by Sammy | Nov 18, 2016 | Intern's Corner
As I progress through my internship, I realize how important it is to have fun with what I am doing because lets face it, music therapy is a fun and an effective profession. It’s something that I have been learning recently and I finally had a break through this week. Yesterday, I had fun working with my clients and students and they all made significant progress towards their goals.
I’ve written in previous blog posts about being myself in sessions and growing in my personal life. Yesterday was the first time that I finally felt like I had been my complete self in every single session that I lead. It wasn’t scary; it actually felt natural and I had fun working with my clients! I was better able to assess their needs in the moment because I wasn’t so focused on what I was doing. Also, like previously mentioned, my clients were better able to meet their goals. If I am having fun and not focusing so much on myself, my clients definitely notice and they, in return, enjoy what they are doing which is important so that they can work towards their goals.
I think that it’s common to forget to have fun in any profession. Daily life stress, documentation, requirements, and other projects may get in the way and it’s easy to forget why you went into the field in the first place! This can lead to negative feelings, work stress, and a decrease in work production. I’ve noticed that when I have a bad mindset and think too much (aka not be myself), I am miserable and then I don’t want to do anything because everything seems terrible. Dale Carnegie said “people rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” This quote speaks volumes to me because I learned this week that when I get out of my head and start to have fun with my clients while working towards their goals, a lot more gets accomplished. My clinical skills were significantly better and the clients were more successful all because I changed my mindset to be more positive and decided to enjoy every little moment.
It may be easier to have a negative outlook on life, but everything is much better with a positive outlook. Having a positive mindset and enjoying the time with clients can be so huge and change everything. I love music therapy and I love what I do everyday at my internship working with many different clients.
Basically, just make sure you are having fun in your profession because life is too short and music therapy is awesome.
Thanks for reading!
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Nov 13, 2016 | Intern's Corner
Hello everyone!
I hope that you all have had a wonderful week. I know I have! This weekend was the American Music Therapy Association National Music Therapy conference and it was a blast. Music Therapy Connections had a booth at this conference which gave me several opportunities to talk with professionals and students, building connections and growing my communication skills. It has been an exciting time and it’s always so interesting to hear other people’s stories and their experiences. Also, I was able to see and talk with many friends from school, which was wonderful because I missed all of them dearly.
Besides talking with professional MT-BC’s and other students, I had the opportunity to attend several sessions; at these sessions, music therapists gave presentations about current research, collaboration between music therapy and other professions, and even shared their methods and intervention ideas. It was a great learning experience, especially now that I am completing my internship.
I believe that attending conferences is extremely important and essential in the growth of the music therapy profession. As I continue in my education and continue building my skills, I am realizing just how important it is to network with other music therapists and students. I am learning that when you have these relationships and connections, you can discuss ideas for interventions, research, best practice methods, and help in the growth of the profession. I love talking with my friends from school and learning about their experiences in their life as a professional music therapist because I can ask for suggestions and guidance; they may have experience in a different area and I can learn from them.
Collaboration, not just with other professions, but with other music therapists and students is important and wonderful. In my personal opinion, if we work together, learn from each other, and support one another, then the field of music therapy will continue to be a strong profession and grow even more. Attending conferences allows us to do just this-grow, work, and learn from each other. School is another excellent place to build relationships. When you are a student, build connections with everyone in the program because you never know what the future holds; you may work with a few peers and they can be excellent resource sources!
I am going to spend this week reflecting on my experience at this conference and determine how I can use what I learned in my practice as an intern. I look forward to attending future conferences, especially next year in St. Louis!
Thanks for reading!
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Nov 4, 2016 | Intern's Corner
This week marks the halfway point of my internship. As I mentioned last week, it’s an amazing feeling being this far into my internship and learning so much!
During this next half of my internship, I really want to continue focusing on my clinical skills, applying my knowledge in the clinical setting, and being even more flexible.
One of the biggest things that I have learned this week is that learning is a continuous process. There is always something new to learn in every situation and every situation might be different than the last. That is what makes music therapy so special. It’s unique because each individual is unique and there is no “cookie-cutter” method to do something. One individual may respond well to something that I try, but when I try the same thing with another person, it may not work; this makes sense because each person is different.
I’ve attempted some things in some music therapy sessions with clients that have completely flopped and I’m learning that it has happened to everyone. That’s why learning is a process because you have to try something to see how a client or a group responds to it. If they respond well, then great! If they don’t respond well and the intervention/technique is not effective in helping the client reach their goals, then it’s a great opportunity to reflect, learn about the client/people in the group, and appropriately adapt. Adaptation may need to be done immediately and so it’s important to remain flexible within a session. This is something that I am quickly learning and working on because you may have to switch gears quickly, especially when something does not work.
I’m also learning that it’s important to continuously assess the needs of a client and each individual in a group within every moment of a session and appropriately adapt to their needs. Every person has their good days and their bad days; I’ve had good days and bad days just this week too. This is another reason why remaining flexible is important because a client may not need what you had originally planned. I have struggled with this in practicum while in college and I am learning that it’s just best to have a general plan of a session; not every detail needs to be planned out.
In the next upcoming weeks, I’ll reevaluate what went wrong in a session and improve or change the next session so that it benefits the clients. That’s why learning is always continuous. I guarantee that this will happen when I am a professional. However, the more I learn from these experiences now, the better I will be able to handle and immediately implement new things on the spot as I grow.
Thanks!
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Oct 28, 2016 | Intern's Corner
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.
Thanks for reading my thoughts!
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Oct 21, 2016 | Intern's Corner
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.
Thanks for reading; I hope you have a great week!
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Oct 14, 2016 | Intern's Corner
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.
Have a great week!
Sammy Springer
As I progress through my internship, I realize how important it is to have fun with what I am doing because lets face it, music therapy is a fun and an effective profession. It’s something that I have been learning recently and I finally had a break through this week. Yesterday, I had fun working with my clients and students and they all made significant progress towards their goals.
