New Endeavor…

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog. This is mainly due to my desire to keep a written journal rather than a public journal online. I only want to post entries on this site that I feel would be helpful for others and I just haven’t had anything to post that would fit that criteria. In the mean time, I have started a photoblog entitled “reach.” The goal is to post a photo a day, and while I feel awkward carrying a camera, I am hoping to commit to the process. You can find the link below.

Warm Regards,
Dean

http://deanquick.wordpress.com/

Advocacy and Self-Exploration

#mtadvocacy

First, I want to say that I am excited to take part in social media advocacy month. Advocacy is such an important part of anything you enjoy in your life. It is especially important when your profession is involved. When you provide a service for someone, you want to provide the service for everyone who can benefit. When you can’t it, can be frustrating. So what can you do to help get the services to those people who need it? Advocate. Advocacy feels good to take part in and ultimately helps support professional growth.

Introduction: Advocacy –>; Recognition –>; Access

Since 2005, the American Music Therapy Association and the Certification Board for Music Therapists 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 35 active state task forces, 2 licensure bills passed in 2011, and an estimated 10 bills being filed in 2012 that seek to create either a music therapy registry or license for music therapy. This month, our focus is on YOU and on getting you excited about advocacy.

You are not alone in this.

Being the first music therapist ever in my facility, I live in the world of advocacy every time someone sees me in the hallway with instruments. I am sure this is an expectation for anyone in their professional environment. I have been working at The Pines at Davidson full-time for over a year and I absolutely love it. I am a new professional. Through community presentations, inservices, and support group meetings, I have found a way to integrate awareness in my community. At first, I was surprised by how open most places were to having me come speak. Now, I realize that as eager as I am to advocate for my profession, organizations are eager to hear more about it.

The more we as music therapists explain our services, the more people will understand our profession and the benefits of music therapy. The more questions people ask about it, the more answers they find. Advocating can be self-exploratory. Constantly relaying the same information can be monotonous but it doesn’t have to be. Each time you advocate, try and find a new way to deliver answers. Everyone advocates differently. As Jung said, “Whatever we ‘know’ is ultimately grounded in our subjective experience.” So since we all have different experiences in our music therapy work, we all will explain it in different ways. You may be surprised at how many ways you can describe the same scenario. This not only keeps you ready for any type of question, but helps you to be more adaptable to different situations.

We carry many roles as music therapists. We fit into many different places because of the many different benefits and uses of music therapy. Being an advocate maybe one of our more important roles.

So advocate music therapists. Advocate for what it is you believe in. Advocacy comes in so many different forms. It doesn’t have to be a flier, presentation, or blog entry. It can be a conversation. Explore what it is you love about music therapy. Harness your passion and share it.

A Not-New Reminder.

Writing can feel limiting for me.

I often compare my ideas for writing to other people’s. Then I toss my idea because they’ve already done it. You see, my struggle with writing is that of comparison to others. My observing mind overpowers my analytical mind. “I see that someone else has written about that subject in their blog so I should write about something else.” “This melody sounds like that song’s melody, I better change it.” Expression. expression. expression.

Why is that we as people are so critical of our own work and more accepting of someone else’s? Why is it that I scrap the melody of a song I’ve written because it is too similar to another song I’ve heard? Why do I scratch out a blog idea because someone else has already written about it? Why? Well…the same reason why our clients sometimes refuse to express their ideas in their own way. It is a vulnerable place. Expression makes us vulnerable. Expression is a window through the persona to the Self. When you express yourself, you express your Self. Why wouldn’t you feel indifferent about expressing yourself to a therapist whom you have just met? I am reminded, in my own struggle for creative expression, of how hard it must be for a non-musician receiving music therapy to open up in treatment. It’s hard and we need reminders in times of frustration. Maybe you’ve tried everything you know to do and a client still doesn’t reciprocate. Maybe a client is abrasive when cued verbally to engage. Maybe its time to take a step back and remember that for us music therapists and musicians, creative expression is second-nature (sometimes first!). For clients, it may be a difficult path with many bends and forks. Be patient and let the music fill the space and guide that person to trust. Trust the process.