Looking Forward - Here's to the Next 24!
Tomorrow is an anniversary for me.
Twenty-four years ago, on March 26th, I finished my last hours as a music therapy intern and became a music therapist.
I celebrate this date occasionally. It was the biggest anniversary event in my life - something I accomplished by myself, and something that was both the beginning of something and the end of something.
I was officially finished with my undergraduate degree and internship. I was no longer a student of music therapy - I was expected to be employed as a therapist and to know how to do my job. I was starting that mythical time in my life as an "entry-level therapist." (Cue the angelic proclamations!)
I wish I could tell you that I felt ready to take on the world of music therapy by storm. I wish I could tell you that I found my life as a music therapist to be all sunshine and rainbows. I wish I could tell you that my music therapy education prepared me for the reality of the jobs that I took over the years. All of those things would have been really grand, but the reality was (and is) that book learning, tests, and clinical experiences cannot prepare any of us for every eventuality. The best thing we can do for ourselves and for those we teach is to encourage critical thinking skills and offer strategies for how to solve problems when they arise (and they will).
I can tell you, the past 24 years of my life have been full of challenges. They have been marked by periods of personal and professional growth. They have been marked by periods of frustration and feelings of inadequacy. They have been marked by periods of joy and celebration as well. There has been nothing that I would really trade in my professional journey over the past 24 years - the negative experiences taught me more about myself and about this profession than many of the positive experiences.
On the other hand, the past 24 years of my life has also been full of joys. I have been privileged to watch music therapy become more known in the world as a therapeutic medium. I have met music therapists from around the world who have widened my vision of what music therapy is and can be. I have kept music therapy friends from before this anniversary date (not many, but I still know 2 others who are active in the music therapy world), and I have had the opportunity to meet so many others through my work. I have been able to share ideas with some of the great music therapy minds of this generation. I have been able to hear ideas from some of the music therapy minds of the next generation.
I am looking forward to the next 24 years of being a therapist.
Here's what I hope will happen for us as a profession.
Twenty-four years ago, on March 26th, I finished my last hours as a music therapy intern and became a music therapist.
I celebrate this date occasionally. It was the biggest anniversary event in my life - something I accomplished by myself, and something that was both the beginning of something and the end of something.
I was officially finished with my undergraduate degree and internship. I was no longer a student of music therapy - I was expected to be employed as a therapist and to know how to do my job. I was starting that mythical time in my life as an "entry-level therapist." (Cue the angelic proclamations!)
I wish I could tell you that I felt ready to take on the world of music therapy by storm. I wish I could tell you that I found my life as a music therapist to be all sunshine and rainbows. I wish I could tell you that my music therapy education prepared me for the reality of the jobs that I took over the years. All of those things would have been really grand, but the reality was (and is) that book learning, tests, and clinical experiences cannot prepare any of us for every eventuality. The best thing we can do for ourselves and for those we teach is to encourage critical thinking skills and offer strategies for how to solve problems when they arise (and they will).
I can tell you, the past 24 years of my life have been full of challenges. They have been marked by periods of personal and professional growth. They have been marked by periods of frustration and feelings of inadequacy. They have been marked by periods of joy and celebration as well. There has been nothing that I would really trade in my professional journey over the past 24 years - the negative experiences taught me more about myself and about this profession than many of the positive experiences.
On the other hand, the past 24 years of my life has also been full of joys. I have been privileged to watch music therapy become more known in the world as a therapeutic medium. I have met music therapists from around the world who have widened my vision of what music therapy is and can be. I have kept music therapy friends from before this anniversary date (not many, but I still know 2 others who are active in the music therapy world), and I have had the opportunity to meet so many others through my work. I have been able to share ideas with some of the great music therapy minds of this generation. I have been able to hear ideas from some of the music therapy minds of the next generation.
I am looking forward to the next 24 years of being a therapist.
Here's what I hope will happen for us as a profession.
We will continue to be recognized as an important modality for the benefit of human beings.
Music therapy will become as much of an expectation as education and medical intervention.
Music therapists will feel secure in their professions in ways not known to us in prior years.
We will work together as a group, strengthening our presence in the professional world.
In time, I hope that these things will come to pass. I think they will, but it will be a long process. If I am still here in the year 2041, I hope to be writing about this blog post and making new predictions because the ones I make now are finished and done with. That's my hope.
Keep moving forward, fellow therapists. The journey is not over, but is it well begun.
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