Being An Internship Director - On Hiatus: Still

I am still an internship director without an intern, and I am not entirely upset about this fact. I am looking forward to going through the rest of this year as a solo therapist, but I will probably have another intern at the start of next year - at least one.

Does it mean something when you have seven unfinished applications? Most of those unfinished applications are waiting for letters - either eligibility or recommendation letters. I wonder if the applicants think that I have everything and have just flaked off. I really haven't - they just don't have everything finished. I state, several times in fact, that it is their responsibility to ensure that all parts of their applications are turned in, and I will communicate with them when the application is complete. None of them have bothered to check. Message received.

So, I will be deleting their applications and moving on.

I wonder if any of those applicants realize that it is their responsibility to close their applications. I bet they don't. Anyway, I am just going to move on.

I am tired of all of this. I am tired of getting some applications but not all of those pieces. I am tired of offering opportunities to applicants who don't bother to communicate that they are no longer interested. I am tired of people saying that there aren't enough internships available when I know that there are internship positions going empty on a regular basis. 

I will use this experience as a learning situation and will add a requirement that applications must be complete within three months or they will be considered null. Something has to change because I can't be sitting here waiting and waiting for applications that will not be completed because of someone else not knowing the expectations. So, that's my current plan.

I wonder if I can set up reminders for applicants within my Google account that will allow emails to be sent to applicants on a regular basis to remind them of their responsibilities to me as well as my responsibilities to them. That is something to explore, for certain.

I fully anticipate that I will be an internship supervisor in the new year. At least, I hope so. We'll see.

For now, though, I will spend most of my energy as therapist rather than as supervisor. I enjoy my time off from mentoring, but I also miss the camaraderie that happens with having other music therapists nearby. I would like to have more conversations about music therapy with people who know about it.

Speaking about now, I have no idea what we are going to do today. We have a visit from a dairy cow this morning, so farm things might be a good choice. We could do a song about silly animals on a farm. I have animal cards that we could use. We could also walk like an animal or do some silly sound songs to round out the session time. I just have to figure out what to do with the other students for their session times.

Ugh.

My brain is fried. I do not like heat, and I HATE humidity, and my music therapy room is both HOT and HUMID and full of kid SMELLS. This is one of the reasons that I like doing centers or structured themes during the summers. I have less than optimal energy during the summers, so it is good to have things set up ahead of time. I have not done that... yet. I hope to have things planned out for the remaining six weeks of time, but who knows if I can jumpstart my brain into working the right way to get this planning going. Perhaps I will sit in the cooler hallway and do my planning there. It is time to figure out how to work through all of this rather than just sulking about it.

So, dairy cow visit today, interrupted schedule, lots of scattered thoughts, lack of session strategizing, and many different things happening right now that are keeping my brain flitting from place to place. I want to settle down into some sort of pattern.

Also, my work planner broke - at the binding. I have fixed it a bit, but I am itching to start a new journal. I think I will do that today. Take a new book and set it all up as part of the reset that I am seeking. Once I start the new book, I will fill up the old book with brainstorming. I have a plan for today! Hooray!!

I started this post with some angst and disgust about the state of others these days and finished with my happy thoughts - work planners. I will add my school calendar, a place for meeting notes, lots of bi-weekly planning, and then get going. I have a pink journal - not my usual color, but the journal that was on sale when I was buying things recently. I will find some stickers to decorate the cover, and then it will be ready to be used! Of course, I already have weekly pages set up through the end of summer school. Oh well. Things change.

Time to head out into the world. See you soon??