Back Into the Routine

Oh.

Yesterday was a day of group therapy, individual interactions, and trying to keep my mind going through lots of situations - real and imagined. I will be going into my office today with the goals of finishing my documentation (I have two groups and an individual to go) and setting up my session strategies for next week.

Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE working with interns! I do. Being an internship supervisor is the type of educational thing that I enjoy more than any other!! I am a big proponent of experiential learning and full immersion in topic areas, and clinical training is the way I can incorporate those education pedagogical constructs into the thing that I love more than anything else - actually doing music therapy!

I know, each time I offer an internship position to an applicant, that there will be a time when I will have to remove myself from the role of therapist. I will have to spend lots of time in my office, still observing and monitoring, but my role will shift in the eyes of my clients. I will no longer be "their" therapist - I will be "that lady who sits in the dark office and watches us." I simultaneously celebrate and mourn when that day comes in the tenure of each intern.

I always love this period of time - a time when I get to pick up the guitar and be the leader before an intern takes over. I try to arrange things so that I always have some clinical responsibilities, but sometimes interns don't need as much time watching and learning and they need to be doing the full thing a bit more. Then, I spend more and more time in my office, watching...always watching. Right now, though, I have at least three weeks where I will be doing all of the therapy for half of the music therapy groups. In addition, I will be doing some co-leading with my (now) senior intern, something we have not done since she took over her caseload.

My clients' reactions to my leadership is always varied and pretty comical. Some clients express a bit of excitement when they hear that I'll be in front of the group again. Some clients do not know who I am at all. They express surprise when I sing and play the guitar. Other accuse me of playing my intern's guitar (they don't realize it is actually mine!). Still others try to fire me and hire the intern in my stead. They just don't realize that interns are there for a short period of time and that they come in with an end date. My job is still my job. I'm not ready to give that up!

Yesterday's music therapy moments were wonderful. I received an email about one student's behaviors of concern and then realized that we have never seen any behaviors of concern from the client in music therapy. In fact, that client came in, initiated interaction, expressed decisions in a manner that was easily interpreted, smiled and laughed, and seemed to enjoy the therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) that I started. In fact, that client changed what I was doing several times through expressing choices. I love that there is a place where this client has no issues with the identified behaviors of concern. I especially love how music therapy is that place for this particular client!!

Today I am going to work with an individual client and then do supervision/consultation sessions with my interns and with my co-worker, the art therapist. I have to clean things, organize things, stock things in the student store, and FINISH my documentation (not in that order AT all! - Documentation ALWAYS comes first!!). I also have to find some checks at work and at home so I can deposit them...

My routine is changing. I am adapting - this change is a positive one for my feelings of productivity and purpose. I no longer sit in my office for all groups - I get to come out into the light of music therapy interaction and engagement - the thing I was built for from my very beginning. 

I hope that music therapy is that for you - the thing you were built for. It's a feeling like no other!!