music, therapy, and me

Therapy and me I love being a therapist. I enjoy the act of making music with my clients. I like the challenge of finding the music that will best fit a client and a situation and making that music assist the client in completing a specific goal and objective. I like the flexibility within structure that is required when working with human beings, each with a different perspective on the world. The combination of successes and failures are what keeps me interested in the field after 16 years of clinical practice. I am somewhat of an anacronism at my school. I am a Ph.D. student with no aspirations for a University appointment. I have tried to be interested in the University system, but I still feel really linked to the client-therapist relationship rather than the student-teacher relationship. Because of this link to the clinic, I want to do what I am doing right now - clinical music therapist as well as internship director and small business owner (the business part is developing slow...

The Things I Dream About... This morning, I woke up with my thoughts on a discussion that has been going around the music therapy listserv regarding observers in music therapy sessions. I have not posted any of my opinions on the listserv primarily because I am not able to have a policy that excludes observers - my clinic is always open to all folks who enter, as is every other classroom and therapeutic treatment room in the facility. This is for the protection of the clients as well as the staff members. I admit to getting frustrated when 20 people enter my music therapy room, but I ensure that they participate in the therapeutic process rather than just staring at my clients and myself. I have a strict "NO NOTES" rule in the therapy room. Everyone who comes in is expected to be a part of the group and the activity that is occurring st that time. This has been the hardest rule for others to accept. When I explain the therapeutic process, the relationships involved, and the n...

Refreshing Myself... Today is the fourth day of Spring Break. I enjoy a teaching schedule and all of the breaks - one of the advantages to working in a year-round public/private school, I guess. I receive enough time off during the year that I can get away from the demands of being a therapist and get amped up for new therapeutic interventions. I tend to use this time away from work putting high expectations on myself that I do not accomplish. Rather, I tend to sleep, read, and catch up on all of the things that I do not feel that I have time to do during the year. This is one of those times. As I am starting to prepare for our regional conference, I am thinking alot about what therapy is and what I do as a therapist. These thoughts have led to some introspection about the therapeutic relationship and use of self within therapy. I do not pretend to be a psychoanalytical therapist - my training is firmly on the behavioral side of things - so cannot necessarily base my rambling thoughts ...

Taking Care of Yourself... I am home today after not sleeping all night. Around midnight, while my mind was racing and my legs were aching, and I was getting increasingly frustrated with my sleep-less situation, I took a shower in an attempt to get sleepy. Did not work. Neither did the breathing medicine or the sleep tapes. This is a situation I only find myself in once or twice a year - I am very lucky that this does not happen often. However, I did not sleep until after I called in to work and left messages for my interns and for my principal. After I arranged the sick day, I of course managed to get about 3 hours of sleep. I realize that insomnia is a wimpy excuse for a sick day, but for me, it is an important signal that I am not taking care of myself. I tend to be a Type-A personality, busy all the time and constantly feeling that I should be doing more with my life. This leads to overloads and stressful moments. Occasionally, it all comes crashing down on me. This appears to be o...

I have recently been the recipient of iTunes gift cards. I love these cards as they give me the freedom to download legal music that I want to purchase while I am sitting in my home with the cat. The problem that I have is choosing what to purchase. You wouldn't think that would be such a problem, would you? Well, it is for me. So, the cards sit, fully loaded, on my desk, waiting to be of use.