Therapy Technique Thursday: Overplanning

It is Tuesday again, so here is a therapy technique that I use when working with my current crop of children, adolescents, and young adults in a psychiatric residential and day school.

Overplanning everything!

Sound simple? It really is.

For every session that I lead during my workweek, I have about twice the options of therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) available than I actually use. I use my session strategies like a menu. Students come in yelling at each other - that calls for some non-verbal interactions - let's play a game! Students seem exhausted - that calls for some alerting - let's do some stretching and movement. I have my options available for me at any time in the session.

This means a bit of strategizing on my part.

I have to know the materials that I have available to me during the session time. I hate having to get up to get materials out of cabinets during sessions, so I use my strategy to plan what I might want to use.

I have ways that I accomplish this. Most of those ways have come from many years of writing, collecting, and memorizing different songs, TMEs, and improvising music in the moment. I make lists of things I can do with specific instruments, and those resources are invaluable when it comes to strategizing possibilities during sessions.

During the session itself, I spend some time contemplating what we will try as far as TMEs are concerned. I have to think about musical elements, the clients in front of me, and how to engage in all interactions and relationships. I have to constantly monitor client safety and adapt my musical interaction to accommodate different states. So, having twice as many things planned as I will get through during a session time, I do not have to focus on the question of "what will I do next?"