During the development of my final internship project, I had the unique opportunity to meet with Dr. Hillier at the San Diego Center for Vision Care. Though our meeting was brief, it was a focused consultation which profoundly influenced how I shaped my approach to working with individuals who have vision impairments.
Dr. Hillier’s expertise in neuro-optometric rehabilitation offered me a rich clinical perspective on the sensory and neurological complexities faced by individuals who have vision impairments.
He helped me understand how visual processing difficulties can deeply affect emotional regulation and behavioral responses. He emphasized that vision impairment is not merely a matter of “seeing less” but often involves intricate sensory integration challenges that impact how a person experiences the world and manages stress.
What I found especially enlightening was his emphasis on the value of predictability and multisensory support in clinical interventions. This insight encouraged me to think beyond traditional visual or verbal methods and to embrace auditory, tactile, and spatial modalities, perfectly aligned with music therapy’s strengths.This consultation gave me a clearer framework for my special project, Hearing the Whole Picture, where I aimed to integrate these interdisciplinary ideas into a client-centered musical experience. It reminded me that even a single conversation with an expert can open new pathways of understanding, fueling creativity and compassion in clinical work.
After 6 musical, educational, tireless (and tiring!), and rewarding months, I can say that I have officially finished my internship here at MTCCA! This journey has been a beautiful mix of learning, growth, hard work, and persistence. As I come down to my last week of in-person hours, I have found myself reminiscing and reflecting on my experiences over the last 6 months. Here are my top 10 key learnings that I’d like to share:
Give yourself grace
Mistakes are inevitable, normal, and EXPECTED! But most of all, they are opportunities to learn. I owe it to myself to remind myself that I began this internship to learn. Becoming comfortable with the reality of making mistakes, and becoming comfortable with the practice of self reflection after making mistakes has helped me stay grounded and present during these 6 months.
ASK. QUESTIONS.
I am a firm believer that asking questions is an effective way to learn and gain a deeper understanding of the people and experiences around you. It demonstrates your interest and engagement in what others are sharing, teaching or showing you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if it seems minute or silly, every question has value. Internships are all about learning and growing, so I strongly encourage interns to ask questions!
Maximize your time-even your drive time
With a packed schedule that takes me all around the greater San Diego area, I learned that every minute (whether it’s inside or outside of your car) is precious. Drive time can be used to learn new client-preferred songs, mentally review your session plans, talk through interventions or session ideas (I recorded my monologue on voice memos!) or simply sit in silence!
Have a few extra minutes before you go into another session? You can start a previous client’s session data, review your session plan or client profiles, jot down some ideas, there is always something you can do that sets yourself up for success down the line.
Work ahead
Something I wish I did more frequently was work ahead. I cannot stress this enough-you will be TIRED! As an intern, you owe it to yourself to get some you time; planning ahead for sessions or assignments can help you carve out your much deserved rest and relax time.
SLEEP, EAT, CLEAN
It sounds simple and obvious, but can easily be overlooked when you’re busy or overwhelmed. Prioritizing basic self-care–getting enough rest, nourishing my body and maintaining a clean living environment-can help you have control within your busy schedule. Pro tip: don’t forget to take some time to clean out your car (aka your mobile office). There were several times that I would arrive at a session and not be able to find a specific visual or instrument-only to find it tossed under a seat or hidden within another part of my car.
When in doubt, I, IV, V it out!
This has become my musical mantra. When improvising a song or writing a new song for a client, leaning on the trusty I, IV, V chord progression kept me grounded. It’s a simple yet powerful tool that is easy to learn, memorize, and use in a pinch for a range of clients and musical needs.
Trust in yourself! Believe in yourself!
There were several moments when self-doubt would creep in, but trusting in my skills and believing in myself made all the difference. Confidence isn’t just about relying on what you know; it’s about trusting that you will be able to adapt and figure things out along the way-all part of the learning process!
Practice makes permanent
The repetition of practice isn’t solely about perfecting something or ‘getting it right’, it’s about creating lasting, concrete habits. Be intentional about how and what you practice during internship. For example, I realized that I had taught myself a guitar chord progression completely wrong and boy was it a pain to un-learn and re-learn it correctly!
This also applies to daily life practices. The more that you stay up late and work after long days, the quicker you will run yourself down! The more that you put yourself in a time crunch in the mornings, the more likely you are to forget some breakfast, your coffee and your mind when you walk out the door! Be intentional with your self-care practices
Velcro a pic onto your guitar
I learned this from other therapists on the team; use Velcro stickers to attach a pic on your guitar for reliable and easy access. I put mine on the back of my guitar head and use it every time I use my guitar! Simple, yet mind-blowingly smart to me 🙂
Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses (or the sea breeze)
Amongst the hustle and grind, it’s very easy to lose sight of the beauty that surrounds me every day. I live in beautiful San Diego, California for crying out loud! Roll down your windows on the freeway and smell the salty ocean, admire the beautiful sunsets that paint the sky every evening, stand in the sunshine, go hug a palm tree and put a smile on your face! Take the time to absorb and appreciate the little moments during your internship!
This internship has been an unforgettable chapter filled with countless learning opportunities and challenges that pushed me to grow as not only a therapist, but as a person. I’ve learned how to engage with fellow professionals (both music therapists and non music therapists alike), how to advocate for our profession, how to be present and how to be an overall better musician for myself and my clients.
I’m immensely grateful for the guidance of my supervisors, the support of my amazingly talented coworkers and the love and encouragement from my family back home in Kansas City. Above all, I’m grateful to the incredible clients who trusted me in my learning process and taught me more than they will ever know.
To those beginning their internship, I hope these reflections can inspire you to begin your journey with an open mind and heart. Celebrate the little victories along the way, and don’t forget to look back on how far you’ve come.
To MTC, Banding Together and every San Diegan I have met over the past six months: THANK YOU. Your guidance and support have made this experience truly life-changing and I will be forever grateful!
MTC partners with Banding Together, a local San Diego nonprofit, who has many partnerships and connections throughout the San Diego area. One of these connections is SurfDog Records. SurfDog and Banding Together partner to host Soundcheck Jams, a unique experience that gives special needs individuals the opportunity to join nationally touring bands onstage during their soundchecks at a local music venue in the greater San Diego area! Some of the musicians they have worked with include Michael Franti, Shaun White, Ziggy Marley, Jason Mraz and most recently- Grammy Award Winning band, Ozomatli!
I got the amazing opportunity to participate in and assist Ozomatli’s Soundcheck Jam in August. Only one month into my internship, and I was already exposed to amazing experiences like this!
Ozomatli is an LA based rock ban formed in 1995. They have a unique and genre-bending style which incorporates aspects of salsa, jazz, funk, reggae and hip-hop in their music. Winning two Grammy Awards for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album and a Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, Ozomatli has left imprinted upon the music industry, making this opportunity even more exciting for both myself and the Banding Together participants!
I arrived at the BellyUp Tavern in Solana Beach to the sight of excited and eager participants, ready to enter the venue and JAM! While waiting for the venue to finish setting up, I got to meet and mingle with the kindest participants. This was a great introduction to some of the folks that I’d later meet at the Fall semester of Jam sessions!
Once we entered the venue, you could see the participant’s faces light up. The venue was cool and intimate, with interesting lighting and fun decorations. We all gathered on the dance floor area to listen to pass out our instruments, listen to the band warmup and perform a few songs for us-our own private concert! After the participants went backstage and made their way on to the stage to sing, dance, and play instruments on stage with Ozomatli! There was so much love, laughter and smiling amongst the group, it was contagious. Participants were thrilled to be up on a stage, interacting with the band and playing instruments to Ozomatli’s awesome music. We stayed on stage for 2 songs, jamming, singing, laughing, and dancing before we exited, chatted with the band and took some pictures which can be seen below!
All in all, Soundcheck Jam was a great experience, one where I was able to meet both new participants and an amazing group of musicians! I feel so lucky to intern at a company that provides amazing inclusive opportunities for their clients and team members.
During the pandemic, music therapy, like most of the world, went virtual. This shift allowed therapists to continue work despite physical distancing and learn and adapt to the ins and outs of VMT through Zoom. There are still needs for VMT today, and I have had the pleasure of working with a client virtually. Here are things that I have learned to help my session flow, and things you might consider if doing VMT.
Original sound
Before your client logs in, it’s important to set your audio settings to original sound. This allows for participants to hear both your voice and your instrument in real time rather than canceling each other out or causing a delay.
Use visuals through a session powerpoint or slides
Using session powerpoints helps provide visual cues and/or schedule/structure for clients like lyrics, visual choices, or images, for clients to be aware of session flow and help therapists transition between interventions.
Be comfortable with sharing your screen.
Using session powerpoints requires the therapist to share their screen with their client through Zoom. Being comfortable with this allows sessions to flow seamlessly, especially when sharing audio or video.
Use the keyboard to your advantage
Keyboards are essential to VMT as they have several different features that help both the client and the therapist and support the flow of sessions.
Add a style : backbeats (called styles on most keyboards) add a continuous driving loop that is easily heard for both client and therapist. Backbeats can be adapted to fit different genres, time signatures, and instrumentations which apply to a variety of needs in sessions. Giving options between different style options (e.g. rock or dance beat) gives for variety and choice within the session for the client
Using single-finger chord accompaniments when leading movement interventions
Movement interventions through zoom can be difficult due to the lack of in-person modeling, the limiting view that therapists have of clients, and potential audio/visual lagging. Thankfully, most keyboards have a one-finger chord accompaniment feature.
This allows the therapist to play full chords by pressing only the root note of the desired chord. This feature frees the therapists hands for modeling movements while still easily accompanying themselves.
How to sing with someone else through zoom
Singing in unison with someone through zoom is challenging due to the audio lag between participant and host. In my experience, it has worked best when either therapist or client takes the vocal lead when singing. The client I work with experiences vocal fatigue, so I typically lead songs and implement frequent phrase fill-in opportunities.
Pause for understandings phrase fill-in
Implementing phrase fill-ins sets clients up for successful singing opportunities while avoiding the audio delay. This also functions as an indicator of client engagement or understanding.
Tips
Test your tech
Testing your audio, video, internet connection and share screen components before client login helps the session flow smoothly
Be flexible
Know how to troubleshoot for technical issues/glitches
Every Thursday, I spend a majority of my day at a retirement/memory care facility in the community. I have the pleasure of working with two memory care groups, a resident choir, and a keyboard class. This facility has introduced me to some of the kindest, funniest, most musically inclined and gentle spirited people. I have found that there is truly something special about the way music brings out the personalities and emotions of those residents living with memory loss. There is so much joy in small interactions or exchanges that remind me that I love doing what I do.
Some of my favorite moments happen very subtly amongst the memory care residents. The residents in these groups have a wide range of physical, cognitive and verbal abilities depending on their stage of memory loss. I tend to take my time interacting with those clients with further progressed memory loss, specifically those that are non-verbal and typically non-responsive in conversational situations.
In my second month, I was co-leading with a team member and she was singing the folk song ‘I Love the Mountains’. The chorus of the song has a catchy phrase of ‘boom dee ah da, boom dee ah da, boom dee ah da, boom dee ah da’ that the residents love to join in on. One of the further progressed residents that is non-verbal and oftentimes looking off into the distance during group began to light up as the group continued singing the song. I had never heard her sing or talk, even when asked direct questions and had observed her as having low engagement or response during sessions. After the 3rd or 4th repetition, her face was alive and she was singing the boom dee ah da chorus. I could hardly contain my joy!
There are several moments where clients have alertly sat up after a cat nap when they hear the group singing, and even join in themselves by singing, clapping or tapping their foot. Or moments where residents interject in discussions or songs to swear that they had met the artist that wrote it or performed it. These moments of spontaneous engagement aren’t limited to passive participation, they also come alive during more structured and interventions like TIMP interventions.
During TIMP (Therapeutic Instrumental Movement Performance) interventions, each client gets an instrument (typically a maraca, small tambourine or hand bells) and is prompted to follow along with my visual, musical or verbal movements. I have had several laughing fits when residents begin to freestyle/improvise dance moves. You would never expect to see a 90+ year old man in a wheelchair to stand up and shimmy while you’re singing ‘Shake Senora’.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a Music Therapy intern, it’s that sometimes the best moments aren’t the ones you expect and play for, but they’re the ones that happen spontaneously, amidst the laughter, smiles, jokes and music that we create together.
One of my favorite experiences has been Jam Sessions through Banding Together. Banding Together is a partner non-profit founded by Angela and Julie that hosts Jam Sessions led by board-certified music therapists for individuals 13+ years of age with varying developmental and intellectual disabilities. I participated in 2 nights of Jam Sessions every week. As senior intern, my role included providing musical support, leading drum circles, acting in skits and even standing in as a guest musician!
Jam sessions are a great music-based social group experience for participants. There are opportunities for clients to practice social skills amongst peers like themselves. Participants work on active listening, turn taking, how to participate or engage in group activities and conversations, following verbal, visual and musical directions, and musical entrainment through drum circles.
Jam Sessions are run primarily the same every week with a schedule that includes:
Welcome-targeting social reciprocation and greetings.
The hello song helps bring the group alive and oriented to the space, their peers and the music. When leading, I love to use a microphone and move around the room, interacting with clients and giving them a chance to sing over the speakers!
Drum Circle-targeting active listening, group cohesion, musical entrainment, and turn taking
When I’m not leading drum circles and have the opportunity to sit in the circle with participants, I find so much joy in the little moments created within the music making. Whether it is a participant locking in to a drum leader, participants facial expressions between each other, or their laughter at a silly moment, there are countless small meaningful connections amongst participants and volunteers alike.
Social Skills Skit-focusing on a new social skill concept every week by coordinating with the semesters theme (i.e. Beach Jam, Jungle Jam). Social skills can include active listening, how to have an adaptable or flexible brain, how to participate in a group context, how to join peers in conversation, how to use visual and auditory context clues when engaging with others, etc.
Having the pleasure of acting in several skits throughout my time at Jam Sessions has been such a joyful experience. Whether it’s a silly ice cream shop worker or a safari guide, I have seen countless participants engage and respond positively to social skill skits.
Guest Musician/Live Stream-The guest musician will play 1-2 songs while participants are given the space to move, dance, and play instruments around the room. This performance portion is live streamed to the Banding Together facebook page.
As a new San Diegan, I have loved meeting and making music with talented musicians from all over the San Diego area-and participants love it too!
Jam Time-one of our jammers favorite times of the night is when they get to JAM! Participants have the opportunity to choose a song for the group to explore rock instruments (e.g. sing at the mic, play a keyboard, drumset, electric guitar, etc.) or be a back up vocalist or dancer!
Some of my favorite Jam session memories are dancing, singing, or making music with participants during jam time. Watching participant interactions during this time is always a highlight of my night!
Closing-We use our upbeat goodbye song to send participants off on a high note!
Jam sessions are truly a safe haven for the participants. We create an atmosphere where participants can know that they are not judged, not alone, free to express themselves and be included in the music no matter what. Jam Sessions create opportunities for social interaction, camaraderie and musical opportunities. It has been one of the most fulfilling and educational experiences of my internship and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to work with these amazing participants.
Hello everyone! My name is Mia Falcon, and I am the senior intern at the Music Therapy Center of California (MTC). I’m late to the game, but for my first blog post, I thought I’d tell you all a little bit about myself and how I made my way here to sunny San Diego at MTC.
I was born and raised in Kansas City. And before you ask, I’m from the KANSAS side, but went to school on the Missouri side. I completed my Bachelor’s degree coursework from the University of Kansas in May of this 2024, and am now here at MTC to finish the final component of earning my degree-my internship.
You might be wondering ‘Mia, why did you choose to move 1,500 miles away from home for a 6 month internship?’. And to you, lovely reader, I would say-because why not! My family has had a tie to the San Diego area for many years and I’ve always felt a pull to southern California. I’ve visited my family here since I was a baby and have always wondered how my life could look in San Diego-somewhere so different from home. Going to school only 45 minutes away from my hometown was a blessing, but once graduation hit, I felt that I could use this opportunity to try living in a new but familiar city.
After sending in my application, I took a trip out to San Diego to get a physical walk through of the offices and meet the internship director and co-owner, Julie for my first interview! Every source on the internet about MTC had nothing but great things to share and was very interested in the private practice setting. My undergraduate practicum experience with clients was primarily working with young children and adults. I was very drawn to the diverse clientele of MTC and the opportunities that they provide for their interns (learn about MTC’s internship).
So after 4 interviews with the lovely internship directors and supervisors, I was offered an internship position! I could barely contain my excitement and started jumping for joy the moment I got off the zoom call. Fast forward to a few months later, and it was time to move out of my college house and start packing my things to move out to California!
Moving to a new city is no easy feat, and neither was packing for it. Oftentimes I was asking myself questions-do I really need these heavy pants? What about two different rain jackets? What about sturdy winter boots? Sweatpants galore? My full-length winter parka? But alas, I moved here in July and had no use for my once needed cold weather clothing. Instead I packed up my business casual clothes, sandals, swimsuits, my instruments and loaded up the car for a roughly 3 day drive to the West coast!
Highlights from the drive included stopping at several different scenic lookout points across Oklahoma (yes scenic views actually exist in Oklahoma), New Mexico and Arizona, perusing shops and gas stations along Route 66, finding a restaurant called ‘The Falcon Family restaurant’ in the middle of nowhere Arizona and catching a beautiful sunset on our last night of travel in Sedona.
Looking back on my journey traveling out to San Diego, I am so glad that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and accepted the internship position at MTCCA. As you readers will come to learn through my following blog posts, I can confidently say that this has been one of the most rewarding decisions I’ve ever made. Not only have I gained valuable professional experience, but I have also grown as a person that has learned to adapt, embrace change and find pockets of peace throughout my days at MTC.
To any potential intern that may be reading this post, or anyone considering a similar leap of faith: take the chance! Moving to a new city, whether it be for school, work or just a fresh start-it will ultimately be an opportunity to learn more about yourself, your capabilities, your strengths and your areas of improvement. Though it will inevitably come with challenges, they will be challenges that you can learn and grow from.
I’m excited to share some of my insights and experiences throughout my internship and can’t wait to see what San Diego has in store for me!
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!
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.
Hello! Before diving into this blog post, I want to introduce myself. My name is Katherine and I am the newest intern at MTCCA! It’s hard to believe that I am finishing up my third week of internship, but in these three weeks I’ve already learned so much. Along with reviewing orientation materials, observing client sessions, learning about MTCCA and private practice, and getting used to the new music therapy intern lifestyle, I’ve learned about the significance of working as a member of a strong, united team. This was one of the main focuses of the vision planning retreat which I attended with the team members of MTCCA (it was also “Back to the Future” themed which was so fun!).
During a portion of the retreat, we each shared our strengths based off of the Clifton Strength’s Finder test and described how we saw these strengths played out in our lives. As the retreat was centered around looking towards the future for MTCCA, we dove even further to share the significance of our strengths in achieving MTCCA’s core values and mission. I love any and all personality tests so getting to learn more about myself and the team through the Strength’s Finder has been super intriguing aspect of internship. The categories of strengths are divided into four domains: executing, influencing, relationship building and strategic thinking. As to be expected, everyone on the team has their own set of unique strengths that they utilize in the workplace. Personally, my top five strengths are: includer, harmony, communication, individualization and empathy. My strengths are primarily relationship building strengths and I can see how these influence my decisions and approach both in music therapy and other aspects of my life, especially with how I value connections I make with others.
I share a few of my strengths with other members of the team, but it was interesting to hear how they experience these strengths individually and how they use their strengths to their advantage. Conversely, there are members of the team who have completely different strengths than I do and are strong in domains I am not, such as executing and strategic thinking. The versatility of the strengths among the team is incredibly important in the success of the company’s mission, as every member brings something unique and beneficial to the table. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about everyone’s strengths and remember leaving the retreat feeling reassured that everyone plays a crucial role on the team because of these strengths. I mean let’s be honest, while I value having harmony as one of my strengths, I know a team full of only harmonious people would probably never get much done. A similar sentiment can be said of a team made up of only executors, as it would be filled with people who have no feelings and who would struggle working as a united front. I certainly appreciated the experience of getting to learn more about the MTCCA team and how we can all work together to lead the company to success.
Moral of the story, this retreat solidified the importance of having multiple strengths on a team to accomplish various goals. A good summarization of the importance of each member actually came in the form of a Delorean (remember, “Back to the Future” themed). We each labelled our strengths on different parts of the vehicle which we thought best symbolized our strengths. In this exercise, the Delorean symbolized the company and the team was all the crucial parts of the vehicle.
The team’s labelled Delorean
I collaborated with another team member to label communication as the left and right blinkers, because a blinker signals clearly and distinctly which way the car is moving. I also labelled the passenger seat as includer because I see the passenger seat as the best representation of making someone feel included in the car. We all play a vital role in the MTCCA team, and if one strength is missing, the whole operation can fall apart. It is important to highlight these strengths to ensure everyone works efficiently and to the best of their abilities so that the team can achieve greatness! I have always enjoyed being a collaborative member of a team, so having the opportunity to dive right in and participate in the vision planning retreat as a contributor was quite exciting.
I am excited to see what the rest of internship has in store and look forward to sharing my learnings with you!
