My clarinet is a therapy instrument!

I remember when I first entered practicums for music therapy in college, I thought I would never use my clarinet in sessions with clients. As much as I love the field of music therapy, I was afraid that all of the hours and dedication spent improving technique on my primary instrument for years would have been lost. Let me tell you, that is not the case! There are various opportunities to use wind and other novel instruments in sessions to achieve therapeutic goals and I’m excited to share some of the ways I’ve used the clarinet in sessions over the course of my internship.

Name That Tune

Name That Tune is a classic and great opportunity to use a novel instrument in sessions! As the title suggests, Name That Tune is a game where you play a familiar song for the client without lyrics and prompt the client(s) to guess the name of the song. This is great to achieve cognitive goals such as improved listening and attention skills. I have used Name That Tune in group and individual sessions, and clients appear to enjoy listening to songs they know on an instrument they don’t hear very often if at all!

Call and response

I’ve used the clarinet during call and response interventions, primarily to achieve goals such as: improved listening, self control, attention, turn taking and interpersonal skills. This type of intervention can be quite versatile, as you can be the leader and prompt the client to imitate what you play or you can have the client lead on an instrument and you as the therapist can imitate. You may choose to play a familiar song and you each play a phrase of a song; for the song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” I may play a line of the melody on my clarinet while the client plays the rhythm of the next line on a drum. We could also just pass an improvisatory musical phrase around like a rhythmic imitation exercise (ex: “Repeat after me. Listen first, then play what I play on your instrument”).

Playing as a duet or group

Another great way to utilize a primary instrument in sessions is to play the melody of a familiar song while the client(s) accompany on other instruments, kind of like a jam session! This is a great way to improve social skills, attention skills, motor skills, and build rapport with clients. For this intervention, choosing a motivating song for the client is an important consideration because it may play a role in the client’s participation. As the therapist, you may have specific instrument(s) in mind for the client to play during the intervention to target specific muscle groups and/or achieve certain goals, but engaging in cooperative play alone may be an important area of growth for the client. Here, I may encourage the client to keep a steady beat on the drum set or floor drum (like a rockstar, of course!) while I play a song on the clarinet for approximately 2 minutes (or whatever the client’s target sustained attention goal is).

One more thing I wanted to note was that, while we are in a pandemic, we can still use wind instruments during in person sessions! As a clarinetist, I have a mask with a hole cut for my mouthpiece along with a mask on my bell so the aerosol generation is maintained in the instrument.

Me and my super cool clarinet mask ensemble!

This being said, it is also up to the discretion of the client and parents/guardians whether or not they feel comfortable having a wind instrument played in the session. If you are interested in learning more information about the aerosol generation of various wind instruments, check out this study that was published in September 2020.

I hope these ideas are helpful for other therapists who may want to incorporate their novel instruments in sessions!

Until next time,

Katherine

Leading Virtual Groups

Virtual team assemble! As is everyday practice now, music therapy services at MTCCA and other practices across the country are being provided virtually as well as in person. The ability to go virtual with sessions is such a special gift, especially for our music therapy groups who may not otherwise be able to meet in person due to social distancing and safety guidelines. I will say, when I first started seeing groups virtually, I was a little intimidated because of the barrier between the screen and clients. One of my biggest areas of growth was making the experience as personable as possible for these clients. For those who may feel this way now leading group sessions virtually, fear not! I have some tips that I’ve learned from my experiences that can hopefully help you out, because leading groups virtually can still be so much fun!!

• Ask for the clients’ names! This may seem like a simple and obvious one, but it was something I wasn’t even considering when first leading the sessions, specifically for our senior retirement centers and adult group homes where the clients all live in the same facility. Simply asking the clients their names or having on site staff members assisting with names can really make the experience more personable for everyone involved. For example, it can assist with calling on specific people for leadership opportunities in the group and asking/answering questions. Furthermore, it helps build the rapport between clients and therapist which can aid in participation overall.
• Use the staff members as models! For our clients who live in facilities, there may be multiple staff members nearby to help set up Zoom, pass out instruments, or aid clients in participating. What I didn’t consider was, what better way to encourage clients to participate than having the staff members act as models for the group?! At the beginning of the session, it can be helpful to encourage the staff members to participate through the session and then reminding them during certain interventions (such as movement or instrument playing interventions) of what to do. This gives the clients an in person model to imitate and can even help foster positive relationships with the staff members. The staff at these facilities may act as the biggest encouragement for why music therapy services should be offered, so it is important to build these relationships and show why music therapy is a crucial service for the clients!
• Keep business as usual! Yes, while virtual services are not quite the same as in person (for me, the laptop screen was a barrier that challenged me at first) it does not mean music therapy services have to change or that you as the music therapist need to act any differently! With groups, there are still so many opportunities to achieve relevant goals through virtual drum circles, songwriting, improvisation, and many more interventions. Keeping a positive attitude, picking appropriate music for the group and encouraging participation through these sessions can provide a source of community and group cohesion just like any other session.

Maybe you learned something new today, or maybe these tips act as reminders for how to approach virtual music therapy group sessions. Either way, I hope these tips were helpful, happy virtual session leading!

-Katherine

Thinking in Pictures and Specialized Brains

In symposium last week, we discussed visual thinkers and chapter one of “Thinking in Pictures” by Temple Grandin. For those who are not familiar, Dr. Temple Grandin has her Ph.D in animal science, designs livestock handling facilities across the US and other countries, is a professor, and has autism. Grandin is a visual thinker, and she describes her thinking process as this: “Words are like a second language to me. I translate both spoken and written words into full-color movies, complete with sound, which run like a VCR tape in my head. When somebody speaks to me, his words are instantly translated into pictures.” Pretty cool, right? In fact, many people with autism are visual thinkers and are able to think in photographically specific images. Eric Courchesne of University of California in San Diego noted that, in people with autism, “the only parts of the brain that are normal are the visual cortex and the areas in the rear of the brain that store memories,” which may explain the significance of specific images in learning and thinking.

So, what does this mean when providing clients with autism music therapy services? First and foremost, try to identify the way your client thinks; in her book, Grandin says that there are three categories of specialized brains. Besides visual thinking, there are also music and math thinkers who think in patterns, and verbal logic thinkers who think in word details. This may be accomplished by simply asking a client how they best learn (if they are verbal and have expressive language abilities), asking parents or guardians how their child learns, or learning through trial and error in sessions. The big takeaway: incorporate visuals as much as possible in sessions! It certainly does not hurt to provide more opportunities for client successes, and visuals are a great way to encourage participation and achievement of goals, especially for visual thinkers.

Often, clients with autism can identify and understand concepts more clearly with pictures than with words. Here’s a couple of ideas of ways to utilize visuals in sessions:

Example of visual schedule using Choiceworks

1. Visual schedules- Writing out the session schedule on a white board, using apps such as Choiceworks, or having flashcards with pictures or symbols of what comes next in the session can be helpful in providing organization to sessions and a clear and specific outline to follow. Also, I recommend using a picker wheel as another opportunity for a visual schedule because it is engaging and fun for clients to see!
2. Visuals with words- Accompanying social stories and songs with visuals of specific scenarios, movement flashcards with words and visuals, and word association interventions with accompanying visuals can be useful to achieve various goals and provide different avenues for clients to achieve success during an intervention. Clients with autism may have difficulty with associative thought patterns, meaning that they may associate a picture with a word that is not correct; an example Grandin uses is the association of a dog with the word “outside.” While dogs may sometimes be seen outside, there are certainly other locations dogs can be found in (houses, apartments, at the beach, and various other locations). Using appropriate visuals with words can be helpful in improving these word associations. Below are some visuals I found through this website that were perfect for clients with gross motor skill goals during the holiday season!

Examples of movement flashcards with visuals (perfect for the holidays!)

I encourage you to think about the categories of specialized brains and how you may adapt interventions using visuals to foster growth in your clients! If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Temple Grandin, here is a link to her website: https://www.templegrandin.com/

Grandin, T. (2014). Thinking in pictures. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html

Katherine

Mindset and Diving In and Self- Care, Oh My!

When I was a freshman in college, I remember thinking my music therapy internship was a distant bridge that would eventually be crossed in the far off future. As I approached junior year, I realized that this future was actually not so far away after all and remember feeling a range of emotions about internship. Fast forward to now, almost at the three month mark of internship at MTCCA (it’s hard to believe!), and I can say that I never would have imagined interning during a pandemic! Internship is already a huge transition and tacking on the adaptations made by COVID-19 has made this experience quite unique to say the least. This being said, I want to share some insights I have realized during these first few months that have made the transition a bit easier.

“It’s all about the mindset!”

• It’s all about the mindset! I have already experienced instances where I have been challenged, whether that be learning the ropes of all the systems we use, figuring out how to best manage my time with my tasks, or just generally adjusting to this different yet exciting time in my life. There are times where I get frustrated and think, “grrr COVID, I wish I had x,y and z experiences” or I can just get bogged down in what I can’t do right now. I realize these are normal thoughts that everyone has probably experienced at some point this year, but I’ve come to realize the significance of re-evaluating the situation to remind myself that, while these frustrations are valid, I am lucky that I still get to have this internship experience. I still get to interact and engage with clients, research and data collect, learn more about the profession, and I get to learn the ins and outs of virtual along with in person sessions! Sometimes it can be scary to go out of your comfort zone and learn new things, but especially now, there are so many neat resources and ways to provide clients with music therapy wherever they are. These resources will be around for years to come so now is an opportune time to learn how to use them and put them in your therapist tool kit.

“The only way to learn from mistakes is by making them!”

• Dive in! There are so many unknowns and “what if’s” in the world, and while it is especially important to be cautious and safe, find as many opportunities to just jump into whatever you can. Whether it be asking questions of your team members, saying yes to an opportunity, or just allocating independent time to learn or research, find ways to go out of your comfort zone and gain experiences. Of course it can be intimidating to go out of your comfort zone, and for me I’ve found that the scariest part of “diving in” is fear of doing the wrong thing. This being said, the only way to learn from mistakes is by making them! The interventions that don’t go as planned and the questions that need clarification are part of the learning and growing experiences that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t challenge myself to go out of my comfort zone.

“It’s important to know yourself and find what works for you.”

• Find time for you! I love to check things off of my to-do list and feel accomplished when I work hard towards a goal, but especially with all the information you soak in during the first half of internship, it is important to find time to do things outside of the therapeutic setting. It can become overwhelming to learn so much in a short span of time and it is important to find avenues for self care. With the pandemic, I had consecutive months where I was out of school and working 3-4 days out of the week so transitioning to a 40 hour work week across the country was a big life adjustment. For me, self care most frequently comes in the form of getting enough sleep, calling family, spending time with friends, going on walks, eating enough, and doing yoga. It is important to learn about yourself and find what works for you.

A final honorable mention of insights I have realized is one of the most important during this transitional period and that is: you can’t control everything! There are so many things that are naturally out of the therapists’ control in private practice (changing client schedules, technological mishaps, etc.) and flexibility really is the name of the game. This is certainly true with the pandemic as well, as we all have had to make adjustments to adjust to the new normal. Taking time to remind myself that some things are simply out of my control has been helpful in reorienting my frame of mind and allowing me to come to terms with the unexpected.

While I can’t say I ever expected to be an intern during COVID, I can say that I’m so glad to be interning at MTCCA and making the most of the experiences here.

Katherine

Thanksgiving ideas, gone virtual

Thanksgiving may look a little different this year, but that doesn’t mean Thanksgiving and fall themed music therapy interventions have to be less fun, engaging or beneficial for clients! In fact, we have a wide world of online resources at our fingertips that are great to use during this time of year and can be adapted or modified to fit various therapeutic goals.

The first resource I want to share is a website called “Boom Cards.” I had no idea what boom cards were prior to internship, but they are a game changer especially for virtual music therapy sessions! Boom cards are digital and interactive activities where students and/or clients answer questions or participate in activities and can receive immediate feedback for their answer. I like to think of boom cards as digital flashcards, but they are much more versatile! While you have the option to purchase certain boom cards, there are many decks on the website that are free and are great quality. One deck that I’ve used recently for fall is the “Scarecrow Emotions,” specifically for younger clients whose goals are to identify emotions or improve emotional regulation. While music is not inherently a part of these activities, I’ve been able to incorporate music by putting a melody to the questions and giving directions for the activity using a simple tune (ex: singing, “The scarecrow feels angry. Which face looks angry to you?”). I also modify the music based on the emotions the scarecrow feels. For example, if the directions say to give the scarecrow a sad face, sing the directions in a minor key to keep music incorporated in the intervention and to contextualize the sounds that may be associated with certain feelings.

There are so many more (and free woo!) boom cards that can be creatively adapted for music therapy interventions, I definitely recommend taking a look through the website and seeing how you may utilize these in sessions.

Another way I’ve used online resources for virtual sessions is by having clients build their “Thanksgiving plate” using visuals and a powerpoint slide. The food visuals and vocabulary words are courtesy of another website, “Teachers Pay Teachers.” I’ve used this activity primarily to work on clients’ sustained attention but it is also beneficial in helping clients identify foods associated with Thanksgiving and improving prosody of speech. Similar with the scarecrow intervention, I created a simple tune to sing while drumming: “What shall we eat, what shall we eat, what shall we eat for our Thanksgiving feast?” I encourage the client(s) to say their favorite holiday food that they see on the slide, and drag that food onto the plate. When they choose a food, I sing and drum the syllables of that food in a natural rhythm that the word is spoken (ex: green beans is two quarter notes). By the end, the client(s) has a full plate of Thanksgiving foods that they’ve made.

I hope these activity ideas and resources may help as we continue to explore the world of telehealth and how to best treat clients virtually. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Katherine

I’m a Believer (in the transformational design model)

As music therapists, advocating for the profession is an incredibly significant aspect of the job. While it’s nice to be considered a “happy music person,” there’s much more to the job description than just playing feel good music for others all the time! Now enter *drum roll please* the Transformational Design Model.

The Transformational Design Model (TDM), designed by Dr. Michael Thaut, provides a system for translating the scientific model to functional music therapy practice, specifically in regards to Neurologic Music Therapy. There are five steps to the model including:

1. Diagnostic and functional assessment of a patient or client (find client strengths and weaknesses)
2. Development of therapeutic goals/objectives
3. Design functional, nonmusical therapeutic exercises and stimuli
4. Translation of step 3 to functional therapeutic music experiences (incorporate music interventions to address the goals)
5. Transfer the therapeutic learning to functional, nonmusical real world applications (generalize)

Piggybacking off the song “Believer” by Imagine Dragons to list the 5 steps of TDM during symposium

The TDM is beneficial because of its functionality. It provides the ability for music therapists to address a client’s nonmusical goals (ex: social, emotional, cognitive, motor skills) with music interventions. In other words, TDM provides a model for music therapists to efficiently translate the scientific model by applying music to achieve the therapeutic goal. The TDM is significant in terms of advocacy because it puts the focus in the specific goals and objectives of a client, which can be assessed and measured, and less on the music activity presented. Music exercises that are isomorphic, or similar in structure, to non-music exercises are incorporated into a session so the goals (socialization, mood vectoring, gait training, etc) can be addressed and interventions chosen by the therapist are validated.

Here are examples of an activity-based approach in comparison to one based off of the TDM:

1. ACTIVITY BASED APPROACH: The music therapist chooses a popular song that the client knows. After choosing the activity, the therapist then decides that playing the piano can be helpful in improving finger dexterity and fine motor skills which can be beneficial for the client to improve upon.
2. TDM APPROACH:
   1. The music therapist assesses the client’s strengths and weaknesses, noting that the client appears to have minimal dexterity.
   2. The client shows need for improvement with muscle tone, fine motor skills and coordination with the fingers and hands.
   3. The MT may collaborate with other disciplines to determine if they have similar goals for the client and how they are addressing said goals in their therapeutic practice.
   4. At this point, the MT decides that incorporating a piano playing activity in the session plan may be a beneficial intervention for reaching the client’s goal/objective.
   5. The MT can then generalize ways for the client to apply the skills learned by playing piano in the session to the client’s daily life.

As music therapy is an evidence-based practice, the TDM is a model that helps make sure the goals and objectives of each client that need to be addressed are actually being addressed in the therapeutic setting.

Thaut, M. H. (2008). Rhythm, music, and the brain: Scientific foundations and clinical applications. Abingdon: Routledge.

Until next time,

Katherine

Valentine’s Day Inspiration!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so it’s  a great time to share some fun Valentine’s Day Interventions and exercises.  I am so excited to get the chance to do some themed sessions for Valentine’s Day, it is such a fun holiday!

 

Songwriting: I Love the Mountains

Materials: Songwriting sheet (for lyrics), heart tree and hearts (made via google images-see image below), expo marker, visuals for non-verbal clients

Goal areas: emotional expression, decision-making/choices, social connection with peers

1. Music therapist introduces and sings song “I Love the Mountains” with group and prompts group members to sing on “Boom-de-ada” portion or play along on instruments
2. Music therapist shows group “Heart tree” to place hearts with what clients love
3. Music therapist asks group what things they love, using visual of options to prompt answers, especially for non-verbal clients
4. Music therapist writes down client response on a heart, and prompts them to place it on the tree
5. Once all hearts have been filled and all clients have answered, music therapist puts these into song “I Love the Mountains” 
6. Music therapist sings song and acknowledges what each client said (if done in a one-on-one session

 

Social Skills Hearts:

Materials: social skills hearts (made via google images and text-boxes), tambourine or other container to pass, bluetooth speaker 

Goal: social skills, social interaction, making choices/decisions

1. MT puts hearts with social skills questions written on them inside of a tambourine 
2. MT plays the song “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars on bluetooth speaker 
3. MT prompts clients to pass tambourine around the circle.
4. When the music stops, whoever has the tambourine draws a heart out of it and answers the question inside 
5. This continues until all clients have answered a question/drawn a heart
6. Adaptations: : for non-verbal clients, create a visual with photo options for answers to each question, so that everyone can participate! You can also use a microphone to motivate verbal responses from individual clients, or have verbal clients ask the question to their friend to promote socialization. For individual sessions, clients can drum along or play an instrument with the song until it pauses, and then choose a question.

 

 

Heartbeat Instruments: Attention

Materials: instruments, colored hearts taped on instruments

Goals: Attention, color-matching, cognition

1. MT passes out instruments to each client, with different colored hearts attached to each. 
2. MT prompts group to listen for their heart color for their chance to play/have a solo
3. MT sings song to the tune of “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain”

If you have a RED heart play your instrument

If you have a RED heart play your instrument

If you have a RED heart x2

If you have a RED heart play your instrument

1. MT sings this song until all colors have been done
2. Adaptations: Provide opportunity for clients to make a choice for what color is chosen next (visual for non-verbal clients)

 

I have also used the song “Side By Side” to work on lower body movement (PSE), because this song is great for prompting side steps! For upper body, a great song to use is “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” because it is in ¾ time signature, making it great for smooth fluid movements! Below are some other song ideas to use for Valentine’s day.

Song ideas for Valentine’s Day:

• Can’t Help Falling in Love With You: Elvis Presley 
• You’ve Got a Friend in Me: Toy Story
• With a Little Help From My Friends: The Beatles
• Can You Feel the Love Tonight: The Lion King
• All You need is love: The Beatles 
• All I Have to Do is Dream: Everly Brothers
• My Funny Valentine: Babes in Arms
• Bicycle Built for Two (Daisy Bell)
• Love Me Tender: Elvis Presley
• Side by Side: Patsy Cline
• You are My Sunshine (Valentine)

I hope those ideas give you some inspiration! 

-Audrey Cosgrove, MTI

 

Thanksgiving Themed Session Plan Inspiration!

One of my new favorite ways to plan music therapy sessions is by centering it around a theme. This is especially fun when it relates to a holiday! I have had a ton of fun looking up and adapting music therapy Thanksgiving ideas, and I wanted to share a couple of them with all of you!

One visual that I found for Thanksgiving is this turkey with feathers visual! I love this one because it can be adapted to fit a huge range of interventions! Here is a photo of the visual. I found it on “Speech Therapy Fun”, which is a website where you can sign up to receive free freebies! Here is the link to the website: https://www.speechtherapyfun.com/

 I adapted this to fit the many needs of my music therapy clients. Here are some ideas for how you could use this visual, or how you could create your own to fit your needs!

• Session Order: Use the visual to order your session plans, while giving clients choice and control over what happens next. To do this, have each feather color corresponds to a specific music therapy intervention that you want to do during the session. By the end of the session, optimally, each client in a group setting would get the opportunity to pick a feather, which is then added to the turkey. For example, the red feather could correspond to a drumming intervention, brown to a sing-a-long, etc. 
• Working on Colors: There are SO many ideas and examples for how you could work on colors using the turkey and feathers. For example, you could have the client work on naming the colors by singing a song prompting the client to find a specific color and add it to the turkey: 

“Can you find the Red feather, red feather, red feather

Can you find the red feather and put it on the turkey!”

I made up my own tune for this-anything you come up with will work! This is a simple activity, that also requires the client to work on their attention while waiting to hear the next color! This could be adapted to fit a wide range of clients’ needs and goals. 

• Color Bells: One way to work on cognitive skills such as focus and attention, as well as making choices, learning colors, or an array of other skills could be to use the feathers to write a song with desk bells. The client or therapist would arrange the feathers (Velcro feathers on) to the turkey, and then the client would play through the song as the colors are arranged from left to right. The client could then rearrange the feathers to be any combination, making this a great intervention with endless possibilities! 

Link to desk bells 

• Working on Social Skills & Asking Questions: For this activity, you could have a corresponding Thanksgiving (or whatever you wanted!) themed question. The client could choose one feather, and then would get the chance to ask or be asked the question. This gives the client a great opportunity to work on asking questions, using follow up questions, and practicing how to engage with those around them, especially during Thanksgiving time! 

Example Thanksgiving Questions: 

What are your favorite Thanksgiving Foods? 

Does your family eat pie on Thanksgiving? What kind?

What are you thankful for this year? 

Lastly, There are some great songs to use for Thanksgiving time. They may be about Thanksgiving itself, the fall season, or songs that center around themes of thankfulness! Here is a list of a couple songs I plan to use in my sessions:

• • What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong (Idea: Songwriting activity about things to be thankful for)
  • Thanksgiving Song by Mary Chapin Carpenter
  • Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider by Bing Crosby
  • Autumn Leaves 
  • Albuquerque Turkey (to the tune of “Darling Clementine”)
  • Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep Irving Berlin Winter Wonderland
  • Over the River and Through the Woods

I hope this post gives you some inspiration for your own Thanksgiving session plans!

-Audrey

 

You ARE Capable!: Starting your Music Therapy Internship

Hey, everyone! My name is Audrey and I am just finishing up week two of my internship at The Music Therapy Center of California! I wanted to give you all a couple tips on how to survive your first couple weeks of internship, and some encouragement for the journey are about to embark on! 

First, you will experience a whole new level of exhaustion. Now, I know what you’re thinking- How could anything be as exhausting as studying music therapy: taking upwards to 21 credits, ensembles, rehearsals, practicum sites, tests, homework, attempting a personal life, and time for yourself?! While those things are exhausting, starting your internship is a whole new ballgame! Unlike in school, you have to be “on” all day. When interacting with supervisors, clients, parents, other therapists, and anyone else you come across, you always have to put forth your best self and always be professional! After my first day of internship, I came home and fell asleep within 30 minutes-I even forgot to eat (oops. Don’t do that. Self-care, folks!). Taking every opportunity you can to rest in a way that works for you will give you energy for the next day.

Because of how exhausted you will become, rest is more important than ever during internship. You have to learn what works best for YOU. I am an extrovert, so I found that I personally don’t need a lot of time in my evenings or weekends by myself or doing things such as watching TV, reading, or laying in bed. I have found that I am best filled up and energized by spending time with people I enjoy and being active! This has been a challenge moving to a place where I know nobody, and living alone, but I have found ways to stay connected with people who are important to me! Find what you need-whether that be spending your time alone, exercising, hanging out with friends, napping (always a yes), journaling, or whatever works for you! Give yourself time to figure out what fills you up, so you can pour out on others!

Second, TAKE NOTES. Your first couple of weeks is a whirlwind, and you can’t possibly remember everything that you have to do or everything you have seen. I observed so many therapists my first two weeks, I had to make notes at the end of the day about things I admired in the other therapists’ work, things to remember, and ideas that came to mind throughout the day. I created a notebook with sections about my internship to help me retain all of the info, which will be a great tool to have when I am done!

Third, attitude is everything. I’ve only barely started and this has already become a huge lesson for me. Yes, things will be hard. Yes, you will be working a lot and likely unpaid. Yes, things won’t always go as planned. Despite all of this, you still have control over your own attitude and the way you react. I have already made mistakes throughout internship, but that is how you learn! Internship is likely one of the last times you will ever get this close of supervision and feedback, so soak up as much as possible! Choosing to take this time as a huge learning experience, instead of just a box to check off will make a huge difference. You will get out of it what you put in. Plus, you chose this internship. Remember when you applied and couldn’t wait to hear back? Keep it all in perspective! 

Lastly, internship is a huge time of self-discovery and learning about yourself. Soon before coming to my internship, I learned about the Enneagram. For those of you that haven’t heard of it, the Enneagram is essentially a personality test that puts you into one of nine personality types. When I found out I was a six, the loyalist, I was surprised by how accurate it was. Through my Enneagram number, I have realized that I am someone who doubts myself a lot. I know I am talented and a hard worker, but I often jump to worse case scenarios and worry that I am not good enough.I have to remind myself that I was chosen for this internship, and I am 100% capable as long as I am willing to learn. One of my favorite artists, Sleeping At Last, wrote a song for each enneagram type, and the song he wrote about my Enneagram type (Atlas: Six) has resonated so deeply with me, particularly for this time in my life at internship. I am far from family, friends, living in a completely new place, being pushed to new levels in my career, and trying to find my way. One of my favorite lyrics in his song says “Maybe I’m stronger than I realize.”

Maybe YOU are stronger than you realize. Internship will be hard and there will be things that you don’t know if you can handle, but it is all a part of the process, as long as you are willing to let it change and grow you. You got this!!

For anyone who wants to learn about their Enneagram type! I highly suggest it: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

See you in the next post!

Audrey

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nordoff-Robbins and Neurologic Music Therapy: What are they?