One thing I’ve learned in my fourteen years as a music therapist is that it is better when we work together.

Cue Jack Johnson singing “it’s always better when we’re together.”

One of my favorite parts about working in a school setting is co-treating with other professionals.

I have learned a tremendous amount from co-treating with other therapists and working closely with teachers and paraprofessionals.

Today and next week, I’ll be sharing some simple tips to ensure a smooth collaboration with other professionals so your clients can receive the maximum benefit from your sessions.

To start, here are some simple tips when working with teachers and paraprofessionals:

1. Meet with them before your sessions begin

If possible, try to visit teachers in the morning before students arrive. You can chat with them about what they’re working on in their classroom and how you could potentially target some of those concepts in your sessions. For a few examples:

Watch this video to see how I worked on math concepts with a student in individual music therapy.

Watch this video to see how I worked on mixing colors using a singable story during group music therapy.

(All the Academic Concept videos are HERE.)

2. During your group sessions, ask and encourage them to participate

Some teachers and paraprofessionals may not want to “step on your toes” since you’re the group leader. If you want their participation, be sure to ask for and encourage it. From experience I’ll tell you it’s a lot more fun and motivating for the students if they see the teachers singing and waving their scarves too!

3. Be specific about the kind of help you need

In group sessions, some students require hand over hand assistance to participate. Ask the teacher to assist the student during a movement activity by moving their arms up and down to the music.

Some students need support to stay in the group during the session. You can ask the teacher to sit next to that student and ensure he or she doesn’t try to run away.

4. Get their feedback

After the session, ask if the teacher has any feedback or suggestions for ways to make the session more effective. I’ve been a music therapist working in various settings for what seems like a long time. To this day, I still ask for feedback and ideas from teachers and I believe we should all continue to do this so our students can receive the best service we can offer.

What suggestions do you have for working with teachers and paraprofessionals?

Stay tuned next week when I share ideas for co-treating with other therapists (one of my favorite things to do!)

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If you’re anything like me, you get SUPER EXCITED about conference.

There’s the preparation and planning out of your session schedule.

There’s travel to a new destination (even if it is only to see the inside of the hotel!)

And there’s the reconnecting with music therapy friends and colleagues that you haven’t seen in years.

The National Conference last year in Dallas was pretty amazing.

But I now realize, three months down the road, that I’ve forgotten to apply all the incredible things I learned in the presentations. What good is attending a conference if you’re not going to apply what you’ve learned in your clinical practice?

I did organize all my presentation notes right after I got home, so that was a win. Now, I plan to go back to all those notes and pull out five things I’m going to apply in my sessions in the upcoming month. Would it be helpful for you to do the same? Even if you didn’t attend conference last year, you can pull out your notes from a previous year or a past presentation. Then, pull out five ideas that you can apply directly to your clinical practice next month.

Conference is a great time, but we certainly don’t want all that effort to attend to go to waste!

Join me in dusting off those conference notes and applying what you’ve learned in your sessions next month.

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It’s been about two weeks since the National Conference took place in Dallas and I have to say, I think I still have the “conference glow.”

(Quite the opposite of conference hangover, right?!)

This year’s conference was amazing. I’m fairly certain I say that every year (in fact last year I called it Ahhhh-mazing), but there was something very special about conference this year.

I took my own advice and left some white space, took advantage of the creative outlets that were offered, and spent a lot of quality time connecting with my colleagues/music therapy pals (including my conference roomie with whom I had interned at the Matheny Medical and Educational Center 13 years ago.)

It was refreshing.

I attended presentations on the use of hip hop in therapy, practicum supervision, and high-leverage practices in special education. I attended a presentation on taking a neurodevelopmental approach to facilitating flexible social skills in individuals on the spectrum, and my fingers could not type fast enough.

It was reinvigorating.

Now I’m organizing all those conference notes so they are easily accessible when I need them.

How was your conference? Are you glowing or experiencing the conference hangover? Let me know in the comments below.

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Music therapists – do you ever hear colleagues talk about “conference hangover?”

It always makes me feel a little sad when I hear this term because I know the point of conference is for us to feel energized and not drained. That got me thinking about how we can have a really great conference experience, learn a lot, and connect with colleagues, but not leave feeling like we need a vacation.

Here are a few ideas I have:

Leave white space. I will readily admit that I’ve already downloaded the app (it’s called Guidebook in the App Store if you’re looking) and started planning out my schedule. It’s easy to get excited and add everything to your schedule. However, I do think it’s important to build in blocks of time where you can sit, reflect, and “digest” if you will, everything you’ve taken in that day.

Take advantage of creative outlets. On Saturday November 19th there will be an Art Room open from 7-9pm. “Nurturing Your Creative Self” is the tag line for the event; art supplies will be provided. This will be a great opportunity to take some time and space for yourself. Following that is the Drum Circle, which is another creative outlet not to be missed!

Don’t feel like you need to do everything. I started planning my schedule in the app and tried inputting multiple events into one time slot (how would that even work?!) I had to stop myself and remember to take it easy, only choose one event per time slot, and select only those things that really move me (like that presentation on replicating musical styles on piano and the use of hip hop in therapy).

These are just a few ideas for how to stay cool (and not get overwhelmed) at conference. If you have other suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Leave a comment below!

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National Conference was Ahhhh-mazing!!

I must admit I’m still on a bit of a conference high.

I attended presentations on everything from how to  start a music therapy program at a hospital to music therapy for trauma-influenced children to the Orff approach to music therapy. At each session I learned something new or was able to look through a new lens at a topic I was already familiar with.

The most significant thing I took away from the conference was a reminder of the importance of the therapeutic relationship. At times, we can be overly focused on interventions or our musical skills. But without a therapeutic rapport, the rest is meaningless.

I’m glad I came away from AMTA12 with fresh ideas and a new perspective on the populations I work with, but I’m glad I got the little reminder that it is the therapeutic relationship that is the foundation for our work.

SO now what to do with all those presentation notes? Did anyone else take 40 pages of notes throughout the weekend? Holy cow. How to organize them for later use?

Last year, I revamped how I organize all my music therapy “stuff.” I have binders from school, notes from presentations, idea sheets from my favorite blogs, etc. I needed a way to organize these items for quick reference at a later time.

So I created a folder for each population that we serve with music therapy: children, adolescents, adults, older adults, and patients who are hospitalized. I also have folders for NMT (Neurologic Music Therapy) notes and music and relaxation. In these folders I file EVERYTHING that has to do with this population or topic: sheet music, practicum session plans, internship notes, presentation notes, class notes, etc.

If I get a call to work with a certain client population, all I have to do is pull out that folder and inside are all the goodies I need to create appropriate and creative sessions for these clients.

Seem obvious? Then why was I keeping every music therapy paper I had together in a large plastic bin in my closet for the past 10 years?? I’m glad I finally got my music therapy “stuff” organized and the past year has been awesome because of it.

Now it’s Action Time! Leave a comment below and let me know – how do you organize your music therapy information? I would love to hear some other suggestions!

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