Taking A Risk - I'm Going to Do It!

I have an idea, and I think I'm just about ready to make it go. No, I'm ready to go. Yipes! I'm going to put this on my blog so that it is out in the universe, and I can't back out. Here it is (and I'm cringing as I write this because it is a level of commitment that I'm uncomfortable with, but here it goes)...

Internship Handbook

Here's the idea.

 Over the past two years, I've been offering internship webinars to interns from around the country. In those years, I've noticed that many interns (and, by extension, Internship Directors and faculty members) don't know some of the things that they are expected to know about being an intern. Also, there are lots of implied skills, techniques, and expectations that just simply don't get taught during coursework or in an internship. These are things that do not necessarily have direct links to the AMTA Professional Competencies, but that do affect job performance and satisfaction. Many of these skills are just common sense type things, but there is no place in the current curriculum to teach them (apparently).

So, I've started to write an internship handbook.

 There. It's out in the universe. I've written most of an internship handbook. It is directed towards music therapy students and interns, and takes them through looking for an internship and developing job skills. I wonder if it is something that AMTA would be interested in publishing.

 Now, this handbook has gone through several iterations and continues to evolve even as I am writing this down. I'm thinking that I will just have to stop writing at some point to let people look at it and start to make comments. Any takers?

 So, here are the topics that I've developed so far...
  1. Welcome to Your Internship
  2. First Contact
  3. Getting Ready
  4. The First Day!
  5. The Stages of Internship
  6. Administrative Tasks
  7. The Personal Aspects of Internship
  8. Ethical Considerations for the Music Therapy Intern
  9. Learning to Lead
  10. Leaving Your Internship for the Professional World
Are there others that I'm missing?

 It is time to get the opinions of others. Who out there wants to read and review this document? Please let me know!! You can email me here.

 Thanks, all!!


Comments

  1. Kirsten Meyer10:17 AM

    This is fantastic! I wish something like this had been available when I was doing my internship. Despite not currently being an intern or training any interns, I would still love to read this, either now or in its final form.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MJ6:19 AM

      Thanks for volunteering, Kirsten! Contact me through the website with your information, and I'll send you a link to the document!! Be warned, though, it is in a VERY rough form!!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Repetition

Image
One of the things that I find to be helpful with my client population (children, adolescents, and young adults with dual diagnoses) is repetition of phrases, lyrics, and music. As a result of 30+ years of working with this population in various iterations, I have found that my clients respond the most to songs with three repeated phrases to prime their responses with a different phrase to communicate the important part of the experience. DISCLAIMER: This is not a definite way to write music for clinical interactions. This is what seems to work well with my particular group of human beings. Don't go to your supervisors and tell them that I told you that this is the ONLY way to write music - It is NOT! You have to find what works for your clients and for their clinical goals. Since my clients respond well to this type of song, I tend to write songs in this format more than any other. What I have found is that my clients remember these songs more than the ones that I do in different f...
Read more

Being An Internship Director: On Hiatus

Image
It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me. Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it. It is interesting to me how we have moved from an ...
Read more