Better Sleep

I slept better last night than the previous nights which is a good thing as I am heading into a session with "that client" again. Monday's session was smooth and quiet which means today's will probably be a doozy. I am not looking forward to the interaction, but that's the way life goes, so off I head to remind "that client" that is is fine to make choices for oneself but not for everyone.

I don't want to dwell on "that client" today. I just want to recognize that it is the middle of my summer schedule workweek and move on. Today is my busiest day in the summer - six groups with four back to back. I fully intend to collapse as soon as I get home. After today's session marathon, I will only have five more groups for the week before the three day weekend. 

I have less preparation to do for my mother's visit in 10 days than I had at the start of the last break, but I still need to vacuum and clean and get things put together. Her bed is made and the towels are ready. My room is still a mess, so I need to focus my energies there rather than in the other rooms. I am hoping that my recuperation will be easy so that I can get back to regular routines as soon as possible. We will see. The last time I had this surgery was 12 years ago. I may not recover the same way. We will see.

I have nothing interesting to talk about. I am still slogging through Sense and Sensibility - I didn't even crack the book yesterday. I am not interested in playing instruments or even listening to any music. I just want to recline on my bed and watch mindless television under the fan.

Yesterday, I was listening to what other people were saying about a situation happening with a client. It was gratifying to hear that many of the opinions about things are what I think - about clients, about communication, about leadership or lack thereof, and about many other topics. I often feel alone at my end of the facility, so it is nice to know that I am not the only one who is frustrated by things happening in our program. 

It helps to hear that on a regular basis.

Well, all. I'm off into the world to see what is in store for us all...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday Song - That One Billie Eilish Song, You Know the One...

Image
So... I feel like I need to be totally transparent about something from the get-go of this particular series... I am not good with identifying songs with their performers. I can't identify the song names, but I can almost always sing the song. As I was trying to figure out what song to select for this series, I remembered being in a session last week, listening to a song by Billie Eilish. I really liked the lyrics to the song, but for the life of me, I cannot remember which song it was. I remember thinking, "that would be a great song for our self-awareness monthly theme," but I cannot find the words that I remember in the lyrics search that I am doing of Billie's songs.  This is a common situation for me, but it's also common for my music therapy clients. We can remember things about songs but can't remember names or musicians. We spend lots of time engaged in clue hunting. I ask questions like, "Is the singer a man or a woman?" (I know, those aren...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Client Goals First and Foremost

Image
When I am writing music, I tend to do one of two things. I either start with a specific client in mind and write for that client's goals and objectives, or I start with an idea and let the idea grow regardless of the clients that I am serving at the time. I spend time with lots of hypothetical clients - thinking about the vast number of clients and their unique goals as I develop songs and therapeutic music experiences (TMEs). Today, though, I would like to start with the first focus - that of a specific client and his or her or their goals. Currently, I am sharing a wall with a class of students who are experiencing lots of life and school changes. Two students have transferred from residential care to home care and are now day students. One student is brand new to the classroom. Another student recently left the class. All of these changes have shifted the dynamics in the classroom group, and old behaviors of concern have reemerged as well as finding new behaviors to contribute. ...
Read more

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more