End of the Year Wrap-Up

I am a bit ahead of myself since I technically have another week of work before the 2016-2017 school year is finished, but I only have two therapy days left, so I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel right now. It seems like a good day to contemplate what has happened this year.

I know, some of you would LOVE to have this type of space, but it was not right for me.

I started this year in a small room designated for music therapy. It was gray, had one window, no light switch, and no room for any type of movement therapeutic music experience. Did I mention that the walls were curved? Only one right angle in the entire room - made acoustics horrible to navigate and no place to put the piano without taking up valuable floor space. Kids would come in, sit with their backs against the wall, and we would do music therapy. If anyone had to leave, they would have to walk over all the legs of peers and staff members. It was not the type of place that I enjoyed, and I dreaded going into that room every morning. I spent most of my planning time away from the room, sitting where I could have some sunlight. Because the room was so tiny, I couldn't support a place for interns to have their own desks (something I always want for my interns - I didn't have a desk at my internship, and it made it a bit difficult), so I had to put my internship on inactive status. Another blow. I would dread going into that space each morning.

In December, my new principal suggested moving to a different room. This particular room is still called the "OT gym" by long-termers, but it has also been a classroom and a staff training room. It was also the play therapy room for many years. It has two office/storage rooms (a long time DREAM of mine), and four times as much space as the gray room. In addition, it came with its very own light switch! (Never underestimate the importance of a light switch!) I now have the space to run the type of therapy that I feel is most effective with my clients. We have a sitting carpet and a dancing carpet. We have places to keep instruments away from prying eyes. The walls are very decorated (a hold-over from the play therapy days, but that is useful during sessions.


I no longer feel the need to leave the room at every opportunity. It's been four months since I moved to this room, and it is feeling like my therapy home. (I know how spoiled I am, believe me!) Yesterday, I had clients rolling on the tile during a dance break. Others were break dancing on another part of the tile, and yet others were engaged in conversations about the music on the sitting carpet. We were able to split apart and get the space that all of us need at times.

With the current music therapy room, I have been able to find a space for interns to have their own desks. They even have their own room to work in. Sure, it's a storage room as well, but all of my other interns will be happy to hear that interns now have a place to work rather than having to spend time in the (now non-existent) staff lounge. Now I just need to find some interns...


At the beginning of this school year, I was a bit of a mess as well. I had been released from physical therapy, but I was not able to move around my space without my brace. I couldn't get up and down easily, and sitting tailor style caused lots of pain. All of those things have resolved. I still have pain, but it is occasional rather than constant, and I can sit cross-legged again! I still have occasional twinges of fear about getting hurt again, but those have subsided as well.

In the past year, I've spent hours upon hours thinking, planning, trying things out, and then trying them again. I've rearranged things, found use for some new things, and rediscovered old things. I've cried, I've celebrated, and I've created things for the groups of clients that I have in front of me on a daily basis. I've been frustrated by my inability to sustain a full individual session schedule, but that is my primary goal for this next school year. 

We have a week and a day left of this school year. Then, we have a week and a day off before we start our extended school session. I finally received a master schedule, so I know what my days will look like starting on June 5th. We have a new classroom starting in July, so things have changed a bit, including the addition of three more groups into my already group-heavy schedule, but I knew that was coming.

I am ready to close this school year and move forward into the next one. Here comes 2017-2018!