music, therapy, and me

This is the most challenging season for me, and it makes it difficult to get motivated to do ANYTHING! I am getting ready for a large life change (retirement, here I come, kicking and screaming and trying to pretend that I know what I'm doing) that is adding stressor after stressor after stressor. My brain is struggling with all sorts of things, so I am taking out my self-care and brain sparking routines to help me get started on some creative projects. When I find myself in a creativity slump, the only thing that really works to get me feeling inspired or remotely interested in composing or drawing or making things for my music therapy clinic is to create using rules. The rules are arbitrary, made up by me, and something that I can break at any time if inspiration takes hold. I have found that my rules for creating help me break out of a stagnant state. When I am in need of some new songs, I break out my composition kit and my rules. Chance composition is the best technique for me...

One of my favorite movies is called Bowfinger . It stars Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy (in a dual role), Christine Baranski, Heather Graham, and a bunch of other people. There is time when one of Eddie's characters is experiencing a crisis brought on by the rest of them, and he is talking to his spiritual leader. He has established a mantra of "Keep it together," which becomes an acronym for him and is also his name - easy to remember. "Keep it together, keep it together, K-I-T, keep it together." Since I love this movie, this has become one of my mantras over the years. I love it because it reminds me of something I love as well as gives me something to think about and hold onto during times that challenge me. This is one of those times. I am entering a time of year that is usually pretty difficult for me to navigate. I am not fond of the summer months where I live. I tend to have more depression symptoms during the summer months than the winter months, and this y...

When I was in my undergraduate training, learning how to be a music therapist for the first time, we did all sorts of data collection during our clinical practica. We did time sampling and frequency counts and all sorts of mathematical processes to interpret the data that we took. As a graduate student, I had to delve deeper into data analysis. Data drove everything in those environments, and there is a role in my current job, but it is not as difficult as it was when I was in school. Here are some setting details: I am an educational enrichment therapist. This means that I see every student in the school for an hour a week. I do not do eligibility assessments, formal assessments, or carry any IEP goals. All students have music therapy whether they want it or not. All of the goals and objectives that I carry are internal rather than formal. Most of the music therapy sessions are groups. Individuals are rare these days. Okay. Now that you know where I am coming from, let me explain how ...

I am currently organizing my Creativity Camp packets for Creativity Camp 2026. If you don't know, this is my latest CMTE offering to the music therapy community, especially those who like making things for their music therapy sessions. Part of the CMTE is a digital kit with instructions and all the information needed to make several projects. Right now, I am going through the task analyses of each project and writing them down to include in the digital kit. Task analyses were something that we focused on when I was in my undergraduate education, and it was something that I struggled with at every turn. Some of my peers were able to do them quickly, and I was able to do it when I was simply writing an analysis - we had to do one on taking a shower. That was easy. My difficulty came when I was expected to write these analyses for clinical interventions. I think I was bogged down more on the "what-ifs" than just writing things. This was my major struggle during my clinical ...

Have you ever had a dream that you have thought about for many years? It might be something complex, or it might be something very simple, but it sticks with you? I have, and it is something that I am working on making a reality. I am getting ready to run my second Creativity Camp for music therapists, students, and interns. I am hoping that I will get some campers to come along to make some visuals for their clients. This has been a dream of mine for a long time, and it is time to get it started! We are going to spend some time on July 18th and 19th making tools to use in music therapy sessions with a variety of clients. This is an online class that comes with a digital kit of materials to print out and assemble. I am also offering additional physical material kits that will include everything that you need to complete the projects - except the laminating because that is difficult to mail - as well as access to the recordings and the live camp session. This has been approved for 8 CMT...

I have an idea that has been approved for CMTEs through CBMT, and I am ready to start talking about it! It’s time for camp – musictherapywork.com’s Creativity Camp, that is! Join us on July 18 th and 19 th to create music therapy visual aids, network with other music therapists, students, and interns, and to explore ways that visual aids enhance what we bring to sessions with our clients.   Continuing Music Therapy Education Information www.musictherapyworks.com offers synchronous (live presentations) and asynchronous (recorded presentations) on topics relevant to music therapists. The course information is available for music therapists after payment is received. Participants have 90 days from time of the symposium. Successful completion of the course includes the completion of the course evaluation. Course Event: Creativity Camp by musictherapyworks.com When:   July 18, 2026 and July 19, 2026 – from 2pm-6pm each day (central daylight time) What: Creativit...