part-time job income - oh, the student loan payments were brutal. I now do this because I find that these secondary opportunities give me things that my full-time music therapy job just doesn't provide - opportunities to make some income based on my creativity and my other interests in life.

I wonder what folks who are disillusioned by being in this profession thought the life would be like? Did they think that they would be pursued, wooed, courted for music therapy positions that just miraculously appeared? Did they think that they wouldn't have to start slowly? Did they think that everyone would welcome them with open arms??

I wonder if there is something that we, as seasoned music therapists, need to be doing to let the upcoming and new therapists know that the pathway will never be easy. Nothing in life is all that easy. If you want to be a music therapist, you will have a six month internship. It will probably be unpaid because the music therapists who act like internship directors do not get any sort of compensation for being your trainers. (My intern was a bit surprised by that fact yesterday when we were talking about how she had to pay her university for tuition. She thought I got some of that money. I do not. I get absolutely NO financial benefit from being an internship director. My facility gets absolutely NO financial benefit from me being an internship director. In fact, my facility has to pay additional funds to assist my volunteer interns in their education. We get nothing back. Being an internship director is a labor of love for me. I mean it.) If I had to get interns on a payroll, my facility would not be able to have interns. That's a simple fact. Your unpaid internship will not prepare you for every single music therapy challenge that you will face. There is no way it can. The purpose of an internship is to help you start to consolidate your learning into your therapeutic presence and interactions.

I agree with people who say that unpaid internships are financial hardships. I get it. I knew that I would be taking a six-month hiatus from earning money, so I worked and saved and scrimped and sacrificed to get through that six months. I had to move home with my parents until I could find a job that would sustain both a car payment and apartment rent (that took about nine months of living at home). I did not spend money on new clothes or coffee drinks or going out with friends for the simple reason that I was earning $6.50 an hour as a direct care worker (that was above minimum wage, but just barely back at the start of my career!). I made sacrifices to get to do just a little bit of music therapy as part of my other job responsibilities. My next job was not anything to do with music therapy at all, but it did come with a large pay raise. The next job required a significant pay cut, but it was more music therapy related and I felt that it was important to start doing what I had studied. The next job required moving and halved my salary. I started finding others jobs to go along with the part-time employment that I could offer and still go to school. I walked into my current job with the correct credentials and a flexible schedule. The salary was okay, but it did not cover tuition or books or meat or the computer or much of anything, so I got another job to help. My part-time church musician job paid for continuing education credits and some of my school costs. I scrimped and saved. I made my choices because I knew that I wanted to be a music therapist more than anything else in my range of opportunities.

More than anything else.

So, my journey has taken me through financial hardships. My journey has required many sacrifices on my part. My journey has been so worth it. Would I do it again?? All of it???

Yes.

The simple fact is that music therapy is what I am meant to do.

Ever since I first heard the term, I have known that my destiny is to do this job. I will make sacrifices to continue to do this job. I will work on weekends and in the early mornings and in every possible way to help other music therapists find their ways through this profession. I will mourn those who have to leave and don't want to, and I will celebrate those who can't wait to escape and do so. Just remember, when you are doing your thing in your life, that no one has a guarantee of success or a happy life or, really, anything at all! You are in charge of your own destiny, and you are the one who has to take the responsibility for your own path and your own happiness.

I've found my happiness as a music therapist. 

Rant over. Have a happy day, doing what makes you the most happy - whatever that is!

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sing A Song Sunday - The Time Change Song (Fall)

Being An Internship Director: Why I Do Very Little Active Recruitment

Dear AMTA