Hello everyone! My name is Sammy Springer and I am the new intern at Music Therapy Connections. As everyone knows, Alisabeth was the previous intern and is now currently a music therapist at Music Therapy Connections! I will be carrying out her tradition of writing blogs for the Intern’s Corner for the next six months. That being said, I thought I would share some information about me this week so you all could get to know me a little better.
I grew up in Middleton/Madison, Wisconsin and went to college to study music therapy at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. My primary instrument is the flute and I have been playing since I was eight years old. However, I also love playing the guitar and the piano! Since my junior year of high school I knew music therapy was the right career path for me; it seems unbelievable that I just finished my first week of my internship, but nonetheless, here I am fulfilling my dreams!
My first week as an intern was a little overwhelming, but overall, exciting. I am so excited and ready to learn everything that I can during the next six months! During this week, I mainly observed sessions where I was able to learn a lot about songwriting, assessments, self-care, and different therapeutic processes.
Here are just some of the things that I learned this week that might be useful to students and other new interns:
- Take a journal with you everywhere.
My internship directors recommended this to me this week and I found it to be extremely helpful. Just this week I filled pages with observation notes, lyric ideas, and lists of everything that I either needed to do or remember. Also, journaling or even taking notes during sessions throughout the day is a wonderful way to go back and reflect at the end of the day. It’s an important part of the learning process to reflect on everything!
- Writing original songs is not that scary!
Writing your own songs is important because you can write a song that can be tailored to each individual and their specific goals/objectives. Writing original songs and becoming comfortable sharing them is a goal of mine. It may seem taunting at first, but it really isn’t that bad! I encourage everyone, especially students and new interns, to try writing their own songs and sharing them. I wrote one this week and had to share it with my supervisors as well as the other music therapists, and I got through it just fine.
- Self-care is important.
I am not sure how many times I have heard this throughout my lifetime, but it is just starting to click for me. Going to bed at a decent time, eating healthy, and taking time out for ourselves each day is extremely important. This week I started going to bed early every night and noticed a huge increase in my energy level. Although, I am not very good at practicing self-care right now, but it is something that I will concentrate on practicing for the rest of my life. If we don’t take care of ourselves, there is no way that we can help other people. I am excited to learn more self-care techniques and start practicing them!
Thanks for following me on my journey!
*Sammy Springer
