Fun Friday: Professional Development Time is Coming!

I am taking the next two Fridays off for professional development and for collecting some CMTEs for this certification year. I am doing this for several reasons. First, by taking these next two Fridays, I will only miss one clinical session. Second, by taking the second Friday, I will miss having to go to the circus. The circus is a source of trauma for both myself and my mother. I am the reason that my siblings never went to the circus with our family. Neither Mom nor I could handle a repeat of what happened the day we went when I was a toddler! Sorry, siblings, but I'm not all that sorry, if you know what I mean!

For some reason, the administrators at my facility are REALLY good at scheduling mandatory participation for my trauma triggers. To avoid the trauma response in myself, I have had to do things like this - take professional time to avoid being placed in situations where my trauma experiences take over my rational mind. I don't share that I am filled with fear when I hear the words, "and, we're all going to the circus on the 22nd" but it is no less real.

ANYWAY...

I have decided to take some professional time this year to work on getting my ethics course requirement out of the way for this certification cycle. I am also going to take some coursework on business administration and other topics that work under the CBMT Board Certification Domains. I'll update you as I find different things to do.

By arranging my calendar this way, I will have extended weekends from now until the start of December. I get Monday off for the first ever Veterans Day off since I moved to Kansas 29 years ago. I get next Friday, the Friday after that, and then three days off for Thanksgiving. I am reclaiming what AMTA used to give me - an abbreviated November that just sped by and was filled with professional interactions and thoughts. I can no longer find that through AMTA, so now I am manufacturing this for myself.

I need sixteen more hours to get my required 20 hours. I already have a bit over four hours for my required trainings through work - I can only count about 3 of those hours once this time around - the other hour is made up of changing topics, so I can count all of those that I have to do every year in this cycle. Is that confusing? It is clear what I mean in my brain, but I am not sure that it is as clear to someone who gets to live outside my brain...

 So, I have sixteen hours to fill and sixteen hours of time off. Coincidental? Not at all! (Actually, it just ended up being perfect that way!) I do not intend on spending all the time that I have off in classes every single minute, but I do intend to get as many hours as I can. I intend on attending my regional conference this year (as an exhibitor), so I will be able to get at least 5 CMTEs for that. The conference is scheduled during my Spring Break, so no need for professional time for that conference. I will probably spend some time engaged in vision boarding my exhibit and working through the business administration coursework that I have identified for this break.

My goal for continuing education is to always find something that intrigues me and makes me want to know more.

This is what I have been unable to find at AMTA conferences for a very long time. My last live attendance at AMTA was in 2017. My last symposium attendance was either 2021 or 2022, and I found that most of what was being presented was the same as what was presented in 1998 or 2006. There isn't much that is new in our profession - we seem to be spinning our same wheels over and over. So, I am leaving our professional conference arena for my inspiration. I need new ideas to keep me interested because, at this point, I feel like I've seen it all in the world of music therapy. (I know that I haven't, but that's how I feel about the things that others have offered recently - been there, done that!)

Two Fridays off - today, I am going to work to be the cabinet opener for my adult program clients and to make more task boxes for my younger clients who are exploring their academic progress. It will be a lonely day, but I really need a day where I am focused more on administrative tasks than client interaction. We are getting ready to increase our census at work, so that will mean a deluge of new clients again really soon. Due to this, I will need to think about some of the practices that I have established in my music therapy room and figure out how to accommodate more clients with the same number of chairs and materials. I also got a shipment from Lamination Depot, so I need to take some laminating materials to work for my task box needs. Fortunately, I can think while laminating.

I hope that you are able to find something fun to do on this Friday. Thinking about us all during this time, in this country, and around the world.

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