Building the First Music Therapy Programme...: A Reflection on New Music Therapy in New Place
How it Started...
When I came back to Poland last summer, after studying music therapy in Louisville, Kentucky, and also obtaining a Polish music therapy diploma, I was rather anxious considering my employment. In some parts of Poland music therapy is a well -recognized and respected discipline, such as Wrocław, with a well established programme or Lublin, where Chris Stachyra, editor of Voices, whose articles you can find there, works and promotes music therapy. However in my region, Silesia, it is hardly an established known profession. I did not expect looking for a job to be easy – and it was to be my first music therapy job ever.
To start with, I searched the Internet looking for facilities that might be interested in employing music therapist in my city. A 24-hour care facility for abused and neglected children led by a Catholic order of nuns came up first on the list. I called them. The director wanted to see me the very same day. I presented to her music therapy and myself, and she said "Angels sent you!". It was a nice welcome. I started work there the next month and the great adventure began.
Music therapy was a completely new discipline for people from the facility. Neither the nuns nor caretakers had a clear idea about my work and what it entailed. Some of them trusted me from the beginning, while others were more resentful -they thought of music therapy as a reward for good children and were afraid that such a distinction for those who had the most serious issues will reinforce unaccepted bahaviors. Both attitudes made me motivated – first: not to disappoint them, second: to prove I can offer something valuable. I was offered a very nice room to use. There were not many instruments, but the management offered to buy some, and I could bring and use my own resources.
The children and adolescents in this facility come from difficult backgrounds. Most of them experienced various kinds of abuse and neglect in their families. However, parents retain access rights to their children after placement at the facility to varying degrees. Children usually live at the facility either until parents’ rights are restored or until they become adults at the age of 18.
I received a list of children aged 5 to 14, with a range of difficulties. What they had in common were emotional and behavioral issues. I started to work individually. Getting to know each child was a challenge. Some of the children had developmental delays, while others had mental health problems. All of them were emotionally disturbed and lacked the resources to build in-depth relationships, and in particular could not identify and deal with emotions. Not having a supervisor anymore, or any other previous example, I had to figure out and decide what goals I want to work on and what models of music therapy I should use. I consulted the caregivers and observed what worked and what failed. I found that using improvisation and elements of Nordoff-Robbins approach was the most effective for a start– the structure of instrumental or vocal improvisations, as well as placing music in center instead of verbalization helped to make connection between children and me. It established trust and made my clients think about music therapy as a great thing to do, so we could start building up on this foundation according to individual goals. I also found song-writing to be a very useful technique. Moreover, I used some activities based on performing and re-creating experiences. I tried some music relaxation techniques. Soon it became clear that children, especially younger, loved music therapy in the above-mentioned, mixed approach.
The director of the facility also asked me to create a singing group for adolescents. These adolescents, aged 12 – 19, were not so easy to connect with. Mostly rebellious, with their own life-structured hierarchy of values that are not socially accepted, sometimes aggressive, and not used to any commitment they needed time to adapt to the music therapy group situation. I also had problems with the repertoire choice. I suggested that the group members made a decision by creating the list of songs they liked and wanted to perform. Their result contained hip-hop, rap and pop Polish songs. All of the lyrics expressed loss, hope, fears, future, disappointments and need for positive feelings – the lyrics were so dynamic and corresponded directly with the group’s challenges that I believed there was no better diagnostic or therapeutic material. From the frustration, aggression and anger, by singing and talking, we came to mutual respect and friendship.
What is Done?
The year is now over. Looking back, I can proudly say my individual clients made great progress to achieve their goals. As for the group, it performed four times, with success. One of the concerts took place at the Academy of Music. People who came to listen to the concert cried. I had never seen such strong feelings evoked by music before. I realize that it was not only the music that moved them so much. It was the combination of the teenagers and the music. However, without the music the listeners probably would not get to see the sensitivity, emotionality, and helplessness of this group. They would only notice aggressive young faces, typically arousing more fear than sympathy. The group members were very proud of themselves. Not only they did what they liked, but they could also see the effect of their work. They felt consolidated as a group, they felt having an impact on the audience by communicating their fears and hopes, and they also felt understood.
During the year, three girls attended classical music concerts; one slept for most of it, but they all were impressed and willing to repeat the experience. One boy, a 10-year old, managed to pass the entrance exams to the primary music school. He starts playing oboe in September.
Why am I Sharing this Story?
Dangers
There are number of reasons that I am sharing my story with you. Firstly, I just wanted to send a note from Katowice, Poland, and let you know what is going on here. But there are more important and general things that could be discussed on this example. My story might not be different from those that happen to music therapists in similar situations. I would like to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being the one who builds a music therapy program as the first practitioners, and builds awareness of music therapy as a profession in a new place. It is useful to think about the benefits and dangers of being put in the position of the "first music therapist in the facility ever." It is challenging. The lack of supervision and the complete freedom that I enjoyed offered an incentive to take it the easiest way, and put into work as little effort as possible. If no one really knows what music therapy should be like, whatever you do will probably be accepted. I had to be very strict with myself with regard to doing proper assessments, reports, progress notes and whole documentation from sessions. I had to push myself to prepare the sessions carefully, but it was tempting to relax and improvise.
One can say that not only would it be unprofessional, but also unethical. Nevertheless, when you have no supervision above you whatsoever, and you are a beginner, you may easily fall into laziness and get trapped in the situation where nobody actually requires anything so you have no motivation to do your best, and consequently, you do not. At least from my personal experience – it really is tempting to go there, and it takes an effort to resist.
Benefits
On the other hand, music therapists in these situations have a great modality, and a chance to do extremely rewarding work: establish social trust for music therapy as a profession and promote this kind of therapy from the very beginning. This is a great opportunity to feel the significance of the work done. The point is to prove that music therapy is not just fun, it is also valuable and effective treatment.
The problems and benefits connected to any kind of freedom were discussed broadly in the fields of philosophy, politics, and psychology, among others. The word freedom is always paired with the world responsibility. And responsibility, obviously, bears its own problems. Freedom allows for great feelings such as power to change, ability to create and influence things. Responsibility means that all consequences of the actions undertaken, successes and defeats, are on the responsible one’s shoulders. In the case discussed above, the music therapists must be aware of responsibility not only for her/his clients, but also for the whole perception of music therapy as a treatment option and as a profession in the place given.
To Sum Up...
Being a new music therapist in a new area is a difficult job to do. However, if you succeed and find your clients and authorities happy, and you can say with a clear conscience that what you did was the best you could, the satisfaction is immense. Not only do you know that you overcame professional challenges, but you may also feel a winner in the personal inner battle between your own strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, you played your role in building international music therapy environment and contributed to the development of music therapy.
Finally...
What I wanted to do in this text was to share a really optimistic story that could be a good motivation for those who are in a similar position. Great people and great facilities do happen, some of them waiting (even if unaware of it) for music therapists to come. I am happy that I found one, and I hope my clients are happy too.
