music, therapy, and me

No one is happy at work right now. There are so many emotions happening that are just hard to navigate. Kids are upset because they are not going home. Kids are happy because they are going home. Kids are jealous because their peers are going home and they are not. Behavioral Health Technicians (BHTs) are angry because teachers get a five-day weekend, and they have to work the holiday. Teachers are just trying to get to that holiday. There is no sense of team or working together right now. I do not know, at any given moment, who will be coming into my sessions these days. The BHTs I am expecting are just not with the groups I expect them to be in. It is hard to navigate constant changes while still trying to come up with therapeutic enrichment for clients. Things work so much easier when the BHTs know the students really well rather than coming in and not knowing things like typical responses or communication styles... Oof. This is a rough time for everyone involved in education, but w...

There are two good things about this Halloween - first, it falls on a Friday which means that I will be at home when my clients wake up from a fun-over. I do not have to wrangle them into post-holiday music therapy sessions after a break in their schedules. The second thing is that I live in a part of town that does not have many kids, so I do not have to buy any candy to hand out. In fact, my lights will be turned off this evening. I am not a fan of this holiday, so I am thankful it is almost over. My Halloween sessions have gone over with a resounding sigh this week. No one has been really interested except for the last two groups which means that I finally got into my groove during the last two groups. I have ideas for how to make my Halloween carols a bit more interactive for those with limited communication opportunities, and I will put them into place to release on TPT before Halloween next year. I love it when ideas pop into my head this way! I do not have a costume. I think I w...

Well, as of right now, I haven't been excused from the curriculum training that has nothing to do with me or my job. So I am gearing up for yet another wasted day. I had to take my medication 2.5 hours late, and now I am coming out of the side effects. I am trying to figure out if I can make it to work in the dark without issues or if I need to take some of my precious time off this morning.  I am planning on bringing my songwriting kit to the training so I can at least get something useful done today. As I am sure you can tell, I am not a fan of these types of trainings. I am not able to use the curriculum that is being presented, so going to three days of training on how to run reports and assessments and to use the curriculum is just not useful for me. In addition, I have to take additional training for my professional development that is not offered by my job, so that means that I have to use extra time for ethics training and music therapy-specific courses that I could accompl...