music, therapy, and me

Putting Your Best Foot Forward So, I have come to accept the fact that our leader and boss is leaving. I am not happy about the situation, but the fact is that she has to do what is best for her. I have to do what is best for me. I am ready to move on and see what the future holds. I know the immediate future holds lots of uncertainty and grief on the part of my coworkers. I tend to be a person who grieves deeply but briefly - stormy bouts of emotion followed by logical thought and acceptance. I also tend to understand many points of view when it comes to the feelings of others. The therapist in me comes out, and I tend to be the person that listens to others as they grieve. It is time to move forward and start the process of developing a team with a different, or even without, a team leader. Our best foot, as a team, is the level of care that we provide to our clients. We will be able to continue that level of care without our boss. There will probably be some increase the amount of s...

You think things are going along fine, and then, WHAM! A wall!! I have always felt extreemly lucky to work for my boss. She is someone who genuinely cares for the people that work for her as well as for the people we serve. She is not afraid to tell it like it is and hope that it could be better. She understands the difference between therapy and education and is willing to allow us to implement our own ideas. She is also able to quash our unrealistic and petty situations. I found out yesterday that my boss is leaving. This blog entry is part of my grieving process. We all gathered for what we thought was going to be a happy meeting - we have had unhappy situations before - the facility closing between Christmas and New Year's, all of us unemployed, kids leaving in droves. So, we thought there would be a time to giggle and get together as a group to discuss our unifying theme. Our boss started the meeting with "There's no way to ease into this. Just rip the band-aid off. I...

Just for Julie... So, my friend Julie told me yesterday that she often looks at my blog and giggles at the way that I try to be all professional and serious about music therapy. She also tries to guess who I'm referring to in my posts. Here is a post just for Julie! There are some folks who get it, There are some folks who don't. Some folks who try it, Some folks who won't. You know most of them, You know that you do, So try to solve riddles, I'll give you some clues. This person likes nothing, Nothing at all, Especially if she isn't making the call. I think there may be More than just one, But if I get more specific, I'll ruin the fun. These people try anything, They're lots of fun, ``````````````````````````````````````````(Bella's helping me type - I hope she's done!) I have many more, But they are just rhymes, I'm happy to chat with you, All of the time.

Protocol Development 101 One of my professors is big into the idea of "protocol development" as an important element of music therapy as a recognized profession in the allied health field. The idea that what we do as music therapists can be replicated by any music therapist once the protocol has been developed, tested, and refined. I have always been a bit confused by this idea - the way she sees it does not make sense to me, but I am starting to understand the concept in my own way. I'm also coming around to the opinion that established, evidence-based music therapy protocol are important to the field and to my own practice. This lightbulb going on over my head has been forced upon me due to my circumstances at my place of employment. We have one class of adolescents with complex issues including intellectual, developmental, psychiatric, and physical conditions. The majority of the clients have a diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum. Most of them are functionally nonverbal. ...

Don't Worry - Not Another Rant...I PROMISE! Sorry about the rant from yesterday. I get frustrated when folks are not professional in their communication with others. Anyway... I am currently in day 10 of 13 days off - one of the perks to being a school-based music therapist. I have passed the "I'm completely bored" phase and am now in the "Let's get things going again" phase of vacation. I have a bunch of file folder activities that I need to finish assemblying, write up "how-to's" for my interns and fellow staff members, and then laminate. I find these applications of music in an independent format to be a good use of time for clients who finish tasks quickly. They can then use a file folder activity to fill in time during the group session. Other therapists also appear to like this idea, especially those who work with school-aged clients. I am hoping that this will turn into an online CMTE. It's lots of work, but I think it will be wo...