AND IT'S WORKING PEOPLE
Also practicing music has been really great for my mood. Also, life is short! It's so much better to be happy than sad.
Don't forget, everything you learn to help others can also help you.
Monday, October 16, 2017
Using therapeutic techniques on yourself
The past week for me has been filled with stress and negative emotions, more than usual. I was coincidentally looking at cognitive-behavioral techniques (or maybe not so coincidentally?) and I realized I was engaging in a lot of cognitive distortions. For the past few days I've been re-framing my internal thoughts
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
What I learned searching for an internship
Finding an internship can (will) be stressful for students, so here's some tips I've compiled to hopefully make the task a little less stressful.
Start looking a year and half before you would start
This might seem like overkill, but trust me, you want to do this. There were several internships I missed the deadline for because they wanted all application materials an entire year before the internship started. So if you're starting you final year of coursework in the fall and start looking, you might already too late if you wanted to start in the summer or next fall.
Be aware of deadlines for your professors' sake!
Our music therapy professors are awesome people, but they're also busy. PLEASE give them time to write your recommendation letters. I had a couple of instances of asking for some sooner than their wishes (in our department handbook it was stated to give them four weeks time), and I'm super thankful they did it anyway.
Budget for sending transcripts
Every time I applied for an internship I sent two transcripts, one from my university and the other from a community college I took online classes with for core credit. Honestly I didn't know who to ask or how to find out if I was doing the right thing sending both, but I did it anyway. You should probably not do what I did and check with your school or internship on what they prefer. Some schools give you a set amount of free transfers before they start charging, which is nice.
Do everything ahead of time
Write down the deadlines for everything two weeks in advance. Seriously, do it! Then if something bad happens, like your application took forever in the postal system or your transcript wasn't able to be opened by the recipient (happened to me), you have some dead space to figure it out. Also it looks good on you for having your stuff together and turned in early.
Choose a population that you want, but if it doesn't work out it's not the end of the world
Regardless of where you have your internship, as long as your supervisor is competent, you're going to learn something. Don't sweat it too much if you only want to work in the NICU and you can't get an internship at a pediatric hospital. Your internship doesn't define the rest of your career. I was very wishy-washy on what population I was interested in, and that changed my senior year. I still feel wishy-washy but now I have a lot more knowledge on the pros and cons of each population and am so excited to start my internship!
You can't predict the future
Similarly state above, things can and probably will happen in ways you aren't expecting. Be cool with that. If you could predict every step of your life you would never grow as a person and your life would become very boring!
Lastly, think about logistics
If you get an internship out of state or in a city you've never been to or is far away, that is going to add stress. I'm not saying it won't be worth it, but be aware that moving states away can be very expensive and you should anticipate that. I've known several people who had to sign a lease for an apartment they've never seen, in a town or state they've never been to! Not to say you shouldn't spread your wings and live somewhere new, but be aware of some of those issues. If you want to experience living in a new place and networking in another area, then maybe looking far from your current city or state is a great idea for you!
Observe music therapists
This is a bit of a weird add-on, and I might write a separate blog post about this but observe as many music therapists as you can before and after your coursework ends! Not only will you earn pre-internship hours if applicable, but it will make you a better student, intern, and therapist.
Start looking a year and half before you would start
This might seem like overkill, but trust me, you want to do this. There were several internships I missed the deadline for because they wanted all application materials an entire year before the internship started. So if you're starting you final year of coursework in the fall and start looking, you might already too late if you wanted to start in the summer or next fall.
Be aware of deadlines for your professors' sake!
Our music therapy professors are awesome people, but they're also busy. PLEASE give them time to write your recommendation letters. I had a couple of instances of asking for some sooner than their wishes (in our department handbook it was stated to give them four weeks time), and I'm super thankful they did it anyway.
Budget for sending transcripts
Every time I applied for an internship I sent two transcripts, one from my university and the other from a community college I took online classes with for core credit. Honestly I didn't know who to ask or how to find out if I was doing the right thing sending both, but I did it anyway. You should probably not do what I did and check with your school or internship on what they prefer. Some schools give you a set amount of free transfers before they start charging, which is nice.
Do everything ahead of time
Write down the deadlines for everything two weeks in advance. Seriously, do it! Then if something bad happens, like your application took forever in the postal system or your transcript wasn't able to be opened by the recipient (happened to me), you have some dead space to figure it out. Also it looks good on you for having your stuff together and turned in early.
Choose a population that you want, but if it doesn't work out it's not the end of the world
Regardless of where you have your internship, as long as your supervisor is competent, you're going to learn something. Don't sweat it too much if you only want to work in the NICU and you can't get an internship at a pediatric hospital. Your internship doesn't define the rest of your career. I was very wishy-washy on what population I was interested in, and that changed my senior year. I still feel wishy-washy but now I have a lot more knowledge on the pros and cons of each population and am so excited to start my internship!
You can't predict the future
Similarly state above, things can and probably will happen in ways you aren't expecting. Be cool with that. If you could predict every step of your life you would never grow as a person and your life would become very boring!
Lastly, think about logistics
If you get an internship out of state or in a city you've never been to or is far away, that is going to add stress. I'm not saying it won't be worth it, but be aware that moving states away can be very expensive and you should anticipate that. I've known several people who had to sign a lease for an apartment they've never seen, in a town or state they've never been to! Not to say you shouldn't spread your wings and live somewhere new, but be aware of some of those issues. If you want to experience living in a new place and networking in another area, then maybe looking far from your current city or state is a great idea for you!
Observe music therapists
This is a bit of a weird add-on, and I might write a separate blog post about this but observe as many music therapists as you can before and after your coursework ends! Not only will you earn pre-internship hours if applicable, but it will make you a better student, intern, and therapist.
Saturday, October 7, 2017
New music
In the spirit of self-care and keeping my own musical preferences alive, I'm sharing some songs I found this week! I hope people find some music they like too! I use the app Shazam somewhat frequently and have a bad habit of finding a song I like and then never listening to it again. Maybe I'll do this every week to hold me accountable to following through!
A Little Respect - Erasure
The Reeling - Passion Pit
The Kids Are Alright - The Who
Ask - The Smiths
A Little Respect - Erasure
The Reeling - Passion Pit
The Kids Are Alright - The Who
Ask - The Smiths
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Differences between different mental health professionals
I found this video on youtube and found it very informative! I would recommend watching if you're looking for some kind of counseling or therapy for yourself, interested in pursuing a license or degree in mental health, or just want to expand your knowledge on the different types of mental health professionals.
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Growing
"You are a sponge"
This is something I actually thought to myself yesterday and I thought that it was really profound (also a little dumb and clique but still!)
Yesterday I was observing a music therapist at a children's hospital, which is a population I previously had not had any experience with, observing or otherwise. Most of my experience has come from special needs and geriatric care, which typically means their care is long-term and ongoing. The nature of a hospital is very different, and patients will probably only see the music therapist once. Because of this, I was observing techniques in and out of sessions that are very different to what I've been previously exposed to.
That's when I thought and told myself "You are a sponge." Essentially, "You are being surrounded by information that is new. You are seeing things that are upsetting.You are internalizing ideas and techniques that can be used in the future. Absorb and process all of that."
As I had this moment yesterday, I was reminded of my job working with children with autism. This job is very hands on, is not like any other job I've had before, and I've been having to learn and use techniques of a theoretical framework that is familiar but not something I'm solid on.
AND, as I thought about how to put this into words today, I realized that's all I've been doing for almost two months. I moved to the town I live in now two months ago and since then I've had to settle in and adjust to the town, but also to myself. I've been a student for the past, I don't know, 18 years of my life? Summer ended and I wasn't going back to class. I moved to a new town and had to find a job and figure out what to do with my time when I'm not held to the time constraints of being in college. I've been learning about how I react to stress, how I deal having too much free time, with no free time, with anxiety, and with isolation.
Using the information I've learned from observing music therapists isn't something I can act on quite yet, but I do think the past few months and the ones to come are going to change me for the better in starting my internship and being a music therapist. All of that stuff is hard to put into words and I am still experiencing it so I don't really feel like I can/should talk about it yet. I can say though that I've learned some useful and valuable insight on my own self-care needs and routines, and have been validated in previous assumptions of my own functioning and happiness levels. More specifically, I need structure to feel productive and to fill my free time with enjoyable activities without feeling guilty. I think that's probably standard across the board though :)
This is something I actually thought to myself yesterday and I thought that it was really profound (also a little dumb and clique but still!)
Yesterday I was observing a music therapist at a children's hospital, which is a population I previously had not had any experience with, observing or otherwise. Most of my experience has come from special needs and geriatric care, which typically means their care is long-term and ongoing. The nature of a hospital is very different, and patients will probably only see the music therapist once. Because of this, I was observing techniques in and out of sessions that are very different to what I've been previously exposed to.
That's when I thought and told myself "You are a sponge." Essentially, "You are being surrounded by information that is new. You are seeing things that are upsetting.You are internalizing ideas and techniques that can be used in the future. Absorb and process all of that."
As I had this moment yesterday, I was reminded of my job working with children with autism. This job is very hands on, is not like any other job I've had before, and I've been having to learn and use techniques of a theoretical framework that is familiar but not something I'm solid on.
AND, as I thought about how to put this into words today, I realized that's all I've been doing for almost two months. I moved to the town I live in now two months ago and since then I've had to settle in and adjust to the town, but also to myself. I've been a student for the past, I don't know, 18 years of my life? Summer ended and I wasn't going back to class. I moved to a new town and had to find a job and figure out what to do with my time when I'm not held to the time constraints of being in college. I've been learning about how I react to stress, how I deal having too much free time, with no free time, with anxiety, and with isolation.
Using the information I've learned from observing music therapists isn't something I can act on quite yet, but I do think the past few months and the ones to come are going to change me for the better in starting my internship and being a music therapist. All of that stuff is hard to put into words and I am still experiencing it so I don't really feel like I can/should talk about it yet. I can say though that I've learned some useful and valuable insight on my own self-care needs and routines, and have been validated in previous assumptions of my own functioning and happiness levels. More specifically, I need structure to feel productive and to fill my free time with enjoyable activities without feeling guilty. I think that's probably standard across the board though :)
Getting an internship, and what now
As some of you might know, in order to earn a bachelor's degree in music therapy, each student must complete a 1200 hour internship following eight full time semesters of classes. In order to have an internship, a student has to individually seek out and apply, interview, audition, etc., and finally be chosen. Most internships are unpaid (mine will be), and will last about six months.
My search for an internship was HARD. Part of me wanted to get out of Texas so that I could experience living somewhere else, but I also wasn't sure what population I wanted to work with. I applied to a lot of different internships, a lot out of state and I got a lot of no's. I ended up getting offered and accepting an internship in Texas and will be working primarily with individuals with special needs. After all of the no's and spending hours filling out applications, it was a relief to get an internship, but above that the music therapists that make up the practice are awesome and I feel like the no's were 100% worth it for where I ended up.
Because the process took so long for me to find an internship, I missed the opportunity to start it right after classes ended. I'm four months into the seven month gap and it definitely feels awkward sometimes trying to explain to people the situation. I haven't graduated but I'm done with classes. I'm a music therapy student bu I'm not really a student in the traditional sense. And in the spring I'll be working full time for free while paying tuition for a college three hours away. But being a music therapist is, I have been told, an exercise in patience and advocacy because you are constantly explaining what your career is, so I guess it's just practice!
What I'm doing now until my internship starts is:
1. Babysitting and petsitting
2. Working at a day program with kids with autism
3. Observing music therapists
4. Practicing
5. Figuring out life and hobbies now that I actually have free time!
6. Starting this blog
My next post will be about my mindset going through this time in my life.
Have a great day!
My search for an internship was HARD. Part of me wanted to get out of Texas so that I could experience living somewhere else, but I also wasn't sure what population I wanted to work with. I applied to a lot of different internships, a lot out of state and I got a lot of no's. I ended up getting offered and accepting an internship in Texas and will be working primarily with individuals with special needs. After all of the no's and spending hours filling out applications, it was a relief to get an internship, but above that the music therapists that make up the practice are awesome and I feel like the no's were 100% worth it for where I ended up.
Because the process took so long for me to find an internship, I missed the opportunity to start it right after classes ended. I'm four months into the seven month gap and it definitely feels awkward sometimes trying to explain to people the situation. I haven't graduated but I'm done with classes. I'm a music therapy student bu I'm not really a student in the traditional sense. And in the spring I'll be working full time for free while paying tuition for a college three hours away. But being a music therapist is, I have been told, an exercise in patience and advocacy because you are constantly explaining what your career is, so I guess it's just practice!
What I'm doing now until my internship starts is:
1. Babysitting and petsitting
2. Working at a day program with kids with autism
3. Observing music therapists
4. Practicing
5. Figuring out life and hobbies now that I actually have free time!
6. Starting this blog
My next post will be about my mindset going through this time in my life.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Intro
What is music therapy: https://www.musictherapy.org/
The URL above links to the American Music Therapy Association website, which has a great description on the front page on what music therapy is. The important take-away is that music therapy is evidence-based, which essentially means that it has been researched and proven to be effective.
The AMTA website is a great resource for explaining music therapy objectively, but if you would like more subjective or personal observations and experiences, feel free to comment or message me.
The URL above links to the American Music Therapy Association website, which has a great description on the front page on what music therapy is. The important take-away is that music therapy is evidence-based, which essentially means that it has been researched and proven to be effective.
The AMTA website is a great resource for explaining music therapy objectively, but if you would like more subjective or personal observations and experiences, feel free to comment or message me.
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