music, therapy, and me

I spent some time after my 12 hour day at work (after which I cried all the way home) looking at comments that folks left on various social media sites about my current string of posts. I appreciate and read every single one, by the way, so please keep them coming. I am not afraid of dissent or conversation or downright disagreement with anything that I write about, so feel free to tell me what you think I get wrong or am a bit off-centered about. I can take it... One of the people who reached out to me reminded me that the American Music Therapy Association has a mission statement. I feel a bit silly not having referenced (or even remembered) this fact in any of my writings yet, but there is a mission statement. Do you know what it is? I had to go searching for it, and it was not easy to find. After being linked back to the home page (where EVERYTHING is located), I finally found it in the picture slideshow after about seven pictures (the way my browser presented things). Here it is, ...

Okay. Here's the deal. It seems that there are significant problems happening within our national organization. I am not a person in the know. I am not someone who has been keeping up with whatever is happening on Music Therapists Unite because I decided a LONG TIME AGO that Facebook is not the place where we can unite on ANYTHING! I withdrew my participation in that group MANY years ago due to the constant bickering and nasty comments about other music therapists that I saw over and over again. All I know about situations is what is being filtered out by various parties about various circumstances. So, all of the following blog nonsense is based on my current status of not really knowing lots about the situations that are being debated and are causing so much concern! Keep the above paragraph in mind, please, as you read the rest of my opinions about stuff - I am a bit ignorant of all the details, and I am seeking to know more without overwhelming my entire life with any one situa...

It is almost conference time, and while I am currently lamenting the fact that I actually have to GO to work to get my job done (the October blues - happens every year), I am looking forward to some music therapy immersion this weekend around the other things that I need to get finished up. I have only taken a cursory glance at the program, but I am feeling a distinct lack of clinical focused sessions. Which makes me wonder where all the clinicians are in our presentation process. I know that I have tried to propose clinician-focused presentations recently that have been denied by the review committee (I didn't even bother this year.) I wonder if we have swung so far over onto the Research 2025 side of things that we have neglected the people who do the job with clients day in and day out. I have always wanted more ideas, more examples of clinical relationships, and more things to take back with me to my music therapy clinic from national conference. I like going to a presentation ...

After a two-year (or is it three? I can't remember) hiatus from attending the American Music Therapy Association's annual national conference, I am getting ready for this year's conference which will be starting at the end of this week (for me). I am looking forward to hearing some presentations and seeing what is going on from the inside these days. I took a bit of a more active role in things this year as well - I got to help with presentation reviews and with platform review (though I was lousy at that bit). It felt good to help out, even a little bit, with this conference, and I am hoping that it will be a good one. Several years ago, I came to the conclusion that the cost for conference was far greater than the benefit for me. I am hoping that my foray back into the breach of conference life is something that will reinforce that I need to be part of this community more than I have allowed myself to be in the recent past. It will take lots of gee whiz to help me get bac...

Yesterday, I asked the question, "What do you want when you call for changes in our National Association?" That started me thinking about what I would like to see happen in the world of music therapy. Are you ready? Please remember that this is a place for my opinions. You are welcome to challenge, comment, or question anything that you would like, but these opinions are mine and are written on my personal blog. Take it or leave it as you would like. What do I want my professional national organization to do for me? I want more transparent communication from all committees and members of the Assembly and Board. I don't think a Board Book is adequate in this time of constant interaction. I would like to hear what the Association Internship Approval Committee is doing to best represent interns and internship supervisors throughout the year, not just one email from the head office once per year (if that!). I would like to know what the Commission for the Education and Clinic...

I am amazed how many times I find myself thinking this exact title phrase during conversations with many different people in many different settings. This question, more than any others, is the thing that I am wrestling with at the moment in our current music therapy state of being. Okay. The disclaimers. I am a person of perceived privilege because of who I am, the level of education I have been able to attain, and because of what people automatically think about me when they see me. I am also a person who is not aware of many things happening in the music therapy world at the moment. I have heard some stuff, but I am not always in the know when it comes to the latest scandal. I know a bit about regulations and expectations of organizations here in the United States. I have very strong opinions about several different things, and I tend to share those only when feeling strongly about a specific topic and only here on my blog. I do not believe that social media is a place to make these...

Yesterday, I sat down to try to sort out some of my feelings about things happening in the music therapy world right now, and the post ended up being such a mess that I decided that I was not going to share my thoughts. I am still not going to share what I wrote yesterday. I do this at times. I write and write about a specific topic and then I decide that I just cannot share what I wrote with the rest of the world. My mother is always glad to hear that I have some boundaries when it comes to writing. She is flabbergasted that I write about things and then put those thoughts out into the internet for just anyone to read. She thinks that blogs are where people share their secrets, and she just does not think that writing a blog is a good use of time. I figure that the thirteen of you who read this blog even when I don't publicize it on social media aren't here because I have great gossip to share...if that's what you are looking for, then this is probably not the blog for you...