Break Chronicles: Being an Internship Supervisor and My General Internship Handbook

I am working on a project that I have been developing, writing, then getting very uneasy about over and over again. I think it is a good idea, but then my inner critics start up, and I get frozen. 

NO MORE!

I am pushing past those critics to publish my Music Therapy Internship Manual. I am looking for a different title, but I don't know what it will be yet.

This project is fun and a labor of love. I have felt, for a very long time, that we need to offer more to music therapy students to make the entire process of being music therapists less confusing. Since I cannot find what I want to offer to my interns, I have decided to write what I am looking for.

I have published the first three chapters now.

The first chapter is all about the process of finding an internship. The second chapter is about how to prepare for the starting date. The most recent chapter, released yesterday, is about the first day of internship and goes into a bit about time management. I am going to make all of these chapters cost effective for music therapy students, and I am going to continue to write up things and publish them as I feel they are relevant to music therapy interns. Chapter Four is coming - it will be about learning to lead, tips to help a new intern settle in, and maintaining time management practices and organization as an intern.

Over my years of being an internship director, it amazes me how much interns do not know about their internship requirements. I had one intern who had a full-blown panic attack because she did not realize that she was not getting a degree in her equivalency program and did not know how she would become board certified. I walked her through the concept, and she didn't believe me when I said that equivalency was a completely legal way of getting to be a music therapist. I finally referred her to the good folks at CBMT who reassured her that what I was telling her was accurate. She got angry, and rightfully so, at her academic advisors who had never talked about her program and what an equivalency actually meant for her future. As we talked, we found more things that she had not known. This pattern repeats over and over with every intern that I have.

My primary interest, and the way that I feel I can contribute to this profession, is to talk about these things. Students should not have to navigate the world of music therapy internship alone. While this part of a music therapist's life and education is not long in duration, it is important. I feel that we really need to be telling our interns what to expect during their time in their programs as soon and as often as we can during their learning. It needs to be repeated so it becomes relevant and second nature.

There should be nothing surprising about the music therapy internship. Nothing.

I know that my handbook will not cover every situation that happens, but it is my intention to demystify as much as I can about the process from application to graduation!

So far, I am up to three chapters. We will see if this ever stops. I don't know if it will or not...