Being an Internship Supervisor: Competencies

I enjoy being an internship director and supervising music therapist. I love having the opportunity to be part of the last bit of a student's education and to watch each student move from being a student to finding the first way of being a "Therapist with a capital T."

Now, if you were around while I was part of the Association Internship Approval Committee (AIAC), then you probably know that I am all for basing everything that an intern does while during the internship on the competencies developed by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). I have a very detailed evaluation that includes all of the competencies and that is linked to all assignments required during my program. I try really hard to make sure that I have linked all work requirements to those competencies for several reasons which I will state below...

• A music therapy internship is often unpaid for both the intern and for the internship supervisor. Since that is the case, the intern has to be involved in learning activities that are directly related to the desired educational outcomes. In this case, those outcomes are the AMTA Professional Competencies and the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) Board Certification Domains.
• The Competencies are the foundation for all learning programs in the United States because all educational programs are part of AMTA. National Roster internships, like mine, are also required to be run by members of AMTA. We have to use the Competencies to direct all education and clinical training in music therapy.
• Outlining all desired learning objectives at the beginning of each intern's time with me helps me to evaluate their progress in a way that is as objective as possible. If an intern cannot or will not demonstrate the skill, then they do not pass the skill. The competencies help me maintain a pass/fail system with grading, and they offer us both areas of focus for training and skill development.
• Now that I have my system in place, evaluation of intern performance goes quickly. My evaluation has 29 pages, but I can fill it out, with comments, in about 30 minutes. This is helpful when trying to juggle supervision, client concerns, and my own job requirements.
• Using the competencies as the basis for all things that my intern does helps me to protect the role of interns at my facility. I know (based on previous experience) that my interns are often regarded as "trained bodies" when we are short-staffed. They have been expected to do the duty of paid staff in the past (I've quashed that now). I can protect them when I can state that doing the duty of a paid staff member is not part of the AMTA Professional Competencies. They cannot act as a substitute teacher when a teacher is sick. They cannot fill in for me during bus duty. They cannot be left without paid supervision. They cannot be used in the place of paid staff persons. If I cannot connect the requested duty with an AMTA Professional Competency, then it is not something that my interns can do.

That is all that I can write about today. I have to get ready for my medical procedure and then work after that. I have my work clothing at the door to change into after the diagnostic scan. I can't afford much time away from work these days, so I am hoping that I will not need the entire three hours that I requested. On the other hand, having those three hours is nice. I can go get the drain cleaner that I have misplaced after buying it yesterday morning - I even took an extra trip JUST for that, but somehow I have no idea where it is. I wonder if I left it at the store, but I took everything in the bagging area...