One therapist's opinion about music, the brain, and life.
I used to journal often. I had beautiful penmanship and a writing strength that could withstand sitting at my desk for hours. I relished the nonjudgmental outlet of documenting my thoughts and feelings that later turned into time capsules where all memories could be relived. I haven’t really felt a desire to journal for the […]
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A couple of years ago, I was approached by a film producer interested in documenting and telling short stories about wellness. His goal was to tell stories of wellness and integrative medicine from a variety of perspectives and music therapy had captured his interest. I spent a number of months working back and forth with […]
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“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince In my last post, I wrote about our ever-changing need to redefine how we think about this concept of […]
Read MoreThe concept of being a healthcare worker is a strange one. When a crisis hits, most people run away, but a healthcare worker runs towards it. In unprecedented times like this, what it means to be a frontline person is evolving daily. A couple of weeks ago, just as COVID-19 was entering the U.S., I […]
Read MoreI had an opportunity recently to listen to to a talk by Ira Glass about his work in journalism and in telling stories. I’ve been a fan of “This American Life” for a number of years, especially during my time working in hospice care and needing something other than music to listen to during my […]
Read More#4: Philosophical Approaches One of my favorite aspects of training interns is assisting students in defining their professional identity. As a music therapy student, you are taught the various ways in which one can practice music therapy but are often only exposed to a couple of approaches. Each therapist has the opportunity to define who […]
Read More#3 Assessments and Goals: A few months ago, I received my formal training in Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT). I had been taught and supervised by Neurologic Music Therapists throughout my career and had a fairly secure understanding of the techniques before arriving. What I unexpectedly experienced during this training was a bit of an identity […]
Read MoreMusic therapy students often encounter similar trajectories throughout their internship as they begin to learn more about themselves and who they are as a music therapist. In my last post, I wrote about one aspect of internship that has been a common challenge for students, including building repertoire: Back to School: A Music Therapy Student […]
Read MoreThere are 4 key points that I frequently teach music therapy interns during the first half of their internship. These are points that can be embraced by interns in any type of internship setting, but may directly apply more to those working with children. #1: Pediatric Music Resources Often when students arrive to internship, the […]
Read MoreThe music therapy world is a small one, but it’s growing in size. Based on stats recently provided by our certification board (and organized by one of my colleagues), our profession has almost tripled in size within the last 10 years. The infrastructure created to help support our profession is scurrying to keep up with […]
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