music, therapy, and me

I am sitting here, trying to make sure that I remember all the things that I need to do for today. I have an appointment with the new accountant for one of my work responsibilities today, and I think I will ask her to be my new accountant for myself as well. I am in need of some recommendations for myself as well as for the business I work for. Ugh. Taxes for this organization are the cause of 95% of my anxiety about this work. I hate it, and I know nothing! Okay. Small anxiety episode starting right now. Breathe and breathe and breathe. Everything will be fine. Fiddle around a bit with the iPod, and anxiety episode somewhat averted... somewhat.  I am trying to remember my schedule for today. To be frank, remembering my schedule has become a herculean task due to all the changes that have occurred since March 2020. I never know what day it is or who I will be seeing, so trying to figure out that schedule in my head before I go to work is something I do to prepare myself. I think I ...

I am halfway through my therapy week. There are just as many group sessions in front of me as there are behind me. This is a good thing. The therapy week has been going well. I've added some pull-out sessions to my group schedule, so I have had a chance to work with some students one to one. I still have some more space for more individual work, but some of my co-workers don't really seem to want me to take kids away from their classrooms. Others can't wait for me to take their students away. It cracks me up. My favorite thing to do is to work with clients in an individual setting. I enjoy being able to connect with only one person at a time through and in music. It is something that doesn't really happen often as my primary treatment format is large classroom groups. I don't always get to engage with students within the group milieu. I enjoy having a chance to interact with my clients within their interests. Yesterday, I spent some time with a Hello Kitty stuff...

I am a bit ahead of myself since I technically have another week of work before the 2016-2017 school year is finished, but I only have two therapy days left, so I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel right now. It seems like a good day to contemplate what has happened this year. I know, some of you would LOVE to have this type of space, but it was not right for me. I started this year in a small room designated for music therapy. It was gray, had one window, no light switch, and no room for any type of movement therapeutic music experience. Did I mention that the walls were curved? Only one right angle in the entire room - made acoustics horrible to navigate and no place to put the piano without taking up valuable floor space. Kids would come in, sit with their backs against the wall, and we would do music therapy. If anyone had to leave, they would have to walk over all the legs of peers and staff members. It was not the type of place that I enjoyed, and I dreaded goin...

I'm still trying to get the hang of this idea for my Wednesday posts, so please hang in there with me as I find my groove. I'm thinking that this could be a place where I talk a bit about myself and lots about things that I've encountered during the week. Here's one thing that intrigues me, but I haven't really delved into it yet. Wendy McGee edited a publication about Music and disorders of consciousness: emerging research, practice, and theory . Best of all, it's free to ordinary humans like myself! I've downloaded my copy and will be reading it during bus duty for the next several weeks. I don't work with clients who fit the traditional definition of having disorders of consciousness (I don't think at this point), but I am looking forward to going through my Research-Informed Clinical process to extrapolate information that is relevant to my current population. Other than that, there hasn't been much that has made it past my self-centeredn...

I've decided that I've pretty much exhausted the options available to me for my Website Wednesday posts, so it is time to change to something else. The problem? I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT! How about Webinar Wednesdays? I'm not exactly sure that I could sustain that on a weekly basis. Maybe that could be an occasional series - announcing upcoming webinars once or twice a month. Hmmm. That would mean having webinars once or twice a month. I could do that (I'm thinking right now). Now I just have to figure out some webinar ideas. Maybe I could do a weekly wrap-up of the articles that I've seen over the week. That might be a good idea. So, this week I saw three music therapy related articles. I could start to save the links and then share them. I'm kinda liking that idea as well. So, starting next week, Wednesdays will either be Webinar Wednesdays or Weekly Wrap-Up Wednesdays. Now I'm off to do my two jobs and some brainstorming ...