AMTA Day #2 - Kinda Skipped Blogging on Day #1...You Know How It Goes

This is the second version of this post - the first seemed a bit disjointed, but that is primarily because my life is a bit scrambled at the moment. My inspirational message at the moment is "It's not happiness that makes us grateful. It's gratitude that makes us happy." I am grateful for so many things today, so I think I will engage in some gratitude journaling here today - mostly focused on you, fellow music therapist!

I am grateful that I am one of a small but vocal group of dedicated professionals who get up every day and go out into our uncertain world. You do important things, fellow music therapist! It is often not recognized in the bigger world, but it is important to the people who ALWAYS matter the most - your clients!

I am grateful that there are music therapy clinicians who go out into the world to do the art of music therapy. Without us, the profession dies. We have to remember that fact and embrace the burdens and the powers that come with acknowledging our role in the world.

I am grateful that there are other music therapists that focus on learning as much as possible about how music is a therapeutic medium.

I am grateful that we do not always get along with one another. There is power in dissension as long as there is a dedication to finding common ground. 

I am grateful that I am able to do a job that I love. I have had rough years and decades as a music therapist - some because of financial blocks, some because of educational needs that I had, some because of client-induced injuries - but I still enjoy getting to my music therapy sessions. The frustrations that I have with my role as music therapist has nothing to do with interacting with my clients (even the ones who have hurt me). The frustrations that I have with my jobs are more related to the jobs instead of the people I serve.

I am grateful to the music therapists out there who love to do therapy.

I am grateful that we are talking about difficult situations in our professional organization. I am also grateful for hearing more information about specific situations from the people who are involved rather than hearing things from the social media swamp.

I am grateful to the national office staff members who have to navigate many different people - members, legislators, other therapy organizations, and all the students out there - who are always open to listening to the concerns of members. My own personal favorite person at the AMTA office is Jane. She has always been my contact for all things internship, and she helps whenever I need her.

I am grateful for the opportunity to choose whether I attend conference or not. This is a personal choice, and while it is costly, it is something that I prioritize. I do not have the most up-to-date phone. I do not get my daily fast food/drink. I budget for conference attendance every year. I decide whether I will spend that money on AMTA or on another conference each year.

I am grateful for you - thank you for reading. Thank you for commenting. Thank you for doing your bit in the world of music therapy.

 

Okay, that's the end of the gratitude portion of this post. Let's get to the AMTA review part!

I was only able to watch one presentation live yesterday due to significant appointments and things that just came up that I had to deal with during the day. I selected Brea Murakami's presentation on Considerations for Ethical Leadership in Music Therapy. I selected this particular presentation for several reasons. First, the topic was extremely intriguing due to the situations that have occurred recently. Second, Brea has been named as someone involved in some of the situations, and I wanted to hear what she had to say about this topic. I was not disappointed. Now, the presentation information was great. She offered information about her experiences within the profession of music therapy - the good ones and the not-so-good ones. After the presentation was finished, we spent some time talking in a Zoom conversation. I felt that the atmosphere was positive in the conversation. That's all that I can share. I am very glad that I participated in this one in the live interaction portion of the conference. I would have missed out on quite a bit if I had only attended the recording.

After I finished watching and participating in Brea's presentation, my day took off. I had to give a presentation to the Health Class at Perry Lecompton High School in Perry, Kansas about music therapy and music for stress relief. I got really nervous about this presentation for some reason. After it was over, I ended up with a stress/sinus headache that just kinda took over everything from there. I had an appointment with my realtor to see two houses (and my offer on the one I liked the best was ACCEPTED!), and then I crawled into bed because the thought of staring at the computer just made my head hurt even more. I took the afternoon and evening off - which was a good thing since I may soon be a home owner and got a bit anxious about that fact!

This morning, I woke up a little bit earlier than I like to wake up, and rather than just staying in bed and trying really hard to get back to sleep, I got up to start catching up on some of the presentations that I missed yesterday. I have finished The Solution Within the Work: Discovering Vicarious Resilience as a Way to Combat Burnout, presented by Bridget Sova, MM, MT‑BC and Edward Roth, PhD, MT‑BC. This is an interesting comment to me, as I feel that I experience this all the time. My job is challenging. There are physical elements to my job that are not present in many other music therapy positions. I never know what will happen from day to day. At the same time, I get such support and positive elements through my work with my students. The good things outweigh the negative things most of the time.

I am currently writing while listening/watching to 4 Tools for Using Music Therapy with Teens, by Summer Lall, MT‑BC. I have been listening for 32 minutes now and have not started figuring out what the tools are. I have been hearing about the study. There may be a bit of technique happening right now - heart-focused breathing. I am hoping that there will be more practical recommendations in the next 40 minutes of this presentation because I want things to do in my music therapy space with my clients. I wonder if this is the first tool...I look forward to hearing the next part of this presentation.

After this, I will take a break to make some treats for later on. I have bookmarked the following sessions for my viewing later on - the keynote speech; the one on virtual drum circles (might skip that one due to not wanting to be drumming live - too much for my sensory system at the moment); the global perspectives session; personality-focused supervision (my apologies if I am getting these titles wrong) and that may be it. I am going to be doing things for the house offer, so there will be some interruptions that I can't anticipate at the moment. I am grateful that I took Monday and Tuesday off from work to help me catch up with my presentation viewing and continuing education needs. This has been very good timing for me!

At this moment, I am starting to get tired again, so it will be time to get some food. I am still trying to think about the important things that are happening in our professional world, but my mind is a bit conference-muddled at the moment, so some more information may not be forthcoming in the next several days. There is a bit more to juggle now with an accepted offer on a HOUSE and inspections and need for mortgages and contracts to sign and things to start packing and all that! Egad!! I am getting stressed out again.

Time to do some breathing and some calming.

Thank you so much for being here and for being you. I am grateful for you!