Thoughtful Thursday: Spirituality as a Part of Me But Not (?) as a Part of Music Therapy

This week is where my two roles in the professional world collide into a very long schedule of work, more work, worship, more worship, interrupted schedules, and exhaustion. It is Holy Week, the week in the Christian faith where believers commemorate the last days of Jesus before his death and resurrection. For church employees, like me, it means at least two extra worship services and more church than is on our typical weekly schedule. It means different music, more time involved in spiritual focus, and different things happening at different times in the week.

I work in a publicly funded, special purpose school. The roots of the facility itself are deeply centered in the Catholic faith, but we no longer have a Catholic focus. When I first arrived at the facility so many years ago, we did have that particular religious focus. Fridays were fish days. The annual Christmas program included acting out the Nativity story. (I stopped that practice because I didn't feel that it was right to promote only one spiritual view.) We were starting to move away from specific rites and practices, but remnants remained which I found interesting as someone who is not Catholic.

These days, we tend to acknowledge both Christmas and Easter through the more commercial, secular side of things. Each one of my residents will get an Easter basket on Sunday. They receive presents and stockings at Christmas time from the facility. There are some Christian overtones to these times, but we also respect the religious practices of the client and the client's family. If someone does not want their client to participate, then they do not. That would have never happened when I first arrived at the facility.

Now, please note that I talk about these things, not from a place of questioning, but from a place of reflection. I am comfortable with the way I navigate my spirituality in my workplace. I am not looking for advice or "how you SHOULD do things" types of comments. I just feel that sharing this type of conversation can help others figure out their way of navigating some of the more difficult things that we have to consider when we work with human beings.

I do not talk about religion with my students unless they bring it up. When they do, I try to focus on the concept of personal choice and relationship with others who believe. I do not introduce the topic, and I do not tell people what they should believe because I am not an expert. Last week, one of my students started telling me about Easter during a music therapy group. I found myself in a quandary that happens often when people start talking about religious and spiritual beliefs in group sessions - I felt extremely on guard about what I should say in response.

This is not a new sensation or new situation, but it always leads me into choosing my words very carefully. I do not want to tell my students anything that implies that they should only believe in what I believe. I do not want to preach or proselytize during music therapy because I firmly believe that religion and participation in any type of spiritual practice is a personal choice. As a therapist, in a position of power and authority, there is a line that I do not want to cross. That line is one that implies that beliefs different from my own are less than. I definitely do not believe that, but it is easy to imply and infer those things when talking about spiritual matters in a non-spiritual setting.

So, I do not talk much about my other job when I am at my facility. I do not wear overtly Christian garments or symbols. I try to offer information about other religions as appropriate for our conversations about cultures and people in different parts of the world. I also try my best to limit discussions about religion in music therapy sessions, but I do not deny clients the right to talk about their beliefs. I do not play religious music unless clients directly ask for it. Some of my clients do ask for songs that they have experienced during their own spiritual lives, and I do accommodate those requests.

There is much to navigate when you have spiritual beliefs and are a therapist. I find myself focusing on more of the values and morals that I select from my spiritual practices than the details of my religion when I am at my primary job of being a music therapist. Focusing on those aspects of believing that encourage caring, listening, supporting others in many ways is my way of bringing my faith into my music therapy practice.

I wonder what I would do in a different music therapy setting - one where religion plays a larger part in the care of clients. I know that there are often more situations surrounding spirituality and beliefs in hospice music therapy than in the public schools where I work. This is a topic that fascinates me - perhaps a bit more right now because of the time of year.

Today, I will run my music therapy groups as scheduled. I will attend the meeting at the end of the day, and then I will start towards my part-time job where I will lead the music, assist the pastor in worship, and help prepare for tomorrow evening. After we finish our service this evening, I have to come home and attend a Zoom meeting - at 9pm! I decided to use two personal hours on Friday morning to help me with my medication side effects and the need to be up and coherent way past my bedtime! (Have I mentioned that I am NOT a late night type of person lately??) My sister is going to talk me through this as much as possible, and I might have to get a BIG Sprite to assist me with some sugar rush momentum to keep going...

It is time.