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Life after college, starting your internship.

Hi! My name is Amelia Elbendary and I am the current intern at The Music Therapy Center of California. I started my internship here in January, after finishing my undergrad this past May at the State University of New York at Fredonia, in Fredonia, New York. I am originally from Long Island, New York and moved to Western New York for college. My plan was to stay there for my internship, but a mentor of mine convinced me to follow my dreams of being a performer in California. I knew I couldn’t do that without finishing my degree, which is when I found MTCCA, and boy am I glad I did! I feel so welcomed here at The Music Therapy Center and am so grateful to have found it. With that being said, life after college has been an adjustment for me, especially moving across the country all by myself. Starting my internship, I knew I had to hunker down and prepare myself for probably the hardest part of my career and schooling. While I try to give myself grace, I hold myself to a standard where I will succeed as best I can. If you are moving forward into your internship, here are some tips. 

1. Keep an organized schedule.

Be on top of your stuff, and give yourself deadlines. Your future self will thank you. I try to give myself rewards for the week, like “If I finish my work for the week I can have a free weekend”, so on and so forth. 

2. Give yourself grace.

As much as work is a number 1 priority, if your mental and physical health are not where they need to be, you won’t be able to perform to the best of your ability. Let yourself rest, talk to your supervisor, and communicate your feelings. You are important.

3. Do your best.

If you have the capacity, open yourself up to new opportunities. Reach outside of your comfort zone, prove to yourself that you can do more than you thought possible! Make friends with your co-workers, go to them for advice or help (if they are available) and set new goals for yourself every week. 

You are important, you are learning, you are human. Go after it!

10 takeaways from a 9 month internship

I’m done! I’ve finished my hours and now have some time to reflect.

1. Music therapy is a wonderful profession and field. After my time here, I have found that music therapy is not without it’s hardships, but it has the potential to flourish and I want to be a part of it.
   
2. Working during an internship is difficult and attempting to find balance is so important. During my time here as a part time intern, I was working part time as an RBT (registered behavior technician) in the field of ABA (applied behavioral analysis). I will say that being in both fields at the same time does take a lot of energy, however, I enjoyed the work I did both at my internship and at my job. 
   
3. “Anyone can do anything for 6 months (9 months).” – Julie (internship director) I did it, Julie!
    
4. “Music is like glue.” -Angela (supervisor) This one will always stick with me Angela! 
   
5. I am constantly learning. It is important to recognize that I have gained knowledge that can provide benefits to myself and others both in and out of the field. 
   
6. Co-treating with other professionals can be valuable to understanding ourselves as music therapists. During my internship, I was able to run sessions and groups alongside other music therapists and my co-intern. I was also able to work with pastors and social workers during my hospice rotation.
   
7. Giving myself time to process after a session is important because it allows me to recognize what went well and  what I can do to improve for the next session. 
   
8. Being gentle with myself is important because I do not know everything. By doing the best we can with the knowledge we have and improving our skills through feedback, we can consistently improve as professionals. 
   
9. The power of music is incredible and learning to harness it through the scope of music therapy to help heal and facilitate learning has been such a dream. 
   
10. Have fun! (This is the fifth rule of Jam Sessions! We have this inside joke where when we say goodbye to each other, we’ll sometimes throw in “have fun” as we walk away. But also it’s just a good rule to have for life.)

Here’s a picture of us during my second week of internship!

and here’s a picture of our last team meeting before the end of my internship!

My co-intern Alec and I, always ready to do some work!

Celebrating Alec’s end of internship!

Jamming on the keys with Marisa at the music therapy conference

Getting reading done with Lisa during symposium

I’ve had so much fun in this internship. It hasn’t been easy, but it has been worth it. I’m so grateful to the Music Therapy Center of California and to everyone that works there. I’m so excited to move forward into music therapy keeping all that I’ve learned in mind. 

Respectfully,

Eric Amparo, Music Therapy Intern

Balance

  Finding balance is a difficult thing. As music therapy interns, students, and professionals, it doesn’t get easier. We are constantly bombarded by things both in the field and in our own personal lives that make it difficult to find balance. So what can we do to help achieve that balance? 

  A good start would be to take time for self-reflection. Maybe start with 5 minutes, and as you self-reflect, remember to meet yourself with gentleness and as much as you can, notice what judgment(s) you may have for yourself. Achieving balance looks different for everyone because we each prioritize our lives differently. Prioritizing the things we deem most important can be effective in the short-term, but in the long-term failing to prioritize other things in our lives can eventually cause our lives to be out of balance. 

  As you reflect, think about the things you prioritize and why you prioritize them. Ensure that you honor the areas where it may be essential to place high priority, then determine whether or not it needs to be a high priority. If it is, keep working at it. If not, it’s okay to move that lower on the list. 

What categories are on your list? 

Work

Family

Friends

Hobbies

Passions 

Beliefs

  These areas are all important to balance out our lives. There are things and people we care about that can sometimes fall to the wayside due to circumstances in our life, and work. There is work that can sometimes fall to the wayside due to circumstances within our relationships. Consider the things that you have let fall to the wayside for one reason or another, and think about if you need to prioritize that part of your life. 

  After reflecting on your priorities, give yourself an opportunity to engage in that priority. If it is work, perhaps make a to-do list of tasks and start by doing one task on that list. If it is a relationship, perhaps reach out to the person, send a text, or ask them to coffee. If it is a passion or hobby, engage in that and allow yourself to enjoy the time spent in that moment. 

  Once you’ve reflected on your priorities and taken action, take the opportunity to evaluate. Do you feel satisfied with your engagement? Do you feel like you may need to reprioritize again? If yes, start the process over. If you are satisfied, continue on and check in every now and then. 

  There is no state of perfection in finding balance. You can continue to work, process, and assess where you are in the moment. It is okay if you let things go out of balance, but it is important to remember that you have the full capability of bringing yourself back in balance. 

  During my internship, I have had to practice balance in so many different ways. I’ve practiced balance with my time, my family, my friends, my cat, and the music I enjoy with the music I have had to practice for repertoire. I wouldn’t have done anything differently during my internship. I think the journey that I have gone through these 9 months has been very valuable in my growth as a professional and as a person. For future interns – dive in! There’s going to be so much to learn and you might not be able to hold onto everything, but it is all good. The process is the treasure. 

Remember that balancing is no easy feat, but if you lean into it, it does relieve some of the pressure. It is important to keep adjusting and moving forward.

Gently,

Eric Amparo, Music therapy intern.

Boundaries in music therapy

  Boundaries are important because they provide structure when we engage in a field that requires a large amount of care and understanding. Being a music therapist is not an easy job. There are moments of joy, laughter, and song, but there are also moments of difficulty and hardship. By setting boundaries, we can ensure that the relationships with ourselves, our clients, and our profession remain intact. When we do not create boundaries and those lines are crossed, we can build up resentment and hurt. This can lead to burnout and a disdain for something that we cared about and put our hearts into. 

  One boundary we can set is for ourselves and our work. It is okay to put a lot of ourselves into our work. We can push ourselves and take breaks when we feel it is appropriate. The life of an intern will absolutely look different than that of a music therapy professional. We are learning so much and at the same time, we are dipping our feet into the field. Balance can be hard to find and for me I had a lot of difficulty in the beginning of my internship setting boundaries with work. However, towards the end, I was able to make time for my work, the sessions, and my other job (which I was working part time). It did take a lot of organizing and maximizing my time with each part. For professionals, working off the clock is a boundary that can easily be crossed. If we’re doing work when we’re not being paid, that can lead to resentment. So, when you clock out, take off your music therapy cap. This doesn’t mean we can’t advocate or think about music therapy, but your work must be done within the confines of your hours. In order to do good work while you’re at work, you must take care of yourself both on and off the clock. 

  Another  boundary we can set is with our clients. We do the best we can to provide the best service possible for our clients, but sometimes there are factors out of our control that can make this difficult. If our client is aggressive towards us or if they are not benefiting from the session from our observation, try getting a second opinion. Ask your supervisor or ask to be supervised by another music therapist and see if they have recommendations or if there is something that you could be doing differently. If you don’t have access to supervision, record your session on video and watch yourself or reach out to a member of the client’s treatment team for insight. If, after the recommendations are taken and there is still difficulty connecting with the client, it may be appropriate to talk with the client or guardian about possibly finding a new therapist. Sometimes, people just don’t connect and that’s okay. Recognize that you tried your best to make it work and support the client and sometimes, it is better for all parties involved to move on. This boundary can often be tied with self-worth, but remember, the music therapist you are today is always developing. The more you recognize that, the less you’ll beat yourself up over having to end services with a client. During my internship, I had sessions where clients yelled at me or threw instruments at me. My previous job had taught me a lot about patience and understanding how to control the flow of a session, however, it was still something that I had to process afterwards. I talked with the music therapist I was co-leading the session with and my supervisor, and we discussed ways to handle the situation that preserves the trust between me and the client. 

  Professionally, another consideration is to determine the appropriateness of music therapy for each individual client. We must remember that music therapy (with all the good and benefits it provides) is not always beneficial to every client. Clients that do not respond or connect with music may have difficulty in music therapy. Clients that have adverse reactions may also not receive the beneficial parts of music therapy. As we move forward, it may be necessary to recognize when music therapy is not effective. Similar to the last point, when music ends up causing difficult behaviors or the client has adverse reactions to it, it is important to take note of these and have a discussion with your supervisor, parent(s) and/or treatment team about how to modify services and best meet the client’s needs in order to  move forward. 

  Music therapy is a beautiful thing as it gives back to us in many ways. It allows us to connect and help people that may have had difficulty getting help from other forms of therapy. On the other hand, it can require a lot from us as a clinician. As caring as a music therapist, student, or intern, we can only do so much. It is important to recognize that, move forward, and keep on growing. 

Creating healthy boundaries,

Eric Amparo, Music Therapist Intern

The art of selecting repertoire

  As music therapists, interns, and students, It is important to have a large repertoire of music to pull from. Whether these songs are covers, piggyback songs, or even just the rhythms from familiar songs, it is important to have a wide variety of repertoire to select from in order to provide quality services for our clients. As a new clinician, this may seem daunting. How can we possibly know all the songs a person may enjoy or like? The main thing to remember is that we don’t have to know all the songs that exist! In this day and age we can use technology to our advantage to enhance the client experience when needed. We can be methodical in the songs that we learn and ensure that they are appropriate for our clients. 

Let’s look at some factors that can determine what repertoire we choose to learn: 

Population: 

Population is very important in determining what repertoire we should learn for our clients. If they are toddlers, it would be appropriate to learn nursery rhymes or common children’s songs. If we are working with a teen population in a rehabilitation facility, we most likely would not play children’s songs for that population. For older adults, the general rule is to think of songs they might have heard in their 20’s and start with those. An example might be if someone was 20 in the 1950’s and 60’s, then learning Elvis or Frank Sinatra would be appropriate. 

Preference: 

Perhaps you’ve started doing sessions already and the client requests a certain song. If you know it, go ahead and play it. If not, offer to listen to the song with the client and learn it for next time. You could also have an open discussion with the client or their caregiver about preferences and add those songs to your repertoire. It is very possible that one song you learn for a client will be something you could use for a client in the future. 

Pick songs you enjoy: 

This may seem counterintuitive because our work is based on the client’s preferences, however, picking songs you enjoy will keep you engaged in the music. It will help you learn new picking patterns, tempos, and rhythms that you may not have learned otherwise. It also gives you a space to have music of your own, and perhaps there will be an opportunity to play one of these songs for your clients if requested. It is important to remember the previous themes of preference and population, but make sure you are not just playing your favorite song because you like it. Play a song because it would be effective for your client.

Maximizing your time:

Some songs might be able to be played across populations such as older traditional songs. A couple examples of this are: You Are My Sunshine or I’ve Been Working on the Railroad. Additionally, popular groups such as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones tend to appeal to generations of listeners. Again, learning traditional songs or songs from popular groups can be helpful in building repertoire that can appeal to different populations and groups. This ensures that these song choices are in line with the goals you have set for your client. 

Here are some songs I have added to my own repertoire list during my time here at MTCCA

For older populations: 

Blue Skies (Berlin Irving) 

Singin in the Rain (Gene Kelly)

Oh What a Beautiful Morning (Gordon MacRae)

For younger kiddos: 

We are the Dinosaurs (Laurie Berkner)

Grizzly Bear Grump (Stephanie Leavell) 

5 Little Ducks (Super simple songs)

For teens: 

The Night we Met (Lord Huron)

TV (Billie Eilish)

Stick Season (Noah Kahan)

Across populations: 

You Are My Sunshine (traditional)

Take Me Home Country Roads (John Denver)

Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers)

  In conclusion, picking repertoire doesn’t have to be daunting. While having a vast array of songs in your pocket that you can play at any time is a huge asset,  in the scheme of things, each song is a drop in the bucket that will eventually become full. So take your time, enjoy the process, and keep on learning. 

Singingly,

Eric Amparo, Music Therapy Intern

Music therapy advocacy

  As students, interns, and professionals – we are in this field because we believe in it. We have studied and in many cases seen the benefit of music therapy for the clients we work with. Music therapy is questioned because despite the research and the observed benefits, it is still not widely accepted or even known about by the general populace and insurance companies. Music therapy programs are opening up at more colleges and funding sources are beginning to open up options to fund music therapy, but there is always room for growth and improvement. Here are three ways (in no particular order of importance) that you can advocate for music therapy as a professional! 

  One way is to talk with people and other professionals about music therapy. To effectively do this, we must be up to date on the current research whether learned through our education or our continued education as professionals. After we are thoroughly informed, we can educate others through conversation and perhaps even presentations about music therapy. The American Music Therapy Association website has many different research articles and journals to pull from (https://www.musictherapy.org/research/). Finding a platform through social media may be a good option, or even speaking at conferences and conventions in both music therapy and music therapy related fields. One of the challenges as a young professional is that you may constantly find yourself having to talk and reiterate the benefits of music therapy, so it is important to be informed and equipped with updated information. Sharing your experience as a professional, intern, and student, will also go a long way to show the benefits of music therapy. 

  Another way to advocate for music therapy is by implementing new research into your practice. Applying and integrating new research and techniques is essential to provide best practice services for your clients. By using best practices, you can see the efficacy of these new techniques and help bolster the field by acknowledging the benefits of the treatment across different populations and environments. 

  A final consideration is to be sure to do good work. Put your heart into it and show clients and families how music therapy can work. Keep track of goals and progress and share successes with clients, families, caregivers and program funders. This is essential to advocate for the efficacy of our profession. Check in and take care of yourself. There is only one you and if you’re not well, you can’t take care of others. When we do good work, progress shows and it is to the benefit of ourselves, our clients, and our field. When you do good work, you advocate for music therapy. 

  Advocacy burnout is a very common thing in our field. 

Check out this discussion hosted by AMTA (The American Music Therapy Association) that talks about advocacy burnout in the field of music therapy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAt72U_Le4g

It can be draining to constantly try to convince people that music therapy is effective and worth the cost and effort, but as therapists we know it is. As you find yourself having to explain why you’re doing music therapy; remember that the good work you do will ultimately show why it is beneficial. 

  Through my internship I have found myself advocating for music therapy on a consistent basis. I have helped with presentations at WRAMTAS and also studied various music therapy protocols and techniques during our symposiums (which is a time where us interns and professionals were able to read articles and watch videos on various aspects and topics related to music therapy). I have used these techniques to develop interventions for my clients and groups as well as to receive feedback from my supervisors. I have honed these skills with current research and done my best to present them in sessions. I have also had experience debriefing with parents and talking about the interventions and activities we did during the session. I have had some pushback. One time after my second session with a client, one of the parent’s said, “Did he actually do anything during the session?” (The parent usually sits outside). But I reiterated the goals we were working on and talked about how through the music I was building rapport and assessing his capabilities with attention and interaction. That specific client ended up being one of the most fun sessions I’ve had. 

In closing, music therapy is worth it and I think when we put our care into the work, it will show and it’ll only keep getting better –

Eric Amparo, Music Therapy Intern

Keeping up with the Kiddos

  To preface this blog post, I have been working with children for about a decade and have seen all sorts of personalities, ages and energy levels. There are many different philosophies when it comes to working with children and those can have benefits and drawbacks depending on the setting and the background of the child you’re working with. In my music therapy internship, I have continued to work with many populations including children, and my previous experience has helped me to engage with them and have fun in session. 

Here are some rules (in the style of Banding Together’s Rules of Jam Session: the World Tour Edition) to follow when working with children: 

These rules are taught during the social skit part of our Jam Sessions: 

Here’s a song I wrote during my internship that we played during those sessions:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zP1Mee0clmx4OXcJaI1XptscH0EmamhE/view?usp=sharing

For more information about Banding Together you can visit: https://bandingtogethersd.org/what-we-do/jam-sessions/

1. Respect

You are a role model for your students/clients. Show that you have respect for them and their independence. If you do talk about them to their parents after the session, be sure to include them in the conversation even if they are just playing with toys to the side. Even if it appears they are not listening, most often, they are aware of the things going on in their environment. If it is a topic that contains more sensitive information, it may be better suited for a short phone call or email after the session.

2. Listen

Everything is communication. Even a non-answer is communication. Pay attention as you engage with your client. Children tend to have less of a filter than adults so they will more often be open and honest with how they are feeling. Listen to that and acknowledge their feelings. Tie in your interventions to help them process and honor their feelings. This could look like providing a sensory break after they appear to be dysregulated during a book activity, or providing a song that helps deal with difficult emotions such as “Grizzly Bear Grump” by Stephanie Leavell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfetTpH7YIA). If you are listening, more often than not, you can catch a behavior before it escalates into something more intense. Of course, this is not always the case, but listening will still benefit you greatly in working with children. 

3. Take turns

Music therapy is a collaborative process. It is important to have the structure of session plans and repertoire provided, but if possible, give them the opportunity to pick what’s next on the schedule. Give them a chance to choose which song they want to listen to or play. Taking turns shows that you’re aware of them in the session and as a bonus, it may also tie in to some social or cognitive skills you want them to practice. The practice of taking turns can help us be more flexible and give up control. Some of our students may struggle with this. Explore fun ways to practice this flexibility by using an app or online program such as the picker wheel (https://pickerwheel.com/) or rolling a dice with choices. 

4. Share

Energy levels are a big factor in working with children. We all know that children can have a lot of energy. Regardless of the amount of energy you have, you can still work with children as long as you recognize how to balance energy levels. The way you structure your sessions can affect the flow of the session. Where are you putting the more demanding tasks? Are you creating a space/time to calm down after the increased demand? Look at the flow of your session and see where the energy increases and then dips. Allow for these natural changes in energy to come. This can look like offering a sensory break if it looks like your client needs it. Remember to check in with yourself. How are your energy levels? Energy is an exchange, you do not need to fight against the energy of your client. You can work with it and flow with it too. Choose your battle and be careful to not to fight for control over every aspect of the session. If they want to play an instrument sitting on the ground instead of at the table, remember their goals and as long as it’s in line with those goals, then that’s okay. Remember the purpose of what you’re trying to do. Are you trying to get them to sit down at the table or do you want them to engage and play the instrument? It’s okay to compromise. It’s okay to share. Remember to follow through if you have both agreed on a compromise.

5. Have fun

My favorite rule and the most important rule of working with children (or any population in general) is that if you are not having fun, they are not having fun. Of course, this does not mean to go to the extreme and only do things you find fun. It means to enjoy the work you are doing. Be present with your client and show them that even work can be enjoyable. Play. Don’t take yourself too seriously. At the end of the day, the way you feel about your work and perhaps even the music therapy field itself is reflected in the small successes and fun moments that happened throughout the day.

There will always be good days and difficult days when working with children. Remember that progress will not always be linear and things will not always go to according to your (session) plan, but if you lean in to the needs, energy, and behavior of your client, your session will go smoother. 

Respectfully (and have fun),

Eric Amparo, Music Therapy Intern

Music therapy in mental health

During my practicum at Arizona State University in Tempe, I worked at a rehabilitation (for drugs and alcohol) site where I prepared music therapy interventions for people who were transitioning from prisons or rehabilitation back into the world. This is a population or setting where music therapy is not as common. I found it to be a fun and rewarding experience. One of the unique things I found rewarding about this setting was that I could tell the difference in the client’s responses from the start of the session and the end of the session. Music was a success oriented and nonverbal way for the clients to express themselves in a way that they might normally have not responded without music.

In my internship, we went to work at a site with teens who were going through rehabilitation as well. I have learned from my practicum experience to be present with everyone in the room and address their thoughts and feelings as we provide them with knowledge, music, and skills to help them along in their journey. This applies to all realms of music therapy, but treatment is a collaborative process that involves therapists across different practices, friends and family, and caretakers. It’s important for everyone to be on the same page or at least open to the idea of helping their client improve and get better. 

In my experience working with groups of many ages, there may be people who will be engaged with the group and the interventions/activities presented, people who will be adamantly opposed to doing the activity, and people who are somewhere in between who respond but don’t want to delve deeper. It may seem like we’re always looking for the first type of people in groups, however, all clients are valid in their actions and responses. Healing is not a linear process, and it is important to meet the client where they’re at. They may not feel comfortable or ready to express their feelings on certain topics and it is important that we honor those feelings and show our appreciation for them to even be in a group. 

In the chapter of The New Music Therapist’s Handbook (2nd edition) about the different types of music therapy, psychoanalytic music therapy caught my eye. I spent a good deal of time asking other music therapy students, teachers, and other music therapists about it. I asked how often they would use it in a session. I got sparse answers. I think it was mainly due to the fact that although we may address psychosocial factors such as MPC (music psychosocial counseling) in NMT (neurologic music therapy) techniques, psychoanalytic music therapy is not our main focus in most interventions. However, in the mental health setting, music therapists  delve into different types of psychotherapy such as DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) 

DBT is a form of psychotherapy that can be used to treat disorders ranging from substance abuse to mood disorders. More info can be found here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/dialectical-behavior-therapy 

DBT can be used to help manage thoughts and emotions, learn coping skills, and build skill sets for handling future interactions. 

In a typical hour session we might do a song share or build a playlist to help clients find ways to cope. We might engage in drum circles to work on our self expression and non-verbal communication. We might do some mindfulness exercises to work on grounding and staying present. There are so many options and opportunities to engage with groups that the only thing limiting a session is your own thoughts and creativity. The essential thing to remember is to set an intention for your group. What are we learning about today? What is the outcome we are striving for? Is it to learn coping skills? Is it expressing ourselves creatively? The theme or subject is important so that the rest of your session can be structured effectively and one activity can flow into the other. It’s also important so the clients understand what they are learning and how it can be applied to their daily lives.

Mental health can be a difficult topic or subject especially within the context of music therapy. However music therapy has the ability to meet the needs of many different populations. One study noted by Rebecchini in 2021 showed the benefits of music therapy not only on the physiological aspects of the participants but also allowed the creation of non-invasive techniques through music therapy that would help treat various disorders (Rebecchini 2021). From my experience so far with mental health in music therapy, there is much opportunity for growth and help as we continue to serve this population. 

With a deep breath and an exhale,

Eric Amparo, Music Therapy intern 

Sources:

Hanser, S. B., & Hanser, S. B. (1999). The new music therapist’s handbook (2nd ed., completely updated and rev.). Berklee Press.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy. (n.d.). Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/dialectical-behavior-therapy

Rebecchini L. (2021). Music, mental health, and immunity. Brain, behavior, & immunity – health, 18, 100374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100374