Thinking...Thinking...Thinking...
I've been thinking quite a bit lately. These thoughts are often circular in nature and just keep on going and going, so I am going to put some of them down in fixed form here to help get them out of my head.
I may be an internship supervisor again in the future. This is a part of music therapy professional life that I really enjoy. The role of supervisor is a completely voluntary one for me - no financial benefits, but I do get 4 CMTEs for being a supervisor - but it is a role that I love. Each intern that I've worked with has left a mark on my professional interactions with my clients and with every other intern who has decided to spend their 1020 hours with me. I enjoy the privilege of watching students become therapists (and they have all had that moment when learning and experience solidify into being "therapist" - it's hard to describe what that really means), and I learn from every single individual.
I've been singing a variety of opening Therapeutic Music Experiences (TMEs) this week. Most of them have been taught to me by my former interns. H-E-L-L-O, Tutti Fruitti, and others. Some of them are completely my own - Good News, Hello, Hello, How Are You?, Good Morning (I think that one is mine - should probably check my TME file). The closing TMEs are the same - some are mine, some were taught to me by interns, some came from my own internship supervisors.
I can track music therapy generations through the internship program that I've had over the years. One of my former interns used to have an internship program of her own, and I've met her former interns (my music therapy grandbabies!). There is a certain satisfaction in knowing that there are other interns out there who learned some of the songs that I wrote. The circle keeps on going - around and around. As far as I know, I have no great-grandbabies yet, but that could happen at any time!!
I've been thinking about the holidays. I am doing a bit more holiday stuff this year than I usually do. We talked about Hanukkah last week. We played Holiday BINGO two weeks ago, and our Musician of the Month is Bing Crosby, so I've been doing holiday stuff. I usually try to avoid focusing on the holidays, and I now remember why that is so.
Last month, I spent two very long days in Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) Trainer Certification. As a part of becoming a trainer, we went through the basic TIC presentation (something I've done before), and it was a good reminder.
Not everyone enjoys the holidays.
When I look around at my students, there are some in every group who have never had a safe holiday. There are others who are very excited to go home to celebrate with their families. There are others who have never had a family to go to. There are others who have found out that they are not going home to celebrate. Every one of my clients has feelings about holidays, and the constant bombardment that goes on at this time of year adds extra stress (both distress and eustress) to all of them. Many of my clients are not sure how to verbalize their feelings, so they express themselves in other ways.
Lately, the preferred expression of holiday stress has been screaming. Patience is in short supply. Listening is difficult. Being naughty is more fun than following directions. I tell you, working with staff members is challenging! (Tongue firmly in cheek for that last statement.)
There are two and a half days left of this week. Thursday is a 12 hour day (ugh!) for teachers and therapists. We have no idea what we are going to be doing for that extra 4 hours, but it is on the schedule, so we are going to be there. I'm pretty well caught up with my clinical documentation, so I'm planning on completing the last notes before our holiday sing, so that will be done. All I'll have to do after the sing is to put the trash from the office into the main trash can. I wonder what I'll be doing for those four hours.
In the midst of all of this thinking about my professional life, I am also thinking about the bigger issues - world politics (ugh), how to incorporate TIC into music therapy education, CMTE development, what I'm going to eat for dinner, whether music therapy internship training has changed at all since the last time I had an intern, what I want to do with my life, and various and sundry other things...
Back to thinking...
Happy Wednesday.
I may be an internship supervisor again in the future. This is a part of music therapy professional life that I really enjoy. The role of supervisor is a completely voluntary one for me - no financial benefits, but I do get 4 CMTEs for being a supervisor - but it is a role that I love. Each intern that I've worked with has left a mark on my professional interactions with my clients and with every other intern who has decided to spend their 1020 hours with me. I enjoy the privilege of watching students become therapists (and they have all had that moment when learning and experience solidify into being "therapist" - it's hard to describe what that really means), and I learn from every single individual.
I've been singing a variety of opening Therapeutic Music Experiences (TMEs) this week. Most of them have been taught to me by my former interns. H-E-L-L-O, Tutti Fruitti, and others. Some of them are completely my own - Good News, Hello, Hello, How Are You?, Good Morning (I think that one is mine - should probably check my TME file). The closing TMEs are the same - some are mine, some were taught to me by interns, some came from my own internship supervisors.
I can track music therapy generations through the internship program that I've had over the years. One of my former interns used to have an internship program of her own, and I've met her former interns (my music therapy grandbabies!). There is a certain satisfaction in knowing that there are other interns out there who learned some of the songs that I wrote. The circle keeps on going - around and around. As far as I know, I have no great-grandbabies yet, but that could happen at any time!!
I've been thinking about the holidays. I am doing a bit more holiday stuff this year than I usually do. We talked about Hanukkah last week. We played Holiday BINGO two weeks ago, and our Musician of the Month is Bing Crosby, so I've been doing holiday stuff. I usually try to avoid focusing on the holidays, and I now remember why that is so.
Last month, I spent two very long days in Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) Trainer Certification. As a part of becoming a trainer, we went through the basic TIC presentation (something I've done before), and it was a good reminder.
Not everyone enjoys the holidays.
When I look around at my students, there are some in every group who have never had a safe holiday. There are others who are very excited to go home to celebrate with their families. There are others who have never had a family to go to. There are others who have found out that they are not going home to celebrate. Every one of my clients has feelings about holidays, and the constant bombardment that goes on at this time of year adds extra stress (both distress and eustress) to all of them. Many of my clients are not sure how to verbalize their feelings, so they express themselves in other ways.
Lately, the preferred expression of holiday stress has been screaming. Patience is in short supply. Listening is difficult. Being naughty is more fun than following directions. I tell you, working with staff members is challenging! (Tongue firmly in cheek for that last statement.)
There are two and a half days left of this week. Thursday is a 12 hour day (ugh!) for teachers and therapists. We have no idea what we are going to be doing for that extra 4 hours, but it is on the schedule, so we are going to be there. I'm pretty well caught up with my clinical documentation, so I'm planning on completing the last notes before our holiday sing, so that will be done. All I'll have to do after the sing is to put the trash from the office into the main trash can. I wonder what I'll be doing for those four hours.
In the midst of all of this thinking about my professional life, I am also thinking about the bigger issues - world politics (ugh), how to incorporate TIC into music therapy education, CMTE development, what I'm going to eat for dinner, whether music therapy internship training has changed at all since the last time I had an intern, what I want to do with my life, and various and sundry other things...
Back to thinking...
Happy Wednesday.
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