Episode #25: Creating a Healthy Work/Life Balance

So, what do I mean exactly by work/life balance? In an article titled “Work-Life Factors and Job Satisfaction among Music Therapy Educators: A National Survey” in Music Therapy Perspectives 2018 Volume 36, they state, “work-life factors are individual, organizational, and societal factors that influence work-life success and balance. Job characteristics such as wages, hours, and working conditions are considered work-life factors, as are personal characteristics like work ethic or sense of competence.

Read More
Episode #24: Scope of Music Therapy Practice

I don’t know about you, but whenever I think about scope of practice for music therapy I see a fuzzy, gray cloud. This is how my brain pictures the “gray area” and this gaseous proverbial space is scary to me because in some ways it’s always changing, hard to define and not always a clearly marked boundary. I like to operate with clarity and I’m always trying to be mindful about stepping outside of what is appropriate in our field and for my individual practice. So today we’re going to talk through what is clear about music therapy scope of practice as well as how to assess yourself as an individual practitioner to ensure that you’re remaining within your own ethical “cloud” of scope of practice.

Read More
Episode #23: ARTICLE REVIEW - Playing with Chaos

I will leave you with a final quote from the authors “it is possible that these young people are more familiar and comfortable with chaos than we are as music therapists. It may then be counter-intuitive to attempt to eliminate chaos so that we can experience ordered, highly structured groups at odds with the environments to which young people return.”

Read More
Episode #22: Trauma Stewardship with Elizabeth Shain MM, MT-BC, NICU-MT

The idea of trauma stewardship is that we take the time to deeply reflect on our own life

experiences as well as our current environment, both personal and work, to identify where

we may not be taking care of ourselves or others effectively because of the trauma we are

bearing witness to.

We cannot be fully present with others in their pain and suffering if we are not taking care

of ourselves. We have to put our own oxygen mask on first!



Read More
Episode #21: FREE INTERVENTION - Emotional Identification and Expression

How do you feel when someone gives you free music therapy intervention resources? I always feel excited and happy and inspired! All the big, wonderful feelings. Well that’s exactly what this episode is about. I’m going to be talking through a free intervention targeting Emotional Identification and Expression. I’m giving you the powerpoint visuals and the music and teaching you how it works- all of which has been written and developed by me, Ellisa Morris, MT-BC.

Read More
Episode #20: The Importance of Rest and How to Make It Happen!

Chronic sleep deprivation (both short sleep and disturbed sleep) is a common factor in 20% of serious car accidents, and in every common cause of death including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, alzheimer’s and immune dysfunction. Chronic sleep deprivation increases your risk by up to 45% for these common diseases. It is also a better predictor of developing type 2 diabetes than lack of physical activity. Inadequate sleep impairs brain functioning (memory, attention, decision-making, hand-eye coordination, calculation accuracy, logical reasoning and creativity.

Read More
Episode #19: To All My School Music Therapist Friends....

It’s officially May which means we’re counting down until the end of the school year. This is the final leg of the race for teachers and I've seen so many encouragement type posts that start with “to all my teacher friends...”. That got me thinking, school based music therapists need some encouragement too! We’ve compiled a short (but power packed) list of some things to help get you through the final push. You've got this!

Read More
Episode #18: Guided Imagery and Music

GIM is also known as The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music because it was developed by Dr. Helen Bonny. She was a pioneer in the music therapy field and was one of the first people to understand that music has a profound impact on a person’s psyche and went as far as to make it her life’s work to do research on the subject and develop her own method of music therapy.

Read More
Kristin Veteto
Episode #16: Stress Cycle, Connection and Rest

For today let’s go back to the idea of oscillating between connection and autonomy...in the same pattern we need to oscillate between work and rest. We will dig into the research behind rest and the profoundly unfortunate things that happen we we don’t rest in another podcast, but for now….it is important. It is the first thing many of us forget and it is the most important aspect of preventing burnout and living quite honestly a healthy and fullfilling life. Our bodies are meant to rest…..we NEED to rest. If we don’t rest, our bodies will take it….so let’s be kind to ourselves and rest. The recommended amount is estimated 8 hours/day. Some days it might be closer to 7 where others are closer to 9, but an average of 8 hours/day is ideal!

Read More
Episode # 15: A Discussion - Curriculum, Philosophy, and Approach to Music Therapy

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Music Therapy and Beyond. My name is Maggie and I am so excited for today’s episode. If you have been listening to previous episodes, like “Authenticity in Music pt. 3” and “What Does Wellness Look Like?”, you may have noticed that I came from a different college than Ellisa and Kristin. We have some differences in our theoretical orientations and today I want to dive into why that is. I have done some deep diving and found my course load for each semester during my undergraduate MT program and I have asked Ellisa and Kristin to do the same. I have asked them to join me in this episode as we discover what differences and similarities we have in our undergraduate MT programs and why we developed different theoretical orientations.

Read More
Episode #14 - Polyvagal Theory and Music Therapy

In music therapy, we have a physical and auditory medium to promote regulation in the body organically within our practice. If we use Polyvagal theory to help inform our regulation practices in all types of therapy sessions (but especially when working with clients with trauma backgrounds) we can join in this groundbreaking approach to traditional psychotherapy and utilize the fullest potential of our toolset within the body- starting with the brain.

Read More
Episode #13: Authenticity in Music - Part 3

It is becoming increasingly common that music therapists work with clients who are from other countries and cultural backgrounds. Music can play an important role in the culture of every client, so when preparing client-preferred music it’s important to be intentional about honoring different styles, genres, and languages of music that are client preferred in order to connect with your client and be most effective in therapy. This can be daunting at times, since you may not be able to speak the language, you don’t share the same background, or perhaps western instruments are not even capable of producing the same sounds and notes. This is where we have to get creative!

Read More
Episode #11: 5 Ways to Care for Your Physical Wellness Everyday

"As music therapists, our bodies are our main tool for work. We depend on our voices, and our hands and often the line is blurred between “used” and “abused” to put it bluntly. It is so important to be mindful of how we may be causing harm to our voices, hands, backs, and every area of our body in the ways that we use them. I’m going to share 5 ways to tend to your body everyday and I strongly urge you to prioritize these wellness practices as an essential part of your music therapy practice. Just as you maintain your instruments, you must maintain yourself."

Read More
Episode #10: Telehealth with Children and Adolescents with High Needs

With all of this being said, I’ve still seen a tremendous amount of growth within most of the individuals that I serve- even through a screen. I do believe that some people respond better to this approach than others, but when it is all that you have, I’ve seen teachers, paraprofessionals, students and even myself, make the most of it!

Read More
Episode #9: Attachment - What Is It and Why Is It Important?

Let’s review our goals. We’ve addressed goals #1 and 2 to: define attachment and we’ve looked at the historical foundations for the modern attachment theory. Now let’s look at goal #3: Identifying and defining these attachment patterns (other secure and insecure attachment patterns). Let’s first start with Secure Attachment.

Read More
Episode #8: Authenticity in Music - Part 2

I’m going to be going over some very basic and doable techniques for vocals, guitar and piano that will add some character and authenticity to your music performance. I’m no expert by any means……..but I want to give you some ideas from things that I’ve thought about and link you to teaching resources so that you can take your practice to the next level.



Read More
Episode #6: Clinical Strategies Through the Lens of Trauma-Informed Care

I like sets of 3 so the formula we will use for this second half is 1) Awareness 2) Learning and 3) Intention. The first step in implementing effective trauma-informed care is awareness. This part is what we’ve already addressed. Awareness of the prevalence of trauma and awareness of those three main factors of predictability, connection and learning social and emotional skills. Now comes learning! This is where you look at effective strategies that can help in combating the effects of trauma for your clients, students and children.

Read More