music, therapy, and me

I am home from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and the World Congress for Music Therapy. I am recuperating from some pretty severe jet lag caused by my trip back home from the western side of the continent to the eastern side of the continent and then back to the middle of this continent - all in 24 hours. Vancouver was a beautiful city, with many beautiful things, but it was also a city that had lots of unhoused people who were shooting up on the streets. I have never seen heroin users shooting up before, and they were there, all over parts of the city. Apparently there are no prohibitions to using drugs as long as you only possess enough for personal use. As a result, there are many people who are using drugs and unhoused and with mental illness wherever you go. My therapist nature kicked in and wanted to problem-solve, but my attentions would be better focused here than there. It was interesting to see and experience. One of the things that struck me about the things that we did...

Well, here we are on the brink of Day Five of my current break and another day at the World Congress of Music Therapy. Today is Friday - I have to repeat this to myself because I never really know what day it is during conferences. So, today is Friday, and all of my travel companions and I go home tomorrow to our various places in the world. They are going to stick close to the hotel today while I do more today than I have at the conference so far - one more session during today, if I last that long. I have been promised poutine when I get home - the one thing that I wanted to try while we were here in Canada - so that is the anticipated highlight of my day. I woke up this morning with a runny nose and a horrible sinus headache. I took some meds to help and am hoping that I will be able to be something other than a horribly sniffly mess during today's discussions and papers. It's been four hours so far, and no change, so I'm not really hoping for much. I had ice cream for d...

It is 5:49am here in Vancouver, and I am showered and getting ready for the second full day of the World Congress for Music Therapy, the fourth full day of our visit here, and the third to the last day that I am going to be here. I am enjoying everything except for some hip pain which is exacerbated by sitting and then having to hike up some really mild hills and the VERY soft beds that are here at the hotel, but other than that, I am enjoying things. The first full day of the conference was my presentation day. I presented on thinking critically about the future of music therapy and clinical training. The presentation started off with two delegates but ended up with nine. We had some interesting discussions about possible futures that we might experience at some point. I am looking forward to writing up the comments and sharing them after the Congress is over.  Before my presentation, I attended the Spotlight session, saw some friends, and sat with John Lawrence who I know from th...

Today is the third day of the World Congress of Music Therapy (or is it "for" music therapy?? I haven't paid attention.), and it is my day to present a workshop that will, hopefully, provoke some ideas about the future of music therapy education and 9clinical training. I am hoping that people will come to see me, but I am convincing myself that I will present what I need to present to the people who are there - whether it is 1 or 100. (Oh dear, I just stubbed my toe on a chair leg and nearly went down on the floor. I am in my hotel room, trying to be as quiet as I can because my mom is still sleeping. I am wandering around in the dark a bit, and was watching my tablet and not my location. Silly me. This is NOT the way to start off the day!) ANYWAY... I have been very nervous about this presentation, and I am not sure why. This entire trip has been anxiety-producing for me. I don't know if it is the fact that I have stepped away from things like music therapy conferenc...

I recently re-upped my membership in the World Federation of Music Therapy . I have to admit that I haven't been a member for a long time, but I decided it was something that I need to do as a music therapist in the world. I am also a certificant of the Certification Board for Music Therapists and a professional member of the American Music Therapy Association as well. My memberships with those last two organizations have been constant (while my membership with the World Federation has not been steady at all) because I find that membership is important. I am of the opinion that if I don't join, then I have no leg to stand on when it comes to changing what these organizations do to represent my profession. Nothing frustrates me more than someone complaining that "AMTA doesn't do enough to..." and then mentioning that they aren't members. (By the way, I feel the same way about voting in our quasi-democratic process of governance - if you don't bother t...

My Facebook news feed is exploding with Music Therapy friends' posts about Vienna and the upcoming World Congress of Music Therapy. I am simultaneously really happy for them and extremely jealous at the same exact time. I would have loved to be traveling to Krems to meet with music therapists from everywhere in the world. Unfortunately, I was not able to do so. Having been to two World Congresses (one in Washington DC and the other in Brisbane, Australia), I can state with absolute certainty that my friends have a wonderful experience before them. They will hear so many different ideas of the power of music therapy, be challenged by the philosophies and treatment styles, and feel overwhelmed by the amount of information that is put in front of them. The sheer quantity of information present is amazing. We music therapists are doing so many different things in so many different places in the world that when we get together we spend lots of time trying to explain to each other what...