Systems in Music Therapy: Making the Systems of Others Work for Me
Often, in any job, there are things that you have to do that have nothing to do with your role. The behavior intervention plan reviews that I have to go to are an example of something that does not have any benefit for me but that I have to do. The way we are going to be reviewing these plans means that I will hear about the behavior intervention plans of a third of my clients - not all of them - and will just be sitting in the room with teachers who have very different ways of doing things than I do.
Our behavior management system is something that is directly important to me, but I am hurting today and may not be able to do things that I need to do. I am going to try, though, through the broken toe and the sprained back that is going on right now. I may regret this attempt in five hours, but at least I will have tried the best that I can.
I do not do progress notes because I am not an IEP-related therapist at my job. I am an educational enrichment therapist, so I track my clients' response to music therapy at every treatment point. I do not have to write notes for the clients on my caseload because I see all students at the school. Could you imagine writing progress notes for 80+ students every three months? I can, because I used to do summaries for each client. In that old system, I set up a rotating calendar so I had a third of the students each month. I was able to write several per week so I could get reports out for all students. Then, the facility decided to double the amount of time I spent with clients each week, so something had to go. They decided that I no longer needed to write progress notes on every student anymore. So, I keep writing my session notes but no longer have to write quarterly notes on anyone.
I prefer writing my documentation the way that I do, so that is a system that is completely my own. For years now, the art therapist and myself have been told that we will be added to the documentation of the facility so our documentation can match that of all the other clinicians at the center, but that hasn't happened in seven years, so I am not really holding my breath. (We really need an emoji for sarcasm!! Any suggestions?)
One of the things that is important when faced with systems and requirements that are not really relevant to what you do or what you are expected to do is to remember that there are ways into making the systems of others work for you. Others are completely irrelevant and will not necessarily ever work for you.
Progress notes are an example of the completely irrelevant. Behavior intervention plans are relevant to me, but the way we have to learn about them is not. So, as a result, I am going to try to figure out a way to make these plans more relevant to what I do with students.
The big problem that I have with behavior intervention plans is the same thing that got me out of writing progress notes many years ago - there are SO many to remember and navigate. I can't always remember the details of each client's plan - they often differ very little but in significant ways. It is hard to remember if this client is the one who needs five minutes of calming before interaction or 30 seconds. In addition, the plans change all the time to reflect the level of treatment that each client requires in the moment. In addition to remembering details, I have to remember if the details that I actually remember are the most current. It gets complicated and confusing and I usually don't have the energy to use this system much during music therapy.
Kids don't have the same level of behaviors of concern in music therapy than in their classrooms. So, my quest for today is to figure out how to turn this system and the information that I will be given to work for me in music therapy. I am not sure what that will look like later, but I have all next week to figure it out. Spring break happens at 4pm this afternoon!
When everyone else is writing their progress notes, I am going to be moving things in my office to make a place for the new intern who starts a week from Monday. I have to rearrange some things, clean other things, and make my space a bit more of a three-person space than a two-person space. That is my goal. We will see if it happens or if I need to arrive in my room sometime during break to make it work. Maybe on Monday. That wouldn't be a bad use of my time - we will see if I can move after behavior management recertification.
For the moment, I am going to sit and watch the rest of Turning Red on Disney+, take myself out into the snow-covered world, and then do what I need to do to get through today. After that, I will be finished with school for a week. I am hoping to unpack a couple of boxes during the next week. I am not going to put any other expectations on myself. I have a doctor's appointment and a financial planning appointment to do, but those are the only obligations that I have for the week. It is time to move into a break frame of mind. The next break that we will have is the first long one that we have had in years and years, and I am not planning on doing anything during that break either. I am planning on getting very bored with being at home. I cannot wait!
Before that, though, I need to get going into this last day. I was really hoping that today would be called off due to weather, but Mother Nature did not cooperate. I will make my way to work slowly today since we had lots of snow yesterday, but I think the plows have been out enough to get the roads ready. Well, a quick check at KanDrive shows that most of the roads that I have to traverse are still snow-covered, but if I am late today, then I am late. I don't think the trainings that we have scheduled are more important than my safety, so work can wait until I get there. I am not leaving until the sun is coming up because I want to make sure that I can be seen if I miss the road...
So, my time anxiety is starting, but I have a plan where safety is more important than being early to something...
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