music, therapy, and me

I've done it again. I've signed up for yet another challenge to do to help me figure out my newest path through life. This one is called the Biz Breakthrough for MTs , and I am working my way through the thought prompts slowly and surely. As part of this challenge, I have been thinking through my values and my visions and am starting to prioritize my goals. I do this often, but being part of a formal challenge helps me refine what I really want out of life. I know that my values are pretty set (at least, for the moment - values often change, and that is perfectly natural) and center around music therapy, family, friends, and financial security. I feel that I am doing pretty well at living a value-full life right now. My vision is also pretty clear - I know what I want to be doing with my business ideas, but my pathway is obscured by fog. So, I know what is next. I have to find my map. I am a visual learner and pictures are the best way for me to express myself and to ...

This was a rough week. It started with a day off - which is always nice - but that meant that we all went back to four days of being a bit off. The iPod had a meltdown, stopped talking to the computer and then stopped talking to me. Middle school clients were rioting, fists were flying, screaming was happening everywhere, but definitely in the music therapy room. There was some consolation in the fact that middle schoolers were screaming everywhere, but it didn't make things any quieter in my small, acoustically difficult space. What are your biggest group therapy challenges? How do you engage diverse clients into a common therapeutic music experience? I know what I usually do in these situations, but my current methods of interaction just aren't working these days. My philosophy about this is if the  clients aren't fitting to the current treatment service delivery model , then you change the delivery model to fit the clients. I spent the entire afternoon thinking ...

Summer Break is over. Well, I have today and tomorrow, but they are weekend days, so they don't really count in my way of reckoning Break. There you go. So, Summer Break is over. I woke up this morning almost 3 hours past my usual wake-up time. I am finally getting into the "I don't have to get up" pattern, but I have to get up on Monday at my usual time so I can get to work. It truly takes me lots of time to break a habit - the waking up thing is an example of this. It's time to reevaluate my self-care needs and goals. I tend to do this at the end of most of my breaks, so it's time again to think through what I need as a therapist for my own self-care. Time for another mind map? I think so!! Okay, I've finished my mind map. Here it is. What do you notice about it?? Here's the first thing I noticed about this! The mind map was started as a self-care idea, but it morphed into a summer goals mind map. I started it in the center with the f...