music, therapy, and me

My sleep schedule is so messed up at the moment that I am spending inordinate amounts of time awake when I am usually sleeping. I tend to wake up and just be awake. It is rare that I go back to sleep once I am awake, and last night, I woke up twice to use the bathroom. This is also pretty unusual. I was able to go back to sleep the first time (it was only about 11ish), but when I got up the second time this morning, I was up. So, I wasted some time on TikTok, and now I'm up and thinking. One of my social media forays this morning was a post about trying to hire brand new music therapists and there being a significant disconnect between what new music therapists with zero professional experience want to be paid and what the market allows. This is a significant issue in the world of music therapy. Sure, I would LOVE to be paid $100K to be a music therapist, but that is not the reality of life at this time. Let me preface this with some background information here. I am a music therap...

Yesterday, the American Music Therapy Association quietly released a statement putting an end to a process started 8 years ago. The last portion of this "press release" stated the following (you can find the entire press release here ). The motion unanimously passed by the Board of Directors states: Whereas, there is lack of consensus (e.g., among Master’s Level Entry Subcommittee Members and the membership) for a move to Master’s Level Entry; Whereas, the evidence is inconclusive (e.g., Master’s Level Entry Subcommittee Final Report, two Master’s Level Entry surveys, feedback and analyses from Regional Town Hall/Concurrent Session Meetings, and Master’s Level Entry and State Recognition document) to support a move to Master’s Level Entry; Whereas, the Board has considered its fiduciary responsibilities and financial risk tolerance for the organization’s sustainability regarding a move to Master’s Level Entry; Whereas, the overall path (e.g., academic pr...

Welcome to an occasional post theme. I've decided that I will reflect on being part of an internship program on this blog. I will do every little thing I can to ensure that my interns are protected while I still express some of my emotions and feelings about being part of this experience. I am an internship director (ID). I have been doing this job since 1999, and I have trained many interns at my program. My internship has not ever been completely full (except for from 2007-2010 where I had three years of back-to-back interns), and I have had the luxury of only taking those interns who have interested me. Over the past three years, I have not been an active ID - space constrictions and recovery from an injury really took over my life - my program went inactive for a time, but now the internship program is back up and running, and I am finding my way back into being a supervisor. It is amazing how much I've forgotten about being a supervisor, including the contagious enth...