I can’t believe that I will be at the halfway point of my internship next week.Time has flown by
and I’m so thankful for all of the learning experiences so far. I’m learning that an internship is not only to help me grow as a music therapist; with guidance from my supervisors, this internship is helping me grow as a person as well.
Last week I wrote about how it’s been really hard to be myself in a clinical setting and I would like to expand on this topic. Well earlier this week, I had a tough conversation about how I haven’t been myself. Being yourself is extremely important in providing a safe and comfortable environment for clients and in the end, helps you to be comfortable as well and helps you to stay in the moment. Like I mentioned last week, this is difficult for me. I also have trouble being myself in my personal life, which then translates over to my therapist life. After a lot of thought and discussion this week, I realized that I need to just get out of my head. Being myself shouldn’t be this difficult and it doesn’t have to be if I just stop thinking about every little possible thing.
After letting go and being myself for the last two days, I have found that my clients respond SO much better. My clients were more engaged as well as more successful. This makes sense, of course, because I’m being more genuine. As a therapist, it’s important to be genuine. Music therapy doesn’t always have to be extremely clinical. There can be laughter as well as fun as a client works towards their goals. That’s what I’ve been missing these past few weeks because I’ve been letting my thoughts get in the way. As I learn to be more comfortable and completely love myself the way that I am, it will not only significantly help me in the clinical setting, but also in my personal life as well.
So if I have just one message for anyone reading this, it would be just love yourself. Get out of your brain and stop overthinking. It’s hard to do and I struggle with it every day, but as I’m slowly learning, it is totally worth it.
My favorite aspect about my internship is the fact that I get to experience music therapy in a wide variety of settings and I get to work with many different people. Since I work in so many settings, it allows me to explore my interests and consider what setting I might like to work in as a professional. I’m really blessed in this way because I know some other internships only focus on one type of music therapy in one type of setting.
While wrapping up my week twelve of my internship (!!), I’ve had time to reflect on all of sessions that occurred at all the different settings I work in throughout the week. After reflecting, I think it’s extremely important to be yourself as a therapist, no matter the setting. This is something that I’ve been really struggling to do these past few weeks.
I truly believe that you can remain professional while still being YOU. Doing this in a session can provide an environment that’s comforting and inviting for the client. The more the client is comfortable with you, the more they are willing to engage and share, which means that they might reach their goals and objectives better. I’m starting to realize that when you’re not yourself, it could potentially hinder parts of the therapeutic relationship and process.
Sometimes I get in my head too much, which may lead to overthinking and not allowing myself to completely be myself. During the upcoming weeks, I’m going to try my best and really focus on NOT overthinking, being in the moment, and creating that safe, engaging environment for each client that is essential for each client I see throughout the week. I’m grateful that I’m figuring all of this out now, during my internship, so that it will not hinder my professional life as a music therapist.
It’s really important that you are yourself at all times. I strongly encourage you, especially if you’re still in school or beginning your internship, to do this right from the start! Also, don’t be afraid of being yourself either, in a professional way of course; It will help both you and the client immensely in every way possible.
Sometimes certain aspects of life can get challenging; life may throw things at you all at once and sometimes it may be a little difficult to handle it in a productive and positive way. Being away from my friends and family, as well as handling and growing in my internship has been hard for me recently. However, I made it through this week and next week will be new where I will be able to start fresh and continue growing as a person and as a music therapist.
One of the things that I took away from this week is that it’s important to focus on the positive aspects of each day. There may be something that happens that you may not like, but there will ALWAYS be something good in everyday, no matter what. Reflecting and remembering the positive aspects can change your entire perspective in a heartbeat and can turn a bad day into a good day instantly.
Although this week was tough for me in many different ways, I tried to really reflect and focus on the positive aspects about this week. I’m growing in so many ways at my internship, and although it’s getting harder because I am learning and expanding my skills even further, it’s been fun and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world. I get to wake up each day and do what I love to do and help people along the way. Thanks to my wonderful family and friends, my support system is only a phone call away and they are there to share a smile, laugh, and give a piece of advice whenever needed. Also, I’ve made sticky notes that hang around my apartment and each note says a positive phrase, a quote, or a comment about my day so that I can be constantly reminded about all that is good.
The sun is always shining and tomorrow will always be a new day so remember to always embrace it.
As I approach the three month mark of my internship, I’ve started to write more original songs and learn about the recording process. It’s definitely been challenging; I’ve written a few songs during college, but besides that, don’t have very much experience. Thankfully, I have two very experienced supervisors who have been writing and recording songs for years and they have been helping me along the way.
I’ve realized that it is important to be able to write your own songs or at least be able to adapt a familiar tune so that a song and it’s musical elements can better target a client’s needs. Writing songs is so useful because songs can be written for any instrument and they can target specific goals/objectives for a client. Also, it’s also helpful being able to successfully adapt a client-preferred song in order to target a specific goal. I didn’t realize the importance and the value of this skill until my internship. That being said, I thought I’d give you an intern’s perspective of song writing and share some simple tips that I have learned these past ten weeks!
It’s best to keep things simple. This is probably the biggest thing that I have learned these past few weeks. When writing a song, I’ve learned that writing too much as well as making things too complicated can defeat the purpose of writing a song based on a goal. During the song writing process, I always write down the goal on the top of the page and I make sure that each lyric is simple and serves a purpose for the goal. Also, during a session, all attention should be on the client. That being said, I make sure that the chord structure as well as the melody is simple so that I don’t have to think about a complex melody when I’m singing and playing.
Also, I’ve recently learned that it’s important to think about facilitation and adaptation when writing a new song. Since I’ve been writing songs for a project, I’ve been asking myself how I can facilitate this song in a clinical setting and will it be effective? I also try to think about how a song can be adapted within a session. Not every song needs to be or should be adaptable, but I like to keep adaptability in mind. A few weeks ago, I wrote a song for rhythm sticks that targets the ability to follow multi-step directions. After using the song with a client, I realized that it was not very adaptable, especially if I needed to adapt the lyrics on the spot to fit the client’s needs.
I’ve just started on this song writing journey and I still have so much to learn, but so far, it’s been a lot of fun!
It’s finally starting to feel like fall outside here in Springfield, IL and it is beautiful. This morning, some of the music therapists at MTC and I decided to have a trip to the pumpkin patch for some fall fun. Also, I’ve never been to a pumpkin patch where you cut your own pumpkins, so it was a neat experience for me as well. It was a nice break from work and internship life.
However, after returning home from the pumpkin patch, I realized that I haven’t been great at practicing self-care recently and my body can definitely feel it; this week, I have been exhausted all the time and there isn’t a good reason for it either. I’ve noticed that I’ve been preaching self-care to my parents, friends, and sometimes even to my clients, yet I haven’t been practicing it. So this afternoon, I’ve come up with some ways that I will better practice self-care in the upcoming weeks in order to eliminate stress, take care of my body, and keep myself energized.
Eat healthier.
Stressing eating isn’t a good thing and it’s important to have a balanced meal as well. As I’m quickly learning from those around me, eating six small meals a day is better than eating three big meals, so I’m going to pack better, healthier snacks that I can nibble on throughout the day to keep my energy up.
Go to bed at the same time every night…no matter what!
Recently, I haven’t been going to bed early like I did at the beginning of my internship. This needs to happen because sleep is extremely important in order to process through what happened that day. Throughout these upcoming weeks, I will go to bed at the same time every night and try to wake up at the same time each day as well. It’ll be hard because there is always something to do, but sleep is SO important.
Exercise.
I dislike exercising. However, it’s a great way to unwind and eliminate stress. So from now on, I promise to at least try to exercise in a way that I like at least two to three times a week.
As therapists, we love working with others, but we often forget to help ourselves. Self-care is hard to practice, but it is the most important thing to do each week. If you’re an current music therapy intern, or even a professional or student, and have been struggling in the self-care area, let’s try this together!
Finally, follow me on live video every (or almost every) Thursday on Music Therapy Connection, LLC’s Facebook page. I will be answering questions, sharing songs, and discussing other topics as well! If you have a question or want me to talk about something, please let me know!
y point of my internship next week.Time has flown by
