tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29065608367081265232024-02-05T01:57:00.559-05:00The Mindful Music TherapistConversations about music therapyRoiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.comBlogger174125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-74022733968395658582023-12-18T09:48:00.001-05:002023-12-18T09:48:51.797-05:00"You are showing them that they exist"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<strong class="voice_label" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: inherit; letter-spacing: 3.328px; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Excerpt From the <a href="http://onbeing.org/program/transcript/6801#main_content" target="_blank">transcript</a> of the <a href="http://onbeing.org/program/michel-martin-the-fabric-of-our-identity/6791" target="_blank">On Being</a> show in which Krista Tippett interviewed <a href="http://www.npr.org/people/5201175/michel-martin" target="_blank">Michel Martin</a>:</span></strong></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong class="voice_label" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: inherit; letter-spacing: 3.328px; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">MS. MARTIN:</strong> What we are simply saying is, I see you. I mean, I know for example when — you know, when I was working for “Nightline,” and I went to Turkey after there was a terrible earthquake there, and like, you know, thousands of people were killed. And I was feeling really useless. Um, thinking, boy I wish I were a doctor. I wish I were a structural engineer. I wish I could do something more useful. But then people would come up to me and say, thank you for being here. And I would feel, like, wow, why are thanking me? And then I thought — and I called my — you know what we do at a time like this. You know, I called my husband, because [<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">laughs</em>] I really feel like so useless. What am I doing here? And he said, you are showing them that they exist. And I appreciated that, because I’ve held onto that. It’s like sometimes the best thing we can do for people is let them know that we see them.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong class="voice_label" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: inherit; letter-spacing: 3.328px; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">MS. TIPPETT:</strong> Mm-hmm.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong class="voice_label" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: inherit; letter-spacing: 3.328px; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">MS. MARTIN:</strong> And so sometimes, you know, other people’s bad news is, you know, their lifeline, and letting them be understood. In fact, this was the very first story I did when I was at <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Post</em> as a little baby reporter at <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Washington Post</em>, and I was sent out on the summer — it was one of those terrible stories that you hate to do because some little boy had fallen out the window of the projects.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong class="voice_label" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: inherit; letter-spacing: 3.328px; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">MS. TIPPETT:</strong> Yeah.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong class="voice_label" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: inherit; letter-spacing: 3.328px; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">MS. MARTIN:</strong> And I had to knock on the woman’s door to get a comment from her. And I kid you not, I walked around the block three times before I mustered the courage to knock on her door, because I knew I had to. And I felt like, you know, and I knocked on the door. And she — and I said, I’m so sorry, I heard about your son, I came to see if there was any — a comment that you had. And she said, where have you been? Because she felt that if someone from the media didn’t come, then this was invisible and it had no meaning. And she had things she wanted to say, like why weren’t there any safety screens on the windows, which there were supposed to be. So, I bring that up to say a lot of times, what sometimes what middle class people see as intrusion, other people with no power see as validating their existence.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This part of the conversation was so meaningful to me, particularly a day after sitting with my clients in their "I hate this place!" rage, fear, anxiety, uncertainty. Literally, from the first session to the last, I heard some variation on this experience of powerlessness. In the first cottage, one of the women was screaming about how much she "hates this place!" The person I actually went to pick up for her session was having a rough time of things, and I found myself feeling quite lost and powerless to be of much help to her. The person I worked with in the afternoon was clear in his wish that I would take him away, because he indicated a wish to leave the session space for a while and he directed me straight to one of the vans sitting in the parking lot. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">My last session was with a challenging group of men who live in an untenable situation- stuck in a room, all day long, dependent on whoever was coming in to support them, and angry, frustrated, powerless. One of the men, the youngest in the group at only 31, yelled and yelled and yelled, as he often does, but this time, even though he doesn't use words to speak, I distinctly heard, through his yelling, the words "I HATE THIS PLACE!! I HATE THIS PLACE!!" </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Our session had begun with one of the guys being pushed back into the room by his annoyed staff person. I knew he preferred not to be with us, and I had encouraged him to go and be in the other area, so instead of taking off his shoes, his shirt, his pants and grabbing at me, he kindly got up and walked toward the door. His staff person pushed him back in, because, she said, "he keeps going and leaving the day area and eloping, and we are so short-staffed, I can't watch him and all these other guys as well, so he's going to have to stay in here! Everyone gets frustrated that there aren't any staff, and then they call off!" She, too, was in an awful situation.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It was hard to know what to offer the men, musically, that could even come close to supporting them. All I could do was acknowledge it and let them know, "I hear you, and, yes, it is very hard to live here, and right now it's also very hard to work here. And I hear you saying you hate this place, and I'm sorry you're feeling so disrespected." </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And so, as I felt as if absolutely nothing I could do would be of any help to the guys, one of the most poignant moments was when the young man who was screaming came over to me, after four times, handing me my guitar case and seemingly letting me know he wanted me to leave, picked up a brush that was sitting on the table, and he handed it to me. I was holding my guitar, and I thought, "Whaaaa?" Until he pulled my hand to his head, and he kept a hold on me as he slowly had me brush his hair. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So, Michel Martin, thank you for reminding me that what I do have to offer my clients is "show them that they exist."</span></div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-47485058346376999072022-01-10T15:28:00.004-05:002022-01-10T15:36:32.052-05:00Back at it!<span style="font-size: medium;">Okay. Seriously, this break from the blog has gone on way too long. Here's the thing though: </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I retired from my job in 2021. </span></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Yeah, I know. I never would have thought I'd be capable of it either, but here I am. Alive. Retired! And, astonishingly, kind of digging it. So...what the heck am I doing with myself?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">I just finished a draft of an article for a special edition of <a href="https://voices.no//" target="_blank">Voices</a> (with huge thanks to my friend, <a href="https://hennyk.com" target="_blank">Dr. Henny Kupferstein</a>, who kindly helped me re-organize and finish the thing already, before it ended up becoming a 387 page book). The title is <i>Getting to 'no' you: When nonspeaking autistic people refuse music therapy.</i> Here's the Abstract, in case you're curious:</span></div><div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Nonspeaking autistic people frequently begin music therapy at the request of others. Typically, family or care systems are tasked with making decisions on their behalf and have decided this service will be of benefit. Consequently, music therapy is a given rather than a choice. For this paper I have used my own evolving understanding to explore the complexities and power dynamics related to nonspeaking people being able to say ‘no’ to music therapy. Elements in this discussion include: (a) the ability, and safety, to say 'no' in the context of a culture of compliance (b) the complicated relationship between music therapists and the systems within which they work, and how this affects the therapy relationship, and (c) the role of music therapy practice standards. I advocate the following: (1) presume competence; (2) enter the therapy space with curiosity and openness, (3) be willing to ‘get to know’, (4) coping skills or communication attempts are not ‘behavior’ in need of correction, and (5) learn how each nonspeaking person communicates ‘no.’ Actively encouraging and respecting treatment refusal goes a long way toward building a respectful music therapy practice/relationship.</span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> It was, as most things I seem to do are, a complicated topic. Not so much complicated because nonspeaking people should be listened to (<i>that's</i> a given), but more because I wanted to address (in as respectful and calm a way as possible) how many elements stand in the way of nonspeaking autistic people being heard at all, let alone experiencing self-determination. It, um, required a lot of editing before I could submit it. </span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I finally finished reading <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Music-Heard-So-Deeply-Therapy/dp/1634908007" target="_blank">Music heard so deeply: A music therapy memoir</a></i>, by my colleague, <a href="https://www2.naz.edu/school-music/faculty-staff/betsey-king" target="_blank">Betsey King</a>, which I quite enjoyed (especially the stories of her work). In fact, as I've discovered, one of the nicest things about being retired is having time to read! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I've been exploring collage, because...why not? This one was inspired by one of the folx I worked with for a long time. He is a brilliant, curious man, who, besides being a news junkie, wanted to learn about space. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBVtQZPGEFrx-FwplxZzOlBDmB9MFykAVQiMnmg5fksjVA60hKYfMqVdGP_4tgq_8p3tsSr5LTZgt4WMb_OiB2E8-LNrrhMZp7Uzvs5KYFKIhDwqY34zfxK0HJlsCkongZXcWU61t0wIilH5uHvvjpkZFjfLSBbZa_smnkgPR6xaDXMrPy5-Cm8SNCjg=s2614" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2614" data-original-width="1933" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBVtQZPGEFrx-FwplxZzOlBDmB9MFykAVQiMnmg5fksjVA60hKYfMqVdGP_4tgq_8p3tsSr5LTZgt4WMb_OiB2E8-LNrrhMZp7Uzvs5KYFKIhDwqY34zfxK0HJlsCkongZXcWU61t0wIilH5uHvvjpkZFjfLSBbZa_smnkgPR6xaDXMrPy5-Cm8SNCjg=w296-h400" width="296" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As you might imagine, I miss the people who I spent so many years with as a music therapist. I suspect you'll be hearing about what it was like to spend my last year or so working, and retiring, during a pandemic. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So....you know...welcome back! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-65789591745211448122016-01-24T18:58:00.001-05:002021-06-11T09:37:56.733-04:00It's January, and that means it's Social Media Advocacy Month<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As you've probably surmised, from the festive badge and such, it's that time of the year again where we music therapists use the power of social media to advance the cause of music therapy in our respective states. </div>
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The good news: it seems to be working! </div>
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As the lovely<a href="http://katfulton.com/about/" target="_blank"> Kat Fulton</a> of <a href="http://www.musictherapyed.com/top-five-for-2015/" target="_blank">Music Therapy Ed</a> points out, we've been recognized in major publications (online and off), and we've even been named <a href="http://article.wn.com/view/2015/03/10/ABCs_David_Muir_Names_Music_Therapists_Persons_of_the_Week/" target="_blank">Persons of the Week</a> for gosh sakes! Amazingly, nowadays <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">we can even see characters who are music therapists in </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439102724/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1439102724&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" target="_blank">books</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">, on </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/19/empire-music-therapy_n_6904356.html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" target="_blank">television series</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> and in </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_xfBL4RV4I" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" target="_blank">movies</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">. </span></div>
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As a person who's been at this a while (ahem!), it's refreshing to meet people, tell them I'm a music therapist and have them respond with "Cool!" rather than "you're a what?" </div>
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<a href="http://music.wvu.edu/faculty/dena-register" target="_blank">Dena Register</a> (see below for her 2016 article) sees our advocacy styles as falling into three different categories. She identifies us as <b>Connectors</b>, <b>Reflectors</b> and <b>Directors</b> (I mean, don't we <i>all</i> really want to direct?). This is certainly true, and many of us do have these characteristics. But I want to propose another feature music therapists of the world possess, which is that of being <b>Innovators</b>. </div>
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We've only just celebrated our 65th anniversary as an official profession. In that time, we have grown in remarkable ways. We've <i>become</i> an actual profession, complete with <a href="http://www.musictherapy.org/about/competencies/" target="_blank">professional competencies</a>, <a href="http://www.musictherapy.org/about/standards/" target="_blank">standards of practice</a>, <a href="http://www.musictherapy.org/about/ethics/" target="_blank">a code of ethics</a>, <a href="http://www.cbmt.org/" target="_blank">board certification</a>, <a href="http://www.musictherapy.org/research/pubs/" target="_blank">journals</a>, along with new and <a href="http://amtanationalconference.com/an-evening-of-arts-based-research-performance/" target="_blank">innovative research methods</a> that use the arts as their basis!</div>
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We are curious, we're determined, and we work hard to find news ways to grow and extend what we already know as a field. When we're faced with our clients day after day, we are truly <b>with them. </b>We take our failures, and we try again, learning from our mistakes as we boldly explore new ideas and approaches. </div>
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Yes. We are Innovators. And because of that, there is a profession called 'music therapy.' </div>
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And I will now step off of my soapbox and invite you to read Dena's perspective on the matter: </div>
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<b>Social Media Advocacy Month 2016</b></div>
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<b>Dena Register, PhD, MT-BC</b></div>
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Certification Board for Music Therapists</div>
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Regulatory Affairs Advisor</div>
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Each New Year brings the opportunity to reflect on all that we have accomplished and to determine what is needed in the coming year to move forward. As the Regulatory Affairs (CBMT) and Government Relations (AMTA) teams reflect on the first 10 years of the State Recognition Operational Plan, we are grateful for the number of individuals that have actively engaged in the advocacy process. We have had the incredible fortune to watch groups of diverse individuals pull together, capitalize on their strengths, and create access to services for clients and families that benefit greatly from music therapy.</div>
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One of the observations we reflect on regularly is what makes an advocacy team successful. The teams that stand out are those that have 3 different kinds of participants: Connectors, Reflectors and Directors. While this is certainly not an exhaustive list, this seems to be a “triple threat” of action-oriented personalities that are able to work in tandem and move a group forward.</div>
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<i>Building Bridges</i> </div>
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“Connectors” are people who are gifted at building bridges by bringing others together and recognizing complimentary skill sets in those that they know. Connectors enjoy creating opportunities for people from diverse background and experiences to meet and interact. The role of the Connector in advocacy is to maximize the human resources available to them and to increase the network for their cause by helping interested parties get to know one another and discuss common interests. It is often the Connectors who are able to establish relationships with legislators or other decision makers that develops them into incredible advocates.</div>
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<i>Holding Up the Mirror </i></div>
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“Reflectors” are gifted at taking in information, experiences, and perceptions and—as the name implies—reflecting back the most salient points to those around them. Reflectors often have a knack for diffusing situations by indicating an understanding and empathy for someone else’s position. Reflectors also make great advocates because of their fierce loyalty to their cause. Their ability to see issues from multiple perspectives and then to communicate that to multiple audiences brings all sides of an issue to the foreground for discussion. Reflectors unite various individuals and guide the group to a vision that recognizes the complexity of all issues.</div>
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<i>Consulting the Compass</i></div>
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“Directors” are the ones who are able to see the big picture of possibilities that exist beyond the current situation. They are able to assimilate the work of the “Reflectors” and the “Connectors” and navigate a course of next steps based on that information. Directors also gather additional relevant information as they move forward and constantly attend to what course corrections are necessary to get to their end goal. Those who are most successful in this role demonstrate flexibility in their thinking and actions, which allows them to accommodate to various situations that are presented and that often change without prior notice. Directors take a broad view of an issue, projecting out beyond it’s current status or challenge and using an ideal vision or end goal to guide the day-to-day steps necessary to get there.</div>
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So how about you? Are you a Connector, Reflector, or Director? Or maybe there is another description you would use? We would like to hear from you about other characteristics or personalities that you find “key” in advocacy.</div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-16721697574526386422015-11-24T08:46:00.001-05:002015-11-24T08:48:14.081-05:00How to be together<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We sat together yesterday, our group of seven, on a Monday afternoon. And the curtains in the room were open to the afternoon sun, closed as the sun blinded us, and then open again to watch the beautiful dark frames of leafless trees against the pink and yellow and blue sky as the sun began to set. And, with the early evening news as a background, we noticed, for ourselves and with each other, our music was made of...<br />
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terror and safety,</div>
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change and consistency,</div>
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feeling frozen and being in motion,</div>
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comfort and discomfort,</div>
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certainty and uncertainty,</div>
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sleeping and awake,</div>
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light and dark,</div>
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presence and absence,</div>
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judgment and acceptance,</div>
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loud and quiet,</div>
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intensity and gentleness,</div>
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curiosity and detachment,</div>
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containment and freedom...</div>
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And then, this morning, I read and listened to <a href="http://www.onbeing.org/program/ann-hamilton-making-and-the-spaces-we-share/transcript/6148" target="_blank">this gorgeous conversation</a> between <a href="http://www.onbeing.org/about#ktippett" target="_blank">Krista Tippett</a> and <a href="http://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/" target="_blank">Ann Hamilton</a>. When Krista asked her what questions we should be asking, without hesitation, Ann responded:<br />
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<i>"...how to be together. I mean, isn’t that — that seems like the biggest question. How to be together."</i> (<a href="http://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/the_common_SENSE.html" target="_blank">Ann Hamilton</a>) </blockquote>
Yes! And yes again!<br />
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There are so many who believe music therapy sessions with people who don't use speech as their first language are about "playing for your clients." In fact, it is about<br />
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noticing, </div>
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playing,</div>
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experiencing,</div>
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being</div>
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and wondering </div>
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together.</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><i>"...when you’re making something, you don’t know what it is for a really long time. So, you have to kind of cultivate the space around you, where you can trust the thing that you can’t name. And if you feel a little bit insecure, or somebody questions you, or you need to know what it is, then what happens is you give that thing that you’re trying to listen to away. And so, how do you kind of cultivate a space that allows you to dwell in that not knowing, really? That is actually really smart, and can become really articulate? But, you know, like the thread has to come out, and it comes out at its own pace."</i> (<a href="http://www.onbeing.org/program/ann-hamilton-making-and-the-spaces-we-share/transcript/6148" target="_blank">Ann Hamilton</a>)</span></blockquote>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-39580269350244488962015-02-11T19:55:00.000-05:002015-02-15T08:02:21.373-05:00Why it was hard for me to participate in this year's social media advocacy month<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of the things that doesn't get talked about enough when you're on your way to becoming a music therapist is how deflating it can be to have to define, to defend, to prove your work almost <i>every single day</i> for the rest of your music therapy life.<br />
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I need to admit to you (because I think it's important to say it out loud, because I truly believe that <i>looking</i> at the challenges means finding a way to get through them or at least come to terms with them): I am weary - bone weary - of advocating for music therapy right now. Will I still do it? Yes, probably I will. Do I still believe in what I do? Absolutely! Do I think I make a difference in my clients' lives? God, I hope so! I know they make a difference in mine. Am I still learning about music therapy? Always. </div>
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But am I sick to death of explaining and re-explaining, and re-re-explaining what I do to people who already "know" what I do? Who incessantly belittle and demean my work (and, by extension, my clients' efforts)? Who still, after 27 years of this, see me as "the entertainment," treating me like a radio that nobody's really listening to anyway? Damn skippy! </div>
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Today's comment: "No offense or anything, Roia, but I think having gross motor and music out at the pool is more beneficial for the guys than just listening to music with you..." (hmm, now how could that <i>possibly</i> be offensive to me?). This came from a co-worker who arrives in the middle of our Community Music Group, starts yelling out names (with a quick "oh, sorry, Roia"), bustling people into coats, and taking out the majority of the group to go to another activity. Nice.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTAWgqYjj9ql0EcDV4-KgO0s9wQkHmgKJA9tIInkeIhE0ka7gUXIV6-ScQ9F662JycAyBGznaOYjEWVbfl5QFCenM69lEHNfPzwoBNWu7dKxk1AfGvESw1xJFJS8dYygFpMBvyL8wdBs5e/s1600/I+can't%2Bhear%2Byou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTAWgqYjj9ql0EcDV4-KgO0s9wQkHmgKJA9tIInkeIhE0ka7gUXIV6-ScQ9F662JycAyBGznaOYjEWVbfl5QFCenM69lEHNfPzwoBNWu7dKxk1AfGvESw1xJFJS8dYygFpMBvyL8wdBs5e/s1600/I+can't%2Bhear%2Byou.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a>I've had bosses who've said (and I'm quoting here), "Roia, I honestly don't see how what you do is any different from someone putting a CD in a CD player," interrupting my invitation to come and observe a session with "I'm afraid we're just going to have to agree to disagree, because we have different views on this." I guess getting that Master's degree was an insane waste of time, money, and effort. Oh, and probably the twenty years of paying for clinical supervision (and a whole lot of other trainings outside of music therapy), learning everything I could about disabilities and psychotherapy and figuring out ways to make sense of all of this so I can offer my clients a form of music therapy that hardly anybody else really does...that was probably a bit of overkill.</div>
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It's hard when many of your professional colleagues think that all you're doing is "playing nice music for people." It's hard to listen to support staff tell you they don't like the music you're playing and that you're not doing music therapy "right."<br />
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The bottom line here is this: if you're going to be a music therapist (and I really want you to be), it's important to love what you do and believe in what you're providing to your clients with <i>every fiber in your body</i>. It's important to make music, to get clinical supervision, to get your own therapy, to have an amazing support system of people who love, respect and believe in you and in the work that you do. Because you will run into these people. And you're good and likely to feel squashed sometimes.<br />
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Being a music therapist is hard work, especially when you're trying to find a way to musically sit with people who are struggling, whose lives aren't going the way they wish they would, who are in pain, who are frightened, who throw instruments at you, who scratch your face, who are disorganized, who feel powerless, who are grieving, who are dying....All of this is hard to do. But we do it, because we know - deep in our souls we know - that the experience of being together in music <i>means</i> something, the musical and human relationships we painstakingly develop with people who've had chronic trauma, who've been discriminated against in every way imaginable (and in many ways we don't even have a clue about) <i>means</i> something.<br />
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So what the heck am I saying anyway? I guess what I'm trying to say is I've advocated until I'm blue in the face. Oh, I'll advocate when someone really cares to listen. Until then, I'm keeping my focus on helping the people whose understanding of music therapy is most important to me, and that's my clients. </div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-90192334204590794002014-10-25T22:00:00.000-04:002016-08-02T08:14:19.159-04:00Asking for help (the hard way)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Some days I come home from work feeling as if my clients all hate me.<br />
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Now don't all jump in with the "oh, come on, they don't <i>hate</i> you! Why do you insist on seeing yourself that way? They appreciate you, why would you <i>say</i> such a thing?!" comments. </div>
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Because that would be missing the point.<br />
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The things is: it was hard being a music therapist today. And, yes, I did (and always do) say to myself, "oh, come on, they probably don't <i>hate</i> you. Well, maybe they do, but probably it's not really <i>about</i> you." </div>
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Here's what I'm thinking (hoping) (thinking and sooort of hoping, because, really, it's not a great thing to hope): I'm thinking my clients absorb so. Much. Hate. Every. Single. Day. And here I come in, Ms. Gosh-I'm-so-glad-to-be-here-guys-let's-listen-to-each-other-and-see-what-we-can-hear-in-each-other's-music. And there's crying and yelling and toileting accidents and more yelling and more crying and running around and trying to run out the door and handing me my guitar case and climbing on things and hitting each other and pulling and pushing and more toileting accidents.</div>
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And we sing, and we play about it, and we stop to get people cleaned up. Okay, well, usually <i>I'm</i> the one playing about it and singing about it, because my clients don't really use speech, and they are often too busy being overwhelmed. And I put it out there, "I know things have been really difficult for you, and it's a lot to cope with all the time." </div>
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And I feel inadequate. I feel like one of those teeny little bandaids that keep falling off. My words and my music hardly cover any one of my clients' deep wounds. And I try to remind myself, "this is what <a href="http://www.nctsn.org/trauma-types/complex-trauma/effects-of-complex-trauma" target="_blank">chronic trauma</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080620195446.htm" target="_blank">chronic grief</a> look like. What can I offer in the music, in my words, in my presence? Will it mean anything?" </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks to <a href="http://www.freeimages.com/gallery/juliaf/9" target="_blank">juliaf</a> for the image!</td></tr>
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Then I start in with the whole internal drama of "What if I'm just making assumptions? What if they just think I'm being a pain in the ass? And wrong? What if they wish I wouldn't come because I just remind them of what sucks in their lives and then I'm standing there singing and talking about it and happy to see them, for God's sake?"<br />
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So there I was driving myself home (and crazy) today, feeling kind of crappy. And I reminded myself of how much hatred my clients have internalized. How there's nowhere for it to...go! I mean, it just...sits there and festers in them. And my acknowledging it and hearing it is probably new and unexpected. And uncomfortable. </div>
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Listening to the hatred many autistic people (especially those who live in congregate care) have been asked to hold over and over again is plain intense. And I leave sessions feeling as if my clients hate me.<br />
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Actually, though, after the initial "oh, woe is me" phase, I do manage to realize, "um, this is countertransference." And I start to wonder if what's really happening is that my clients are asking me to help them - to help them cope with the hatred they're having a hard time metabolizing. In their own way, I think they're asking me to hold on to the hate, to figure out what to do with it, say it out loud for them, and help them find a way to make sense of it. </div>
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And the only way they can ask for that help is to get <i>me</i> to a point where I feel as if they hate me. And I have to be able to experience that awfulness. That terrible "nothing I do has any effect on you, I feel as if I have no power over my life" feeling.<br />
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Because until I've fully gone through the pain and rejection with them, they don't know that I've heard them. And until I go through it I don't know how they're feeling.<br />
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Next week, I will go back to them. I will sing about it, and I will say it out loud and give it a voice in the music. And hopefully the relationship will grow just a little deeper. Because I allowed myself to feel as if they hate me.<br />
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This is one of the songs that came up in the session. </div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-50088181721425706652014-04-07T16:01:00.000-04:002014-04-07T16:03:05.242-04:005 Reasons Why You Need To Process in Music Therapy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was off listening to a terrific <a href="http://musictherapyroundtable.com/2014/03/episode-52-the-art-of-processing.html" target="_blank">podcast on processing</a> over at the <a href="http://musictherapyroundtable.com/" target="_blank">Music Therapy Round Table</a> (and I highly recommend you go over and give them a good, solid listen). Well, I wanted to make a comment, but it turned out to be, like, six paragraphs, so, um, I figured I'd better head back to my own blog home and write it all out here and link it back to the hardworking Round Table folks: <a href="http://www.musictherapymaven.com/" target="_blank">Kimberly Sena Moore</a>, <a href="http://listenlearnmusic.com/" target="_blank">Rachel Rambach</a>, <a href="http://musictherapytween.com/" target="_blank">Michelle Erfurt</a>, and <a href="http://musictherapysource.com/" target="_blank">Matt Logan</a>! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As Michelle mentioned (either in the Round Table podcast or the <a href="http://musictherapypro.com/" target="_blank">Music Therapy Pro</a> podcast), this business of <a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2008/11/paying-attention-in-music-therapy.html" target="_blank">processing</a> (especially in <a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2009/02/supervision-part-i-professional.html" target="_blank">clinical supervision</a>) is kind of my "thing" (which makes it all sound a little...suspect) (but, really, it's not). I mean, if we're going to be honest (and I think we must), this whole blog is about me processing my experiences as a music therapist. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I'm determined (determined, I say!) to convince the music therapy world that we need to make processing a regular part of our work routine. And, yes, I'm sure I've probably said all this before, but I'm saying it again. And this time I'm going to try to be more succinct (stop snickering, I can do this). Okay. Here goes:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5 Reasons Why You Need to Process in Music Therapy: </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. Processing helps you move your work to a deeper level.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Put simply: </b>processing helps you move<i> beyond observation</i> to <i>trying to understand</i> what you’re seeing, experiencing, hearing, noticing in a session. Matt Logan wisely pointed out that a part of processing is looking at the relationships between the therapist, the client(s) and the music. It's so easy to get caught up in “what do I do? What should I do next?” and completely forget to look at what’s there in the session in a deeper way.</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. It helps you gain a better understanding of what you're doing and why. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thinking through your sessions and trying to understand what happened in your sessions helps you get a stronger grip on the ever-present question: </span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is music therapy?</span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The longer you practice, the more your understanding of the work you do evolves and your answers to that question change and grow more meaningful. Processing asks you to consider: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">what <i>is</i> the role of music in my work? What is <i>therapy</i>? Who are the <i>people</i> I'm supporting? </span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The more deeply you understand your work the better able you are to communicate why a client, a facility, an organization, a state, a country, the world needs music therapy. </span> </blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. We all have feelings about our clients, and it's important to consider their impact on the therapy process. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You have feelings about your clients, I have feelings about my clients. It's a normal part of therapy called <a href="http://ct.counseling.org/2013/09/attending-to-countertransference/" target="_blank">countertransference</a>. It doesn't matter who you work with (infants right on up through elders) and it doesn't matter how long you've been working and
it doesn't even matter what approach you use. It's all part of the process. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the things is: just because you aren't necessarily having <i>strong</i> feelings or
reactions you might think of as being "negative" (sad, angry,
frustrated) it doesn't mean that your feelings aren't getting in the way of your
clients' growth. Of course, I'm not saying that they <i>are</i> - just inviting your awareness that they have the potential to do so. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I'll use myself as an example: </b></span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I pause and reflect on the folks who are in my caseload, I notice there are some clients who
stick with me <i>all the time</i>, because the work with them is difficult (or
because they appeal to me in some particular way), there are some folks who I
avoid thinking about, some who I forget about entirely, and some whose sessions
I truly enjoy. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Processing helps me step back and look at the larger picture of
what’s happening. Otherwise, I can easily get bogged down in the "session notes version" of things (you know...what happened first, then what happened) and never move beyond it. </span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Processing means I start to be curious and ask questions:</span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hm,<i> why</i> do some of my clients appeal to me more than others? Why do some not? What is it about some people
that makes me completely forget about them until I see them in a session? Why is a particular client frustrating me <i>so much</i>? What's <i>my</i> role in this? Is s/he reminding me of someone else in my life? Is my complete joy in working with a particular group of clients making it hard for them to explore feelings of anger they may be feeling toward me (whether it's about me or not)? Is <i>my</i> discomfort about a specific topic obvious to my clients to the point that they're they avoiding looking at it to "please" or protect <i>me</i>? </span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBGT9WGvuPBQ4tW5j_kqLvdTN7sSOxaYAtAOikMNIQkCzWpAQ_iGuLgHRNlw7C54jUYqq7QVP_fssnXHVnWcTTj82MTxryJ4eyOV5TaAPOnynccPLBPH75TIQR2cMqfI3lGY8feOuuXPh/s1600/thinking+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. Processing helps you realize that music therapy doesn’t
usually happen in one single session </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBGT9WGvuPBQ4tW5j_kqLvdTN7sSOxaYAtAOikMNIQkCzWpAQ_iGuLgHRNlw7C54jUYqq7QVP_fssnXHVnWcTTj82MTxryJ4eyOV5TaAPOnynccPLBPH75TIQR2cMqfI3lGY8feOuuXPh/s1600/thinking+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBGT9WGvuPBQ4tW5j_kqLvdTN7sSOxaYAtAOikMNIQkCzWpAQ_iGuLgHRNlw7C54jUYqq7QVP_fssnXHVnWcTTj82MTxryJ4eyOV5TaAPOnynccPLBPH75TIQR2cMqfI3lGY8feOuuXPh/s1600/thinking+girl.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, okay, depending on <i>where</i> you provide services, sometimes it does. In general, though, processing helps you start to put things together (from one session to the next, over a
period of time of working with someone, etc.). If you’re someone who tends to
use an activity/therapeutic music experience approach, it’s important to think
about what’s going on from moment to moment in a session that you might not have
thought to look at. A <a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2008/11/paying-attention-in-music-therapy.html" target="_blank">process paper</a> can help you do this and encourages you to ask questions, such as: </span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What happened? What patterns am I noticing in our sessions? Then you move on to: What was I <i>hoping</i> to do with this particular person/group?
How did it go? What do I think about that? </span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5. Processing with a clinical supervisor helps you see your blindspots.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You don’t see your blindspots. That’s why they’re called blindspots. You don’t know what you don’t know! And, like anybody else, you don’t think to ask yourself something you wouldn’t have thought or known to ask yourself. </span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>And that's okay! </b>That's <i>why</i> there's such a thing called <a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2009/02/supervision-part-i-professional.html" target="_blank">professional clinical supervision!</a> Yaaay!</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Processing <i>with</i> a clinical supervisor helps you begin to see things you might not have looked at before. It doesn't mean you're a bad therapist. It just means that having an extra set of eyes and ears (who happen to have more experience) will help you think about things you hadn't thought to think about before. (Shout out to <a href="http://musictherapyroundtable.com/2014/03/episode-52-the-art-of-processing.html" target="_blank">Michelle Erfurt</a> for your great point that you
didn’t really look at stuff to the extent you did until you had supervision!)</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>So, lovely music therapists: </b>What new and unexpected thoughts are <i>you</i> thinking about your clients and about your work? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">January marks the beginning of our annual Social Media Advocacy campaign, spear headed by the incomparable <a href="http://www.musictherapymaven.com/" target="_blank">Kimberly Sena Moore</a>. This year I'm feeling a particularly strong affinity for our theme, which is exploring and honoring our unique identity as music therapists, as I'm finding myself in the distressing position of having to fight to keep a long-term music therapy position in our facility, a battle which we may be losing. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be working hard over the next few days to clearly and succinctly articulate to the state decision-makers exactly what, how and why the Music Therapy Unit offers the men and women in our developmental center something they are unable to get from any other service. While I'm doing that, I'm truly grateful to Judy Simpson (who has written a guest post honoring this month) for helping me get started by so beautiful saying...</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We are…MUSIC
THERAPISTS!”<u><o:p></o:p></u></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Judy Simpson, MT-BC</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Director of Government
Relations, American Music Therapy Association<b><u><o:p></o:p></u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When
I started my career as a music therapist in 1983, it was not uncommon for me to
describe my profession by comparing it to other professions which were more
well-known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If people gave me a
puzzled look after I proudly stated, “I use music to change behaviors,” I would
add, “Music therapy is like physical therapy and occupational therapy, but we
use music as the tool to help our patients.” Over the years as I gained more
knowledge and experience, I obviously made changes and improvements to my
response when asked, “What is music therapy?” My enhanced explanations took
into consideration not only the audience but also growth of the profession and
progress made in a variety of research and clinical practice areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
best revisions to my description of music therapy, however, have grown out of
government relations and advocacy work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The need to clearly define the profession for state legislators and
state agency officials as part of the <b>AMTA and CBMT State Recognition
Operational Plan (http://www.musictherapy.org/policy/stateadvocacy/)</b> has forced a serious
review of the language we use to describe music therapy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The process of seeking legislative and
regulatory recognition of the profession and national credential provides an
exceptional opportunity to finally be specific about who we are and what we do
as music therapists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For
far too long we have tried to fit music therapy into a pre-existing description
of professions that address similar treatment needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we need to do is provide a clear, distinct, and very
specific narrative of music therapy so that all stakeholders and decision-makers
“get it.” Included below are a few initial examples that support our efforts in
defining music therapy separate from our peers that work in other healthcare
and education professions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><!--[endif]--><i>Music
therapist’s qualifications are unique due to the requirements to be a
professionally trained musician in addition to training and clinical experience
in practical applications of biology, anatomy, psychology, and the social and
behavioral sciences.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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</span><!--[endif]--><i>Music
therapists actively create, apply, and manipulate various music elements
through live, improvised, adapted, individualized, or recorded music to address
physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals of all ages.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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</span><!--[endif]--><i>Music
therapists structure the use of both instrumental and vocal music strategies to
facilitate change and to assist clients achieve functional outcomes related to
health and education needs.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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</span><!--[endif]--><i>In
contrast, when OTs, Audiologists, and SLPs report using music as a part of
treatment, it involves specific, isolated techniques within a pre-determined
protocol, using one pre-arranged aspect of music to address specific and
limited issues. This differs from music therapists’ qualifications to provide
interventions that utilize all music elements in real-time to address issues
across multiple developmental domains concurrently.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we
“celebrate” <b>2014’s Social Media Advocacy Month http://musictherapystaterecognition.blogspot.com)</b>, I invite you to join
us in the acknowledgement of music therapy as a unique profession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Focused on the ultimate goal of
improved state recognition with increased awareness of benefits and increased
access to services, we have an exciting adventure ahead of us. Please join us
on this advocacy journey as we proudly declare, “We are Music Therapists!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>About
the Author: Judy Simpson is the Director of Government Relations for the <b>American
Music Therapy Association (</b></i><span style="color: #001982;"><i><a href="http://www.musictherapy.org/">http://www.musictherapy.org</a></i></span><a href="http://www.musictherapy.org/"><span style="color: black;"><i>). She can be reached at </i></span><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></a><a href="mailto:simpson@musictherapy.org"><span style="color: #001982;"><i>simpson@musictherapy.org</i></span></a></span></div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-49407722530012891332013-12-01T21:13:00.001-05:002017-02-26T13:16:22.221-05:00"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free" <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It started some months ago when I, quite by accident, discovered that one of the men I work with (he's autistic, he doesn't use speech to communicate) can indicate "yes" or "no" by pointing to (well, usually by grasping and releasing) one of two index cards. He doesn't need my help (other than to hold the cards in front of him). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He doesn't always do it. In fact, sometimes he very pointedly chooses <i>not</i> to do it. Sometimes he crumples up the cards and tosses them aside. Which is why they're laminated.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I think, understandably, his feelings about communicating and being heard are deeply conflicted. Even if he were to begin pointing at more words and letters to communicate, the likelihood he'd be listened to is...well...slim. The people in his life are largely committed to seeing him as severely disabled. Period. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We've been sitting in that unsettled, anxious, frustrated, what-the-hell-do-we-do-now state for a while. I can see he wants to say more. He picks up the letter boards I keep nearby, but he gets upset and then tosses them on the ground.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Aside from trying to come to terms with the whole idea of actually communicating with me and having me understand him- overwhelming in and of itself for him, I think- there's the fact that it probably won't change his life in any appreciable way. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When it was time to stop we walked back to the unit and I dropped him off in his group (letting him know when I planned to return for his next session). I went into the office and signed him back in, and then I walked around so I wouldn't upset him by walking back through his group. He doesn't tend to like when we have to end.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But he knew I was there. So he left his group (much to the dismay of his staff) and wanted to follow me. He doesn't usually do this, so I sat with him for a little while in the back hallway. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I wasn't sure what to say, but the words that ran through my mind were the title of a Billy Taylor song, <i>I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free</i>. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I didn't remember much of the song, and I wasn't sure it was something I could conjure up sitting there in the hallway. All I could think to offer him was the reminder that "nobody can take away who we are inside." </span></div>
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We sat quietly as the shift changed and after a few minutes he got up and headed back in to his day area. </div>
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Sometimes this work is really hard. Really, really hard. </div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-49019997082159407492013-04-21T16:06:00.001-04:002013-04-21T16:06:45.850-04:00Well, what do you know?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was minding my own business, journaling away last Sunday morning, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">listening to (yet another excellent episode of) <a href="http://www.onbeing.org/" target="_blank">On Being</a>, where <a href="http://www.onbeing.org/about" target="_blank">Krista Tippett</a> was <a href="http://www.onbeing.org/program/our-origins-and-the-weight-of-space-with-lawrence-krauss/5216" target="_blank">interviewing Lawrence Krauss</a>, a theoretical physicist. The aspect of their conversation that caught my attention was this comment:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Mysteries are what it's all about. In fact, not knowing is much more exciting than knowing, right? Because it means there's much more to learn. The search is often much more exciting than the finding. Mysteries are what drive us as human beings. </i></span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He extended the idea by noting:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>One of the values of science is to make us uncomfortable. Somehow that's supposed to be a bad thing for many people, being uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable is a good thing because it forces you to reassess your place in the cosmos. And being too comfortable means you've become complacent and you stop thinking. </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I listened to him I realized something kind of interesting: I think <i>not knowing</i> is what has kept me passionately in this field for so long. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Think about it a second. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we think we <i>know</i> (the answer, what's going on, what someone's problem is, how things should look, who someone should be, and so on and so forth) we are no longer learning, no longer curious. We stop at the surface, and, because we<i> know</i> then we presume there's nothing else to think about or to find out.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we're new professionals we either <u>think</u> we <i>know</i> or we think we're <u>expected</u> to <i>know</i> most of what there is to <i>know</i> about music therapy. What we often don't realize is that all we <i>know</i> are the very basics- that there's a whole world of <i>knowing</i> we haven't even begun to come in contact with yet!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It took me a lot of years (and a lot of <a href="http://musictherapyroundtable.com/2013/04/episode-41-professional-supervision-with-roia-rafieyan.html" target="_blank">clinical supervision</a>) to finally understand that my real job as a music therapist is to go out there and ask my clients what <u>they</u> need me to <i>know</i> and learn in order to better support them. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So many times in my younger (pre-clinical supervision) music therapy days I went into sessions <i>knowing</i> what needed to be done to "help" my clients. I didn't ask, I wasn't curious about what was going on or why my clients might need to be or do things the way they were being or doing things. They were disabled. There was a list of things I <i>knew</i> about disabled people. There was a list of ways music was supposed to "help" disabled people. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I went in with my music therapy interventions, applied them, and waited for the activities to work. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what I was taught (or at least this is what I <u>understood</u> of what I was taught). And when my interventions didn't work I was frustrated with my clients and wondered, "what the hell? Why isn't this working? This is what I was told to do!"</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Somehow I had inadvertently stepped into the medical model of music therapy: "Here are the symptoms associated with a particular population of people. Liberally apply music therapy activities to alleviate said symptoms and to increase skills. Music is, after all, intrinsically reinforcing. Success." </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In other words, I'd go into sessions with the attitude of "I <i>know</i> what the problem is, and I <i>know</i> the solution." Except that I wasn't having a lot of success.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally I got myself some clinical supervision, and I learned about process-oriented, relationally-based music therapy. But when I stopped doing activities and began to use an improvisational approach, I was terrified! I had no idea what to do- <u>ever</u>. I was convinced I'd failed as a music therapist, because I didn't <i>know</i> anything any more! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Add to that fact that I work in an institution, and institutions are notoriously entrenched in the <i>all-knowing</i> medical and behavioral model of understanding people. Sitting there quietly with someone (because I didn't always <i>know</i> what to do) and singing about what that person was doing or what I thought it might be about (as opposed to gathering everyone in a circle- or trying to- and forcing them to play instruments with hand-over-hand assistance) was an open invitation to criticism and "why are you just sitting there doing nothing, Roia?" </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I trusted my clinical supervisor who told me "trust the process". </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As time went on, I discovered the joy in finding out who my clients actually were and began to appreciate the opportunity to get to <i>know</i> them in a more authentic and human way. I got more comfortable with the idea of going into a session and <i>not knowing </i>- <i>not knowing</i> what was going to happen, <i>not knowing </i>(yet) the person in front of me, <i>not knowing</i> exactly what music would be needed that day, <i>not knowing</i> if I was hearing my client properly, <i>not knowing</i> if what I offered was going to be accepted or even make sense. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that engaged me in the work of becoming and being a music therapist like nothing ever had! I began to understand music therapy from a whole new perspective: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are artists, and we are scientists, and art and science are not about <i>knowing</i>. They're about trying something out (an idea, a hypothesis, some direction) and discovering, or messing up, making mistakes, and figuring out better questions to ask. They're about <i>not knowing</i>, about wondering and curiosity, and finding out what we don't realize we <i>don't know</i>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's amazing to me! And waking up every morning with the thought, "I wonder what will happen today with my clients," and being completely curious excited about that, is what drives my passion for music therapy. Even after doing this for 26 years!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To borrow from <a href="http://krauss.faculty.asu.edu/biography/" target="_blank">Lawrence Krauss</a> again:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>In fact, what's really beautiful is every time we make a discovery in science, we end up having more questions than answers.</i></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes! </span>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-70171843882025863582013-04-14T10:17:00.000-04:002013-04-21T15:37:01.286-04:00A book chapter, a presentation, and an interview<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whew! What a fascinating and busy few months it's been! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aside from my usual and intense immersion in work, there have been some nifty things happening. Here's what's been up:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, I am extremely honored to be a part of a new book, edited by <a href="http://www.sru.edu/academics/colleges/chfpa/music/musictherapy/Pages/SusanHadley.aspx" target="_blank">Sue Hadley</a>, who is one of the people I greatly appreciate and admire, because she's willing to talk about the stuff nobody else talks about. This time she's talking about race and culture in terms of how it's experienced by music therapists. Here's the description of the book from <a href="http://www.barcelonapublishers.com/experiencing-race-as-a-music-therapist-personal-narratives/" target="_blank">Barcelona Publishers</a>:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Experiencing Race as a Music Therapist: Personal Narratives is a compilation of critically engaging narratives that grew out of conversations with 17 music therapists living in different parts of the world, from various “racial” groups, about their experiences of their racialized identities in the therapy setting. The music therapists describe the raced and cultural contexts in which they were born and describe the racial demographics of the places they have lived at various times in their lives. The countries in which the individual music therapists spent their formative years include Australia, Canada, Iran, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, with many of them also having traveled to other countries. The music therapists discussed their specific experiences of their racialized identities when they were studying music therapy and how they experienced their racialized identities in their professional lives. Many of them also described the differences they were aware of in terms of how they experienced themselves as raced or how they experienced the therapeutic relationship when they were working with people of their own “race” compared with working with people who were from a different “race.” From these narratives, we can see that our life experiences shape how we understand ourselves and others, our assumptions and biases, and the effort with which we form relationships with different groups of people. The music therapists in this book have shared their experiences in the hope that we can learn how to sit in our discomfort, without judgment, lowering our defenses, in order to learn more about ourselves and others, so that we can deepen our understandings and our relationships across racialized lines.</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been slowly reading through the narratives, and they are engaging and thought-provoking. I encourage you to check out this book. It is a wonderful invitation to deeper reflection and conversation about a topic that does not generally come up in our field.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second, I spent a lot of time trying to organize a presentation I did for the most recent <a href="http://www.mar-amta.org/events/conferences/" target="_blank">Mid-Atlantic Regional music therapy conference</a>, <i>"Countertransference Songs: Another Way to Listen" </i>(you know- countertransference- one of my favorite topics!). Here is how I described the session:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Far from simply being a means by which to
convey skills and the general expression of feelings, music can be used on
another level to better understand our clients- especially those who don’t use
speech as their main communication modality. Paying attention to the music that
emerges in sessions- for example, the sounds we typically use in response to
particular clients, or songs that suddenly pop into our minds as we work
intensely with someone - can offer us another avenue by which to understand
what is going on within the therapy relationship.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i>Starting from the premise that the therapy
relationship is the healing element, the focus and, more significantly, the
work of dynamically oriented music therapy is to look at and explore the
relationships that develop between the therapist, client and music.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>As active participants in the therapeutic
relationship, music therapists experience a range of countertransference
responses when working with clients, some of which are explored in supervision
and some in personal therapy. In this presentation we will start<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from the assumption that
countertransference includes all of the feelings, reactions, fantasies,
thoughts and ideas the therapist experiences in relation to clients, either in
response to how a client/group is perceiving him/her, or based on the
therapist’s own personal history. Of course, one of the ways
countertransference may be expressed within a music therapy relationship is
through the music. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Two case studies will be presented, the first
of which will describe how musical countertransference became apparent within
the context of the type of music improvised in a client’s sessions. The second
will follow a lengthy series of countertransference-generated songs that
emerged as a part of the therapy relationship. In both cases, exploring the
therapist’s musical responses moved the therapeutic process toward deeper
understanding of the clients’ internal worlds.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I actually only ended up presenting one case study (since it had all the elements I described). The biggest challenge was trying distill many years worth of therapy (and tons and tons of examples) into 90 minutes! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As often happens, in the process of reviewing the (volumes of) notes and the songs and the music that came out of this man's sessions, I gained a lot of insight into some of the ways my countertransference reactions caused me to miss some aspects of what may have been going on with him at various points in the therapy. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honestly, there was just so much, and it's such a complex topic, I'm wanting to present this material again within a longer context (meaning, maybe a CMTE proposal is in order). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, the third exciting thing was being a guest on the music therapy world's answer to <a href="http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-view/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">The View</span></a>- yes, I got to chat with the lovely ladies of <a href="http://musictherapyroundtable.com/" target="_blank">The Music Therapy Roundtable</a>! I mean, look! They even have their very own mug (and, see, they sent me one too). How cool! Heck, how organized! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got to blather on and on with <a href="http://rachelrambach.com/" target="_blank">Rachel Rambach</a> (of <a href="http://listenlearnmusic.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">Listen & Learn Music</span></a> fame) and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;"><a href="http://musictherapytween.com/" target="_blank">Michelle Erfurt</a> </span>(the <a href="http://musictherapytween.com/boom-tote-2" target="_blank">original Boom Tote designer</a> herself!) - their third partner, <a href="http://www.musictherapymaven.com/" target="_blank">Kimberly Sena Moore</a> was in transit so she couldn't join us - about one of my other favorite topics: <a href="http://musictherapyroundtable.com/2013/04/episode-41-professional-supervision-with-roia-rafieyan.html" target="_blank">professional clinical supervision</a>! And you'll be thrilled (I'm sure) to know that I discovered I have a shocking tendency to rely on the word "um" while being interviewed. Oy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, if you've taken it to the next level and you're a <a href="http://musictherapypro.com/" target="_blank">Music Therapy Pro</a> subscriber, you can listen to yet more of my incessant chatter on their Pro podcast. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that's what's been happening in my land. I'd love to hear what's going on in yours! </span></div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-10091874015027872942013-02-17T10:15:00.000-05:002013-03-11T20:46:43.629-04:00Fifty shades of "no"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been sitting and stewing over the fact that one of my clients decided not to come to his session yesterday. Obviously, it's not the end of the world, and it's mostly likely he'll be back. But I know he's upset with me and he's struggling with a lot of feelings because of the difficult work we're doing right now.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Occasionally, clients with whom I've developed a fairly stable relationship (and I can tell you, that has usually come after quite a long time of working together- usually years), who I can almost always count on to be there for their sessions, refuse to come to music therapy. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And when I say "refuse to come to music therapy" I mean I've walked over to their building, signed them out, collected their outer gear, walked in to the group where they spend their days (along with the rest of the people who live with them and along with their staff people), and asked, "would you like to come to music therapy today?" </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd like to pause here to say what a vulnerable moment this is- for me anyway- as a music therapist. I mean, I'm standing there, exposed, and, honestly, it's like inviting someone out on a date in front of their entire family. Only it's therapy (which is just as intimate as a date, if not more so at times) and the other people in their group may have feelings about <i>this</i> particular person being invited to go to music therapy (when they themselves are <i>not</i> being invited) and their support staff who usually have their own feelings about the person who's scheduled for music therapy as well as a series of opinions about me and what I represent (sometimes good and sometimes not so much). Additionally, support staff have a series of beliefs and understandings (usually passed down from their supervisors) about their role in clients heading out to programs (such as music therapy). Commonly, those beliefs and understandings involve making sure the person is clean and tidy and goes and does what s/he is supposed to be doing. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, most of the time, the folks I've worked with for a long time jump up and come over on their own and then pull me to the door. Others go and sit in their wheelchairs, waiting for me to take them out. Some people who have a harder time initiating actions or simply have a lot of physical involvement making it more difficult for them to stand and greet me, wait for me to approach them and let me know they want music therapy that day by making an effort to get up and go with me.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the years I've discovered a large (and important) part of my work is figuring out how my clients (most of whom don't use speech) communicate "no". Some people (the ones who usually hop up to meet me) simply don't get up when I appear and remain seated. Some (who need more physical assistance) let me know by not allowing me- or just not helping me- to put on their coats. Others avoid going toward the door, and I've had a couple folks pretend (vigorously) to be asleep. A few of my clients will come part of the way with me and then stop repeatedly or keep going in the "wrong" direction, and still others come to the session, wet themselves and have to return to their buildings to get their clothing changed. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The gentleman I went to pick up yesterday is someone who usually gets up the minute he sees me and comes quickly over to take me by the wrist and pulls me toward the door. His "no" came after a particularly hard series of sessions in which I've been challenging his way of thinking about me and about the role of music therapy. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His "no" started when he stayed seated, looking at me with a rather unhappy face, leaning his head on his hand. I wondered (out loud to him) if he had a headache (it was pretty loud) or if he was tired (sometimes he doesn't sleep too well). I waited a short time and then I told him I'd go out for a few minutes, come back and check again with him. "If you still don't want to come, that's fine, and I'll check in with you again next week."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I went and stood in the hallway for three or four minutes and then tromped back in with my armload of sweatshirt, coat, gloves and a hat for him. He still didn't move. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mercifully, his support staff didn't tell him to "get up" (which is what usually happens, and, when they do that, he usually stands up and comes with me, but I'm well aware the entire time that he would not have been there had they not <i>told</i> him to be, which, I think we'd agree, is an awful feeling- for both of us). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I offered to sit with him for a bit, because sometimes he actually needs some more transition time (or to just think about whether he really wants to skip music therapy that day- and it's very rare that he does), but he still didn't get up. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just as I was about to turn and leave, he got up and walked past me to the table (where there was more space for me to sit with him and also plastic blocks he likes to hold). He couldn't find any blocks (they were all zipped into a bag, and I guess he didn't want to mess with it just then), and he went to sit down in another chair. This time there was space next to him, so I sat down and pulled off my hat. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I invited him to let me know if he wanted me to leave by looking toward me and if he wanted me to sit with him to indicate this by tapping my arm. He glanced my way, fleetingly, twice and made no move to grab my hand (which is what he generally does). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Okay then. I'll check in with you next week. I'm glad you let me know you didn't want to come today, and I'm glad you let me know you'd rather I don't sit with you right now." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wished the guys a decent weekend and headed out into the hall, kind of hoping he'd change his mind and come after me. He did not. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I headed back to the Music Room, pondering the whole thing, reminding myself that he was likely wanting me to feel as rejected as he'd probably felt in our session. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But then the inevitable worry began: Did I say something in the wrong way in his last session? Did I accidentally offend him? Did I hurt him by saying something he wasn't ready to hear yet? Is it irreparable? Will he give up and stop coming to music therapy? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I was pondering these questions, yet again, this morning, I realized, not only is this the usual litany I go through when a client chooses to not come to music therapy on a given day, but my confusion- my wondering what happened, did I do something wrong, will this person leave- probably very much mirrors the feelings my clients have had with regard to their families placing them in an institution.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps (along with "no") I was "hearing" his (and many of my clients') experience of <a href="http://www.ambiguousloss.com/books/ambiguous_loss.php" target="_blank">ambiguous loss</a>, which is a loss that doesn't have clear closure and around which there are questions and a great deal of uncertainty. It's often thought of in terms of <i>families'</i> feelings regarding a child who is disabled or mentally ill or a parent or spouse who has Alzheimer's (for example), but there is little, if anything, written about the experience of the person whose family sees them as "gone" or "lost" to them because of their disability. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I arrived back in the Music Room, I found myself singing the following song, and once again, I felt amazed at the way our minds speak to each other through music.</span><br />
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-26043653481886105792013-01-31T22:26:00.000-05:002013-02-01T22:37:38.415-05:00"What's your story?" 2013 Social Media Advocacy Month<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's <a href="http://www.musictherapymaven.com/social-media-advocacy-month-2013/" target="_blank">Social Media Advocacy Month</a> again, and this year we're talking about connections and the stories we share about music therapy. Or, put another way, we might say we're looking at how our stories define us and then help us to connect with each other. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether or not we're aware of it, we're always telling stories. Stories help us describe (among other things) what we do, who we are, what we believe, how we've come to be, <i>who</i> we've come to be. And stories connect (and sometimes disconnect) us to/from ourselves, to/from our history, our families, our friends, our clients, our communities, our cultures. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this moment, let's focus on the stories we tell ourselves. Let's consider the stories we choose and use to help us form a professional identity.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way I understand it, our identity as music therapists is a compilation of the many stories we have about ourselves: as musicians, as people, as therapists, as family members, as community members, as service users, as learners.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the process we consider our beliefs about music, about therapy, how we define music therapy, what we understand about health/illness, how music fits into health/illness, about our clients, our biases, what it means to help someone else, what is/isn't helpful, what is meaningful, what we embrace, what we avoid. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And our stories evolve even further as we give thought to how we choose to present our professional selves/stories to our clients, to our places of employment, to supervisors, to potential users of our services, to curious people, to lawmakers, to our larger communities. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of these elements start with the stories we tell ourselves. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To that end, I'd like to share a list of questions I put together a few years ago for a presentation I did for a self-care series at the <a href="http://www.kardoninstitute.org/" target="_blank">Kardon Institute for the Arts</a>. My hope is the questions will help you become more aware of your own stories, how you decide which stories you'd like to share, how you choose to share them, and with whom. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What does it mean to be
a music therapist? </b></span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who am I, or who do I think I need to be as a music therapist? How have I constructed my music therapy identity?</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do I think there's a "right" way or a "wrong" way to tell my stories as a music therapist?</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What does it mean about me if I present myself in the "wrong" way?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much does my history/personality/temperament
influence who I am as a music therapist?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How comfortable am I when I
feel I have to defend my role as a music therapist? In sessions? At
work? In team meetings? What if someone doesn't like my story?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How comfortable am I with
regard to my skills as a musician, my skills as a therapist? And does that
level of comfort (of lack thereof) have an impact on my identity as a
music therapist? In what way(s), if at all, does this change my story?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In what ways do my clients’ needs and expectations of me shape who I am as a music therapist? How do we weave our stories together?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do I believe makes
someone a “good” music therapist? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do my race, culture,
gender, sexuality, abilities/disabilities inform who I am as a music therapist?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do my beliefs and/or
prejudices with regard to race, culture, gender, sexuality,
abilities/disabilities impact my work?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do I feel/respond when
someone outside of my field defines my profession or makes assumptions
about music therapy? What happens when someone else tells my story? What if our stories conflict?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How has my identity as a
music therapist changed and evolved as I’ve moved through my 20,
30s, 40s, 50s, etc.? What are the ways in which my story has changed as I've grown through significant life changes (marriage, birth, loss, death, serious illness, natural/human made disasters, etc.)? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I am a music therapist practicing in a culture that is not my culture of origin, how
has this affected my identity as a professional?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How committed am I to a
specific identity or role (or story) I play as a music therapist? Am I
comfortable expanding my identity/role? Is it okay to change the story? Under what circumstances? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much of and which aspects of our clients' stories are okay for me to hear? And which aspects frighten me or make me uncomfortable? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What roles do I unconsciously assign to my clients?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do my beliefs about what
constitutes music therapy affect the stories I tell about being a music therapist?</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11.0pt;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><i> (Copyright 2010 Roia Rafieyan)</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;"><em><br /></em></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;"><em>Introduction: Advocacy --> Recognition --> Access</em></span></div>
<em>Since 2005, the <a href="http://www.musictherapy.org/policy/stateadvocacy/">American Music Therapy Association</a> and the <a href="http://www.cbmt.org/advocacy/">Certification Board for Music Therapists</a> have collaborated on a State Recognition Operational Plan. The primary purpose of this plan is to get music therapy and our MT-BC credential recognized by individual states so that citizens can more easily access our services. The AMTA Government Relations staff and CBMT Regulatory Affairs staff provide guidance and technical support to state task forces throughout the country as they work towards state recognition. To date, their work has resulted in over 35 active state task forces, 2 licensure bills passed in 2011, 1 licensure bill passed in 2012, and an estimated 7 bills being filed in 2013 that seek to create either title protection or a licensure for music therapy. This month, our focus is on YOU and on getting you excited about advocacy.</em>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-41385598555711180162012-11-27T11:54:00.004-05:002013-02-17T13:34:53.422-05:00Wow! It was an honor just to be nominated!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.mastersincounseling.org/top_resource_for_counselors.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Top Resource for Counselors" border="0" height="144" src="http://www.mastersincounseling.org/top_resource_for_counselors.png" width="144" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">A few weeks ago, a kind woman by the name of Rebecca from the <a href="http://www.mastersincounseling.org/" target="_blank">Masters in Counseling</a> website, sent me a note to tell me my blog had been nominated as one of 100 Best Resources for Counselors. Who knew? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And then, a short while later, she sent me a congratulatory note. How neat! And I'm in such fine company to boot. Thanks, Rebecca, and thanks to the kind folks who nominated me, and, mostly, thanks to <em>you</em>, you lovely readers you! I very much appreciate (and am humbled by) your willingness to slog through my commentary and carryings on about my music therapy experiences.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">As it happens, a few other <a href="http://www.mastersincounseling.org/counseling-sites.html" target="_blank">favorite bloggers are also on this list</a>, so check them all out at some point. </span></div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-20752584111984982072012-11-21T20:28:00.001-05:002012-11-21T20:28:22.269-05:00Bringing it all back to "Do"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I live in New Jersey, and everywhere I went during the two weeks after mega storm Sandy (work, the grocery store, the library, the gas station), people asked me, "Did you lose power?" </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I was struck by the metaphor contained in the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> question: <i>"Did you lose power?" </i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People in this area experienced, quite literally, <i>being</i>- let alone feeling- "powerless" (on a lot of different levels). They struggled through "power failure" and had to wait for their "power to be restored." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many of my students at Montclair experienced "loss of power", leaving them sounding somewhat rattled when we returned to class. A music therapist I know described her disabled clients' distress as they coped with yet another storm requiring their temporary relocation to safer and warmer living quarters (we had Hurricane Irene last year, along with a freak snow storm at the end of October, both of which caused a lot of power outage and flooding). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In pondering our collective experience, I got to thinking, as I tend to do, about how this connects to our work as music therapists- how we react to the unbalancing effect of going through a frightening experience such as a major hurricane (for example). </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I played around in my mind with this idea of power loss and restoration, I thought about how we in music therapy are, essentially, working in a musical way to restore power, intra- and inter-personally. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, sure, this may be sort of a weird way to say it, but, if I were to say this using musical terms, I guess I'd be saying that in music therapy we're</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> working toward "bring(ing) us back to 'Do'." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>[A special thank you to <a href="http://www.musictherapyworks.com/" target="_blank">MJ Landaker</a> for her <a href="http://musictxandme.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-importance-of-music-theory.html" target="_blank">recent post </a>about the important connection between music theory and music therapy. It certainly helps to understand why music is so "powerful" (if you will).] </i></span></div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-57592829031783366552012-09-25T08:39:00.000-04:002012-09-25T08:39:40.051-04:00Celebrating National Psychotherapy Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fN__3sEVj27gxtdd2c5RAcJNd2t79bYfOss3ikalVRYpBxCYYM36G4gKPB4iGQsWEqu8_Y_MWIya-zoiz0V_L5oGGZaR_e4hgP2S8DUdcVt0QQbUNkcrd8u2U1d07Gc6KL69vsV-uGcq/s1600/548312_232262973566098_922676127_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fN__3sEVj27gxtdd2c5RAcJNd2t79bYfOss3ikalVRYpBxCYYM36G4gKPB4iGQsWEqu8_Y_MWIya-zoiz0V_L5oGGZaR_e4hgP2S8DUdcVt0QQbUNkcrd8u2U1d07Gc6KL69vsV-uGcq/s320/548312_232262973566098_922676127_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's <a href="http://www.nationalpsychotherapyday.com/" target="_blank">National Psychotherapy Day</a> today- the first one ever- and I'll be celebrating by heading, just as I do every other week, to my therapist's office. Why? Because I firmly believe getting my own therapy is an important part of my job as a music therapist. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knowing who I am and what kind of emotional baggage I'm carrying around with me helps me be present and attentive to the clients I serve when I show up to provide music therapy.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When my clients do their best to avoid hearing me invite them to look at a belief they're strongly committed to (sometimes even going so far as to literally stick their fingers in their ears), when they fall asleep mid-session because something we're addressing feels way too overwhelming, when they fight mightily against change...I have a pretty good idea of what it's like. I've felt and done the same (okay, maybe I don't actually stick my fingers in my ears or fall asleep in therapy, but I can be pretty darned noisy if I don't want to know something). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll be honest with you: I am uncomfortable recommending any music therapist I know who hasn't spent at least some time looking at his/her own issues in therapy. I mean, what are we communicating to our clients if we think <i>we're</i> above getting our own therapy? If we, essentially, perpetuate the attitude of stigmatization associated with taking care of one's emotional and mental health? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the (many) reasons I loved the HBO show <a href="http://www.hbo.com/in-treatment/index.html#/in-treatment/about/article/about.html/eNrjcmbO0CzLTEnNd8xLzKksyUx2zs8rSa0oUc-PSYEJBSSmp-ol5qYy5zMXsjGyMXIyMrJJJ5aW5BfkJFbalhSVpgIAXbkXOA==" target="_blank">In Treatment</a> was that the writers made sure the therapist, <a href="http://www.hbo.com/in-treatment/index.html#/in-treatment/cast-and-crew/dr-paul-weston/bio/dr-paul-weston.html" target="_blank">Paul Weston</a>, went (even though he was kicking and screaming the whole way and was more of a pain in his own sessions than any of his clients ever were in theirs) for his own therapy! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Psychotherapy for therapists goes beyond the usual nice, self-care sorts of things we tend to talk about in music therapy circles (you know...the whole getting a massage, taking regular vacations, taking a bubble bath and the like). It's an ongoing commitment to self-discovery, a recognition that, yes, we can and do get in our own (as well as our clients') ways, and figuring out how to (much as we may bravely resist) make changes in our perceptions and ideas about our selves, our lives, and our relationships. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, good people, with a grateful nod to <a href="http://www.ryanhowes.net/" target="_blank">Ryan Howes</a> (a blogging buddy who shares his insights over at the <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-therapy" target="_blank">Psychology Today blogs</a> as well as being a contributing editor at the <a href="http://www.psychotherapynetworker.org/" target="_blank">Psychotherapy Networker</a>), I invite you to consider how you might join in the acknowledgement and celebration of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Psychotherapy-Day/190648471060882" target="_blank">National Psychotherapy Day</a>. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After all, mental health and self-awareness are most certainly worthy of celebration!</span><br />
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-52569995649891289922012-08-18T17:29:00.001-04:002012-08-18T17:30:09.637-04:00My life and times as a disappointing music therapist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The session that wasn't:</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Walking to the session. Pausing to pull me toward somebody's car and tapping on the trunk:</span></div>
"Um, no. We can not go in somebody's car. Please don't tap at it, or you'll set off an alarm and that would probably not be a good thing." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Slowing down and sitting on a bench:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Yes, I see that you don't want to go to do your session today, and you'd rather we sit outside on a bench."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still on the bench:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Yes, I realize I'm frustrating you, but music therapy is what I can offer. I can not take you for a ride, or for an escape, in someone else's car or in my car. I can, however, be your music therapist, and you can come to your session, and we can talk about it in the music."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In front of the Music Room door, but not going in:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"So, okay. You're not going to go into the Music Room."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pushing past me and heading for the exit:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I guess you're telling me we're not going to be doing music therapy today, and you'd rather go back to the cottage. Okay then. I'll try again on Wednesday." </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heavy sigh. </span></div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-30982916551209572412012-07-04T10:51:00.005-04:002021-06-11T10:34:13.503-04:00"He's not cranky- he's mischievous."<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Her exact words were "he </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">hasn't been cranky- he's been mischievous!" </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I was thinking about what she'd said the previous day about S as we started our session. As his support staff, she probably was finding him to be rather frustrating. But, in my mind, there has to be a reason for it. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">What does it <i>mean</i> when someone's being mischievous? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">What if he's learning to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> assert himself? What if this means he now has enough of a sense of</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> 'self' to assert? And he's not there yet, but he's trying to figure out what having a 'self' means?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">That's kind of cool!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Now, back to S in his music therapy session. He was very quiet. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">His music was also quiet- contemplative, more interactive (in contrast to his usual energetic crashing and playing with great energy and a few brief pauses). </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">He didn't play when I played. He was clear that this was a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">conversation, not a jam session where we play together. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Self and other. Separate beings.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Wow. A major developmental step!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Modern_chorus_line.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="A modern chorus line" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="266" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/Modern_chorus_line.jpg/300px-Modern_chorus_line.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-size: 0.8em;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">A part at the very end of the first song from <i>A Chorus Line</i> (<a href="http://www.allmusicals.com/lyrics/achorusline/ihopeigetit.htm" target="_blank">"I Hope I Get It"</a>) came to my mind as we stood together </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">(a part which, frustratingly, they didn't include in the video I'm linking):</span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Who am I anyway? </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Am I my resume? </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">That is a picture of a person I don't </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">know. </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">What does he want from me? </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">What should I try to be? </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">So many faces</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> all around, and here we go. </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I need this job. </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Oh, God, I need </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">this show.</span></i></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I sang it for him, and I talked a little bit about the context for the song. It's</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> sung by a man </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">auditioning for a part as a dancer in a chorus line- which, to me anyway, seems to be a sort of anonymous group of dancers in a Broadway play- the goal of which is to be as uniform and in unison as possible</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. The character who sang this section of the song was thinking about his identity</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. I interpreted the lyrics as saying here's a man who is trying to come to terms </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">with the face, the persona he has to present in order to get a job as a dancer.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I connected it to how I thought perhaps S might feel as a man with a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">disability who lives in an instituionalized setting. Having to put on a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">face (a persona), perceived by people, based on his behaviors and what is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">written about him in the institutional paperwork</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Perhaps he too is wondering: <i>who am I anyway? </i>Who or what defines me? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">How do I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">define myself? And what does it mean in terms of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">safety, my identity as a man, as a disabled person?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Again, his musical responses (taps on the drum or tambourine) were very thought out and short.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">We had about 5 minutes to go. I invited S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> to help me know if I'd been on the right track (by glancing my way) or if </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">not (by making a sound). After a while, he looked my way, and he went </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">slowly to the door and walked out.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Thinking he was done with me (and that either I was way off and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">misunderstood him- or he needed a bathroom, or maybe he felt a bit overwhelmed), I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">packed up my stuff. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I was just about to follow him out, when he </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">reappeared at the door!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">He came back over, and I took out my guitar again. I sang a goodbye, in it telling him</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> how excited I was for him. This is a truly </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">important, although difficult, period in his life- one with the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">potential to offer him growth and a deeper self-awareness. He stayed until we finished</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">, tapped the tambourine goodbye, and we walked slowly back to the day </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">area.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Once we got there, he hovered near me (he doesn't usually). Then he reached into my instrument bag and borrowed the tambourine again, tapped </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">it a few more times, put it back in the bag, and he </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">headed off slowly in a different direction. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">See you later, S. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"></span><br />
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</div>Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-26770509436342355392012-05-04T21:07:00.001-04:002021-06-11T10:36:01.400-04:00Sharing an excellent TED Talk with you<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">True, this doesn't really count as a blog post. But you need to hear this. Trust me.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I first heard <a href="http://www.brenebrown.com/" target="_blank">Brene Brown</a> on <a href="http://www.whyy.org/91FM/voices.html" target="_blank">Voices in the Family</a> with <a href="http://www.drdangottlieb.com/" target="_blank">Dr. Dan Gottlieb</a> (one of my favorite ways to spend Sunday morning is to listen to my local <a href="http://www.npr.org/" target="_blank">NPR</a> station, <a href="http://www.whyy.org/" target="_blank">WHYY</a> in Philadelphia). And I loved what she had to say! She is a researcher (cool!) who studies shame and vulnerability (wow!). </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this <a href="http://www.ted.com/" target="_blank">TED talk</a>, she tells us about how being vulnerable is an act of courage. More importantly, she reminds us that shame is diminished with empathy. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a lot to say (shocking, I know) about both vulnerability and shame, but enough of my blather! I want you to listen to this talk, because it's important. </span><br />
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</div>Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-92038794466806369342012-04-27T20:28:00.002-04:002012-05-10T19:24:34.477-04:00Music Therapy Show with Janice Lindstrom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feel as if I've finally arrived in the land of music therapy. I've had an interview with the lovely and thoughtful <a href="http://topmusictherapist.com/" target="_blank">Janice Lindstrom</a>, the woman and music therapist behind the <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mtshow" target="_blank">Music Therapy Show</a>!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We talked about relationally-based music therapy, using a process (versus product-oriented) approach, countertransference, using music to listen to and reflect on what our clients present to us in sessions, and all kinds of nifty stuff.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you'd like to give it a listen (and share your thoughts on these subjects) (that are near and dear to my heart), here it is!</span><br />
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Listen to <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/">internet radio</a> with <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mtshow">Janice Lindstrom</a> on Blog Talk Radio</div>
</div>Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-65509492563979580412012-04-18T21:36:00.001-04:002012-08-15T19:30:55.308-04:00Last chance lost...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I noticed this song- "Last Chance Lost"- running through my mind over and over again as we struggled to come to some kind of....okay-ness, an okay space today in our session. My client has some very strong feelings toward me, and although he knows "we don't have that kind of relationship" it's hard for him to hear it. Over and over. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, and it's hard for me to keep having to say it, because I feel cruel. I mean, I realize I'm not being cruel. I'm being truthful (and a therapist), and I know it would be more cruel to lie to him and pretend I don't see how much he wishes this weren't "just music therapy" and it was a better version of his life. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I'd be lying to you if I didn't say the rescue fantasies on my end can be intense. If I weren't so used to this happening it would be freaking me out. But this is something I go through, and it's more so with some people than with others. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But here he was, this man who doesn't use speech, working so hard to be heard- using his voice even (which is rare)- and there I was...rejecting him again. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I step away from the session for a while and think about it, I have an idea of how to proceed and what we need to look at: Where are the feelings for me coming from? What might they be helping him to avoid feeling? What relationship(s) might he be trying to create or re-create in our sessions? And so forth. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But...right there in the session...I feel like such a jerk. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not that I'm afraid he'll be angry with me- although it would mean the beginning of the long period of anger. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There always seem to be stages in the music therapy process- at least with the folks I work with individually. Initially there's a long period of "I don't trust you." That's usually followed by "okay, maybe you're not so creepy," which eventually works its way into "must we leave now?" Then we get into the "I like you/I can't let you know how much I like you" period which gradually becomes "I love you and you should never leave me!" </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think my client and I are in that latter period right now. And I'm in the complicated "be firm but kind and figure out a way to reject without being rejecting/remember you're trying to help him realize how he's relating to people that's not really working for him/come on, Roia, you can do this" part of the work. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I know. The big anger is coming. Okay, so maybe I'm a little afraid. It's hard to give up being loved. Not that the anger indicates an absence of love. It's just easier, I'm sure you'll agree, when your client is in the "you totally rock" phase versus the "you rejected me and you are horrible and cruel" phase. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway. We struggled. He was sad. I was sad on his behalf. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was hard for him to return his instrument at the end of the session, and he insisted on carrying it back with him to his cottage- where he finally gave it back to me after a brief, gentle tug to make sure I understood he wasn't happy about relinquishing me or the instrument. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only part of the song I remembered as we worked through this session was "last chance lost". When I read the lyrics I was fascinated (for the hundredth time) by how our minds create musical connections with people, with moments and experiences. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Last Chance Lost</b></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Joni Mitchell</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last chance lost</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the tyranny of a long good-bye<br />Last chance lost<br />We talk of us with deadly earnest eyes<br />Last chance lost<br />We talk of love in terms of sacrifice and compromise<br />Last chance<br />Last chance lost<br /><br />Last chance lost<br />The hero cannot make the change<br />Last chance lost<br />The shrew will not be tamed<br />Last chance lost<br />They bicker on the rifle range<br />Blame takes aim<br />Last chance<br />Last chance lost<br /><br /><br />© 1994; Crazy Crow Music </span></span></div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-29954826002674168902012-02-18T21:14:00.001-05:002012-02-18T21:15:53.820-05:00Online Conference for Music Therapy 2012 Resources- Part 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><b>Recognizing and Responding to the Emotional Pain of People Who Don't Use Speech</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">This is the third installment of the handouts for the 2012 Online Conference for Music Therapy. This is a selection of quotes I have found useful to my thinking as a music therapist. The references for the quotes are also included. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Roia Rafieyan, MA, MT-BC</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Quotes I Have Known and Loved</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“...the way others make us feel is the best clue as to the way they themselves are feeling.” (Lovett, 1985; p. 80)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Real behavior change comes from a relationship; the more serious the need for change, the more serious this relationship needs to be. This need leads us from the realm of technology with its powers of predictability and orderliness into the uncertain and shifting territory of philosophers and poets. What does it mean to be honest? What does it mean to be present for another person and for ourselves? What are the balances, at any moment in a relationship, between acceptance and challenge, between listening and being heard? How do we invite others to accept our caring and concern and how do we all grow to feel we are part of one another in this world? These uncertainties and failures have often led to difficult behavior in the first place. How do we grow beyond it?” (Lovett, 1996; p. 224)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Countertransference is part of every therapeutic relationship (regardless of the therapist’s theoretical orientation). By definition, unrecognized and unanalyzed countertransference impedes our ability to be fully and actively present in the room with the client.” (Pearlman and Saakvitne, 1995; p. 23)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“...empathy allows the therapist to gather information about the world the patient lives in and to use the information to build connectedness with the patient.” (Cohen and Sherwood, 1991; p. 220)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“We sometimes forget that our work often involves significant personal change and, equally dangerous, we forget how such change happens in our own lives. Many of us have changed because ‘life happened’- events and the people in our lives significantly altered the way we saw the world. Sometimes this is an abrupt turning point, sometimes a process occurring over years. Sometimes- but this is only a small part of how most people actually change their behavior- we elect a formal relationship with a therapist to help us change, but no therapist (I hope) would presume to launch a program for change without taking time to get to know the person’s background and personal style. This kind of groundwork is essential in forming a therapeutic alliance.” (Lovett, 1996; pp. 85-86)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> “Music psychotherapy involves three dynamic elements: the client, the therapist, and the music. Within this triad, the therapist and the music work together to help the client, serving similar or complementary role functions, very much like two parents working together to help their child and with the same possibilities for alliances, rivalries, conflicts, and valences. Thus, both therapist and music can serve as a source, activator, and object for transference and countertransference, and both can provide the transitional space needed to work out the various role relationships being reenacted within the triad.” (Bruscia, 1998; p. 76)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“...systematic self-analysis must be a part of an effective containment effort. Specifically, therapists must examine their own contributions to the intense feelings generated in the dyad.” (Gabbard and Wilkinson, 1994; p. 82)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Our attunement to our countertransference requires the same evenly hovering attention with which we listen to our client’s material.” (Pearlman and Saakvitne, 1995; p. 23)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“The important thing is not our flowery language, but rather that we are fully present and attentive to our companion.” (Muller, 1996; p. 117)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> “Many therapists are much more willing to assume the mantle of the good object than the cloak of the bad or threatening object. Perhaps this is why so many of us are shocked when we realize the degree of anger and abuse we have to absorb from patients in the course of a career.” (Lewin and Schulz, 1992; pp. 228-229)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“...psychotherapy does not promise perfect attunement or mirroring, but entails repeated cycles of connections and disconnections and then repair and reconnection.” (Pearlman and Saakvitne, 1995; p. 17)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“...there is a common myth that the experienced analyst or therapist understands the patient swiftly and unerringly. Although some patients try to oppose this, risking the retort that they are ‘resisting,’ other patients do expect it. Perhaps it satisfies a wish to find certainty. Some therapists also appear to expect it of themselves; perhaps to gratify an unacknowledged wish to be knowledgeable and powerful. It is not surprising, therefore, how often student therapists imagine that immediate understanding is required of them by patients and supervisors. This creates a pressure to know in order to appear competent.” (Casement, 1991; p. 3)<span style="color: white;">eve of “not <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> “Fresh insight emerges more convincingly when a therapist is prepared to struggle to express himself within a patient’s language, rather than falling back upon old thinking.” (Casement, 1991; pp. 27-28)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“I am suggesting that countertransference - as an aspect of projective identification - is not only the basis for analytic work but central to the basic process in all human communication and knowing. We only know what is happening because we are moved from within by what we have taken in and responded to from our own deep feelings. The space between people is filled - when it is and to the extent it is - by what we evoke in one another.” (Young, 2005, March 27)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Exploring one’s countertransference involves asking oneself whether this response feels unfamiliar, significant, unusual. What does the response tell you about feelings that may be out of your awareness? Does a particular dream stay with you? Are you behaving differently with this client than previously? Than with other clients? Are the feelings more familiar to you in a different (e.g.. non-clinical or historical) context? Do they seem alien or distressing or syntonic and comfortable? These questions invite the therapist’s awareness and self-exploration which both deepen and expand her use of countertransference.” (Pearlman and Saakvitne, 1995; p. 27)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“My ego ideal, as regards my functioning as therapist, required that I endeavor always to be helpful to the patient, that I be unflaggingly interested in him, and that I <i>experience</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> no negative emotions whatsoever toward him- let alone <i>express</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> such feelings to him openly. I regarded my personal identity as changeless, and my therapist-role as similarly fixed and absolute. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I have described elsewhere that, in the course of subsequent years of personal analysis and clinical experience<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">...my sense of identity has become...my most reliable source of data as to what is transpiring between the patient and myself, and within the patient. I have described...the ‘use’ of such fluctuations, in one’s sense of identity as being a prime source of discovering, in work with a patient, not only countertransference processes but also transference processes...[Searles, 1966-1967].<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The main point of the present remarks is analogous to the one just quoted: as with the analyst’s overall <i>sense of personal identity</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">, so the <i>customary style of participant observation</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> which he has developed over the years, his observation of the ways wherein he finds himself departing from this normative style, in his work with any one patient, provides him with particularly valuable clues to the nature and intensity of this patient’s transference responses and attitudes toward him. Beyond the analyst’s privately observing such variations in his customary mode of participant observation, he can find it constructive, with increasing frequency as the analysis progresses, to share these data with the patient.” (Searles, 1979; pp. 577-578)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“When we discard technological responses to personal problems, we leave a world of some predictability (the primary reassurance that technologies provide) for a world of uncertainty...” (Lovett, 1996; p. 96)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Therapists sometimes have to tolerate extended periods during which they may feel ignorant and helpless.” (Casement, 1991; p. 8)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“It is all too easy to equate not-knowing with ignorance. This can lead therapists to seek refuge in an illusion that they understand. But if they can bear the strain of not-knowing, they can learn that their competence as therapists includes a capacity to tolerate feeling ignorant or incompetent, and a willingness to wait (and to carry on waiting) until something genuinely relevant and meaningful begins to emerge. Only in this way is it possible to avoid the risk of imposing upon the patient the self-deception of premature understanding, which achieves nothing except to defend the therapist from the discomfort of knowing that he does not know.” (Casement, 1991; p. 9)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“My best experiences in supervision have resulted from the supervisor asking me what I was feeling at a particular moment - usually a moment when I felt I did not understand the material. I would go so far as to say that this has never failed to provide at least some enlightenment. Interrogating the countertransference must not be seen as seeking a fact which is available on the surface of the mind. Countertransference is as unconscious as transference is. Understanding it is an interpretive <i>task</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">.” (Young, 2005, March 27)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b><u><br />
</u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b><u>References for Quotes<o:p></o:p></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Bruscia, K. E. (1998). “The Signs of Countertransference” (pp. 71-91) in <i>The Dynamics of Music </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Psychotherapy (Bruscia, K. E., Ed.). Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Casement, P. (1991). <i>Learning from the Patient</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. New York: Guilford Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Cohen, C. P. and Sherwood, V. R. (1991). <i>Becoming a Constant Object in Psychotherapy with the Borderline Patient</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. New Jersey: Jason Aranson Inc.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Gabbard, G. O. and Wilkinson, S. M. (1994). <i>Management of Countertransference with Borderline Patients</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Lewin, R. A. and Schulz, C. (1992). <i>Losing and Fusing: Borderline Transitional Object and Self Relations</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aranson.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Lovett, H. (1985). <i>Cognitive Counseling and Persons with Special Needs: Adapting Behavioral Approaches to the Social Context</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Westport, CT: Praeger.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Lovett, Herb (1996). <i>Learning to Listen: Positive Approaches and People with Difficult Behaviour</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. London: Jessica Kinsley.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Muller, W. (1996). <i>How Then, Shall We Live? Four Simple Questions That Reveal the Beauty and Meaning of Our Lives</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. New York: Bantam Books.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Pearlman, L. A. and Saakvitne, K. W. (1995). <i>Trauma and the Therapist: Countertransference and Vicarious Traumatization in Psychotherapy with Incest Survivors</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. New York: W. W. Norton.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Searles, H. F. (1979). <i>Countertransference and Related Subjects: Selected Papers</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Young, R.M. (2005, March 27). Analytic Space: Countertransference in <i>Mental Space</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> (Chap. 4). Retrieved from http://human-nature.com/rmyoung/papers/paper2h.html<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-60137502527025197392012-02-18T20:47:00.000-05:002018-03-18T16:04:36.601-04:00Online Conference for Music Therapy 2012 Resources- Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Recognizing and Responding Musically to the Emotional Pain of </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>People Who Don't Use Speech</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As many of you already know, working at becoming a better listener, a more mindful clinician, and a curious practitioner is one of my passions. And this struggle to make sense of my experiences as a music therapist is something I try to share in my writing. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To that end, I offer you links to a number of blog posts I've written over the past five years that are (mostly) directly related to the ideas I shared in my presentation for the 2012 Online Conference for Music Therapy. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some folks asked about working with groups, and I made note of posts addressing that subject. I also included a post about writing a process paper, which I still think is one of the best ways to start thinking about your sessions ( or should I say <i>re-</i>thinking your sessions?). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I hope you find them to be useful.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Roia Rafieyan, MA, MT-BC</span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-do-we-cope-when-our-clients-are-in.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How do we cope when our clients are in terrible emotional pain?</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9/9/09 blog post<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2008/11/paying-attention-in-music-therapy.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Paying Attention in Music Therapy Series- Part 1: How to Process a Music Therapy Session</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">11/26/08 blog post (Writing a process paper)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2009/05/sick-and-tired.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sick and tired</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5/1/09 blog post (Group music therapy countertransference example)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2009/03/listening.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Listening</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4/7/09 blog post<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2010/02/who-knows.html" target="_blank">Who knows?</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2/6/10 blog post (on not being understood)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2010/01/12610-quote-developing-relationship.html" target="_blank">Quote: Developing a relationship through music with someone who doesn’t use speech</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1/26/10 blog post (quote from Mercedes Pavlicevic’s book “Music Therapy: Intimate Notes”)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2009/10/violence-in-lives-of-people-with.html" target="_blank">Violence in the lives of people with disabilities</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">10/25/09 blog post <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2007/09/getting-there-is-half-battle.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Getting there is half the battle</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9/29/07 blog post (addresses respecting “no")<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2010/02/people-in-pain.html" target="_blank">People in pain</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2/10/10 blog post<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2011/06/music-and-countertransference.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Music and countertransference</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">6/7/11 blog post (countertransference songs)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2010/12/and-how-was-your-day-dear.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And how was your day, dear?</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">12/27/10 blog post (working with groups)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2010/11/back-off-lady-ive-got-this.html" target="_blank">Back off lady! I’ve got this.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">11/21/10 blog post (countertransference songs)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2011/12/reflecting-on-feelings-of-powerlessness.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reflecting on feelings of powerlessness (A video blog)</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">12/6/11 blog post (using music to process countertransference)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2011/11/musical-portrait.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A musical portrait</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">11/29/11 blog post (using music to try and understand clients who don’t use speech)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2011/06/will-you-remember-me.html" target="_blank">Holding on to our clients’ stuff</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">6/24/11 blog post (communication)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://mindfulmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2011/07/eyes-have-it.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The eyes have it</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">7/14/11 blog post (countertransference and communication)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-37439462551794934982012-02-18T18:35:00.001-05:002012-02-18T18:36:56.263-05:00Online Conference for Music Therapy 2012 Resources- Part 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
Recognizing and Responding to the Emotional Pain of People Who Don't Use Speech</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks so much to those of you who were able to join me at the 2012 Online Music Therapy Conference! And to those of you watching the recordings, a hearty welcome as well. For anyone else who may find this to be of use, feel free to make use of the information but please give me credit for having made the effort to put this together. Thanks! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roia Rafieyan, MA-MT-BC</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Elements to Pay Attention to as You Work to Listen to People Who Don't Use Speech</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b><u>Pay attention to what’s going on for your clients<o:p></o:p></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The physical <o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo13; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Sensory/movement issues?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo13; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Medical issues?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo13; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Environmental issues?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The historical<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo12; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What has gone on in this person’s life- including trauma history (biography)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo12; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Patterns of behavior and contexts within which they occur?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo12; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Relationships with family, peers, staff (and any changes in these)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The musical<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo11; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">How does the person use music?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo11; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Which instruments/sounds does s/he gravitate toward (vocal or instrumental)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo11; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Meaningful music?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The right now experience<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What’s going on in the relationship and how is my client responding to the experience?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">How is the person using music/sound/behavior to connect/disconnect?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What questions are coming up for you as therapist?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b><u>Pay attention to what’s going on for you<o:p></o:p></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The physical <o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What are my somatic reactions during the session?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Do I have a pattern of responding in a particular way?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">How am I feeling physically on a given day?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The historical<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Have I done my own therapy work (aware of my own issues)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">How much support do I need to do this work?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What beliefs and ideas do I carry with me?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The musical<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo7; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Have I taken care of myself musically?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo7; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What are my musical blocks (fears) and needs?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo7; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What role does music play in my life?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The right now experience<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What’s going on in the relationship and how am I responding to the experience?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What patterns are emerging (for my client and for me)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What thoughts, fantasies, songs etcetera, are running through my head while we’re working together?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b><u>Pay attention to what’s going on in the music<o:p></o:p></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The physical<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What instruments are we using (vocal/instrumental? quality of sounds produced?)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Are you/your client mainly using your voice or playing instruments?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Use of silence?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The historical<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Which music has been important to this person and to you as therapist as you’ve worked together?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Do any particular songs trigger any particular reactions for your clients?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Musical themes which you/your client keep coming back to?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The musical<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">How musical are we being (aesthetics)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Is the music being neglected entirely?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What role is the music taking on within the context of psychodynamics?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The right now experience<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Why am I playing right now (what am I hoping to find out? What am I looking for?)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What is going on in the music right now?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Who is playing/singing what right now?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b><u>Pay attention by:<o:p></o:p></u></b></span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Reflecting and interpreting<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Learning more from reading, asking a lot of questions, taking classes, other disciplines<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Listening more (especially to people who have autism)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Do your own work (get therapy, get supervision, join a peer supervision group)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Be aware/mindful<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Ask yourself questions and be willing to find out the answers<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Consider “whose need am I meeting here?”<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Learn to tolerate ambivalence, ambiguity, not knowing, uncertainty<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul></div>Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2906560836708126523.post-23655080060447344932012-02-05T15:51:00.000-05:002012-02-05T15:51:37.899-05:00Music therapy at the boundaries<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCmRs1CbD3ElWKpOLKl-CPjEeHkZFzEwpHHuGzz_zcehfAufqjsVZrjPFelxXj96BltmvPt9C6zimmcddbWRIA6DQ-RcHFutdzyu41VHVBhVyOFKnREK_T87Fw5eyzoshJWQ23heoEJvr/s1600/entangled+tree+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCmRs1CbD3ElWKpOLKl-CPjEeHkZFzEwpHHuGzz_zcehfAufqjsVZrjPFelxXj96BltmvPt9C6zimmcddbWRIA6DQ-RcHFutdzyu41VHVBhVyOFKnREK_T87Fw5eyzoshJWQ23heoEJvr/s320/entangled+tree+photo.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It happens I'm a part of a group on LinkdIn for psychologists, counselors and coaches. Not that I'm a psychologist, counselor or a coach, mind you... </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But anyway.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've been enjoying (okay, I've certainly been enjoying) a robust discussion with regard to the question of <i>"how much of our personal selves do we share with our clients?"</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To the best of my recollection (which is a bit, er, well, let's just say it's not what it used to be), Rachelle Norman has tackled this question (a couple of times, actually) in her blog, <a href="http://soundscapemusictherapy.com/" target="_blank">Soundscape Music Therapy</a>. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A while ago she wondered <a href="http://soundscapemusictherapy.com/2011/01/13/self-disclosure-how-much-should-i-share/" target="_blank">how much should she share regarding the birth of her baby</a> (who is awfully darned cute, if you must know), and, in</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a more recent post, she talked about <a href="http://soundscapemusictherapy.com/2011/10/30/top-10-rules-to-break-in-hospice-music-therapy/" target="_blank">The Top 10 Rules to Break</a>. A big hooray to you, Rachelle, for addressing this complex and apparently rather heated issue!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, back to the conversation going on at LinkdIn...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been sort of surprised at how many counselors and therapists seem to believe, rather ardently, that the "rule" regarding the "therapist as blank slate" is too stringent. A large majority advocate sharing more of themselves as a way of "being authentic" with their patients. If I'm understanding them correctly, they seem to feel, "that's what our clients are really looking for- for someone to be authentic with them."</span><br />
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</span></div>Interesting.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
Among the questions that came up for me in reading comments along these lines was: are we really being <i>in</i>authentic with our clients if we don't share on a personal level with them? And does being authentic with someone always mean being transparent? </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I looked up the word, I learned that being "authentic" is associated with being genuine, or being truthful. Which is not the same as being self-revealing. Hm.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
For me, I think the question of what and how much to share of ourselves boils down (as most things in the therapy situation seem to do) to another central question: <i>whose need am I meeting in this situation?</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As many music therapists are aware, simply because of the nature of our profession, we actually share quite a bit of ourselves through the music-making we do with our clients during sessions. Just as we learn about our clients through their musical expression, they learn an awful lot about <i>us</i> when we interact with each other musically.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
Obviously, we do our best to keep to professional boundaries- for many legitimate reasons. One very large reason is the power inequity. It is (usually) a paid relationship. Therapy isn't meant to be a friendship, and, whether or not we choose a fairly egalitarian approach to our work as music therapists, we can't control (or ignore) our clients' perceptions that we have a certain amount of power, authority and influence in their lives. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an example, in my particular line of work (with people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities), I often remind myself of the fact that I have keys to my clients' homes, and they don't.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
I wonder if, in the end, it's about coming to terms with the duality (maybe it's a plurality?) we are asked to hold as music therapists (or any kind of psychotherapist, I imagine). Yes, our clients often do come to us in pain and in a tremendous state of need- for, among other things, friendship and for people to be 'real' with them. Simultaneous to that, we are bound to uphold our <a href="http://www.musictherapy.org/about/ethics/">code of ethics</a>, to maintain an awareness of our own unmet needs (and our rather human tendency to want to take care of those needs in all of our relationships- including those with our clients), and an awareness of the power dynamic that exists in the therapy space.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It certainly isn't easy to keep track of these various elements. Of course, as my supervisor often reminds me, "that's why they call it work."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are your thoughts on boundaries and being authentic with clients? Does it depend on the situation? Or on the particular group of people receiving services? Are you likely to have more "flexible" boundaries with certain groups of clients and not as much with others? And what does that fact say in terms of the ideas and beliefs we hold about the particular groups of people we serve? </span><br />
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</div></div></div></div>Roiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12840915191850723381noreply@blogger.com4