TME Tuesday: What I Do Once the TME is Finished...

It is Tuesday. This morning came very early for me, and I am not particularly happy about it all, but it is what it is, so here I am, trying to come up with a TME Tuesday post, all groggy and bleary-eyed like. The classroom next to mine overloaded the air with a bunch of air freshener after a feces incident yesterday, and I had to leave due to an inability to breathe. That is not the topic of today, however. Today's topic is a bit "so what? Who cares?" in nature.

Let me explain...

So, I believe that the act of writing out my goals, my intentions, my processes, and my procedures helps me advocate for music therapy. I also believe that this act helps me remember things, refine details, and provide adaptations for ideas that enrich the lives of (most of) my clients. I am able to provide people with detailed plans for any type of experience placed into my session, and I can justify just about anything in treatment because I have thought through the processes of how music can be applied, experienced, made, and shared. This system works for me in all sorts of ways, and I share it because it works.

I know that it is not the thing for everyone. If you work primarily in the NICU, then having some songs based on a theme may not be all that relevant to your clinical focus, but it may.

Once I finish a TME, it goes into my database. I've spoken about my database recently. There are columns for goals/purposes, TME titles, original sources, and the MT who introduced me to the concept/TME. I add in original songs/TMEs from each of my interns, and the file is currently a mess because I have just been throwing files onto the drive and not cataloguing them the way I would like to. They are there, however, so I can find them when I need some new ideas. I often browse through the database when I am stuck for something new to do with clients. 

I spoke to some music therapy colleagues last night about thematic programming. I enjoyed hearing some of their perspectives and learned a bunch about how others approach having themes in their clinical work. I love putting together themes, but I do not use them as much as I could in my own work with clients. I'm not sure why I don't use them, but I don't. I am trying to figure out ways to organize TMEs and materials into themes for each month.

Several years ago, I decided to focus on one character-building/social-emotional topic per month. I even went so far as to write them down on my monthly boxes. I started that process and then promptly forgot it as we moved into other ways of doing things. (I can't blame the pandemic, but would LOVE to do so since that would mean that I had an excuse for not following through on yet another thing...) With the change in how I do things at my job due to the pandemic and the addition of new technology, I am reviving those boxes and ideas for use in my session strategizing.

I have three of my monthly boxes out from a meeting that I was in yesterday - the same one where we talked about thematic programming. I can see that the themes that I picked out for these three months were Independence - Making Choices, Safety - Safe Choices, and Celebrations - Learning and Education about cultural celebrations. The ideas that pop into my head for those three themes come fast and furious to me. I can put together multiple TMEs for each of them, yet, I do not use them much.

Why not? I don't want to force interns into a schema that is mine and mine alone. I feel strange saying to them, "You HAVE to do something around these themes every month." I am sure that it would be fine with them if that sort of structure was imposed, but I do feel like it would be an imposition. I may offer those themes as suggestions for what we do when, but I don't know. I don't want interns to feel that they cannot address other themes or goal areas because it isn't on the list for that particular month. I guess there are ways to do this without restricting their creativity, but I have not been brave enough to suggest it to interns yet. This may change. I think I am going to do more of this sort of programming in the near future.

That means some concentrated effort on my part, so I better get going! First things first, write these ideas down again! Second step? Start organizing the TMEs I already have ready into appropriate areas and categories. Third, find materials to support those themes and put into appropriate storage where I can find them easily! (That's the biggest challenge for me - remembering the work that I have done AND then finding things when I need them!! Anyone else? Just me??)

As always, these things take time which means that I do not use that time for something else. I find it difficult to concentrate on these types of tasks these days - there are so many other things that are going on that have little to nothing to do with my theme ideas that I am constantly distracted. If only I knew anything about time management...

Happy Tuesday!