Shifting Roles in Music Therapy

One of the challenging things about being an internship supervisor is that my role with my clients has to change as part of the training program. I have become "observer" with some of my clients rather than "therapist." This is a difficult step as my interns become more competent and comfortable and need to have the safety net that I provide go away. I become a shadowy figure sitting in my office rather than an active part of music therapy. It is something that I struggle with on a regular basis.

Then there are days like today...

One of my interns is sick. She is not coming in to the program today, so I am going to be stepping into her role as "therapist" until she is better. Some of my clients will ask about her, express that they want her to feel better soon, and then settle into my way of doing music therapy. Others will not know who I am AT ALL. They will view me with suspicion as I pick up my guitar and start to make music with and for them. My role with them will change. I will no longer be the "person sitting in the office with the door cracked" and will start to become "MJ, music therapist."

There are advantages and disadvantages to being an internship director when it comes to therapeutic relationships. The first, of course, is working with interns - watching them make connections with clients, trying out new things that I have never thought of doing (or the clients responding to things that I tried and was not able to do). The second is losing my identity as "THE music therapist." Now there are three music therapists in the music therapy room - me and two interns. We now travel in a pack or a gaggle of music therapists. 

Today, for some of my clients, music therapy will be a completely new experience. Some of my clients have not been my clients in sessions at all. They don't even really know who I am. For some of the others, they will respond to me the way they've always responded to me - some will be happy to see me with the guitar - others will not be happy at all. So, today's session plan will be simultaneously an introductory session and a routine session. We'll see how it goes.

For the moment, I am going to spend some time coming up with my session strategy for the three groups that I get to lead today. I'm also going to finish up a song that I am working on (one of my rare Halloween-themed TMEs), and I'm going to get some things organized for my new job - coordinating the reward store.

I am ready. I will emerge from the shadows today, knowing that I will be returning to that role as soon as my intern is ready to take back over. My roles will shift, and that's okay. Roles are going to shift when you are an internship director (just like they are going to shift when you are an intern, or a student, or a music therapist in, well, just about any type of job). Today, I will shift from observer to therapist to active participant in my other intern's sessions to supervisor. After all that, I will morph back into plain old MJ and come back here to rest a bit before heading out to do much of the same again and again. 

How have your roles in the music therapy world shifted? Leave a comment below!

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