Book Reading This Week...



Well, I started my new, personally motivated, professionally enriching book challenge this week. I sat down and made myself a reading tracker to include in my CMTE tracking notebook, and I started with the first chapter of Wellness, Incorporated: The Health Entrepreneur's Handbook by Jennifer Buchanan.

I sat down with my notebook - the cool Star Wars one that I'm using for tracking my continuing education these days - and opened up my Kindle. I downloaded (after paying for) this book when it first came out, because I really enjoy Jennifer Buchanan, and I admire her ability to be a music therapy entrepreneur. I have another one of her books on my reading list as well - one that is more about how to do music therapy than how to do business, but this one is the one I need right now.

I have been working on figuring out what I want for myself and the world of music therapy. To do this, I've been focusing on my vision for my future. I foresee a time when my body will just not be able to do what I currently have to do, so I am trying to get things going now so that I can make the switch when I need to do so. My focus for this CMTE cycle is working on my business acumen and to firm up what it is that I want to do for music therapists. 
My "CMTE" Notebook - where my notes live...

As a result of my current focus - trying to make my business into a business - I am finding books about business most interesting. I know that this will change here pretty soon, but this is my focus for the moment. 

So, I started into the text. I read through the introduction (always interesting to read) and made it through Chapter One. I am currently working through the challenge questions at the end of Chapter One and am refining my vision for what I want to do through this part of my life as a music therapist.

I only got through one chapter this week. I am a much faster reader than this indicates, but I got through one chapter this week. I'm trying my best to focus deeply on what I've read and what it means to me as an entrepreneur. This is also working in with the business challenge that I've been doing, led by Rachelle Norman and Mary Altom. Everything has a common thread these days.

If you are interested in more about the book that I'm currently reading, or if you would like to be part of an online book club, let me know in the comments below. 

In the meantime, I'm going to be working through my thoughts and feelings about this new way of thinking about what I do as a music therapist and what I do in this profession.






Buchanan, J. (2019). Wellness, Incorporated: The health entrepreneur's handbook. TuneInPress; Bright Wing Books.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Repetition

Image
One of the things that I find to be helpful with my client population (children, adolescents, and young adults with dual diagnoses) is repetition of phrases, lyrics, and music. As a result of 30+ years of working with this population in various iterations, I have found that my clients respond the most to songs with three repeated phrases to prime their responses with a different phrase to communicate the important part of the experience. DISCLAIMER: This is not a definite way to write music for clinical interactions. This is what seems to work well with my particular group of human beings. Don't go to your supervisors and tell them that I told you that this is the ONLY way to write music - It is NOT! You have to find what works for your clients and for their clinical goals. Since my clients respond well to this type of song, I tend to write songs in this format more than any other. What I have found is that my clients remember these songs more than the ones that I do in different f...
Read more

Being An Internship Director: On Hiatus

Image
It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me. Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it. It is interesting to me how we have moved from an ...
Read more