I still remember the feeling in my stomach as I headed to St. Louis to begin my internship with Midwest Music Therapy Services. That same mix of nerves and excitement came rushing back today as I embarked on a new adventure: becoming a music therapy internship supervisor.
After months of coordinating, contract writing, and preparation, The Hope Institute is now a university-affiliated internship site for music therapy students at Illinois State University. Getting to this point was a journey in itself, but now is when the fun really begins.
I’ll be writing about my internship experiences (both as intern and supervisor) frequently over the next nine months, and I’d love to hear about yours, too. A few questions to consider:
- What were your greatest challenges?
- What do you wish you had learned more about during your own internship?
- What were the most useful aspects?
- What were your greatest successes or breakthroughs?
It would be interesting to hear the perspective of current interns, long-time professionals, and internship supervisors alike. I’m going to be answering each of these questions individually, but in the meantime, please share your own thoughts in the comments!
What were your greatest challenges?
1. Humility – I knew nothing, and it was apparent!
2. Fear – I was too young (in my eyes) to help anyone with mental illness who had lived through so much that I could not understand.
What do you wish you had learned more about during your own internship?
1. Research, research, research…but that’s just me
What were the most useful aspects?
1. A lotta contact hours with clients, and a formatted plan to get my piano skills better!
What were your greatest successes or breakthroughs?
1. Running my first group by myself – month five. I knew I could do it.
2. Interviewing for jobs in month five and having offers before the end of the internship!
Great post – this could be a book for current students!
Thanks so much for your input, Andrew! My answers are very similar, especially #1 and #2. I think humility and fear are common among beginning interns, but we push through until we reach those breakthrough moments like you did. How awesome to have job offers before your internship ended!
Looking forward to hearing about your journey, Rachel!
Challenges:
Same as Andrew…Fear. Mostly of being young and scared that I would do something “wrong”–esp in areas where I had little experience (e.g. oncology, mental health)
Wish you had learned more:
I’m not sure–I feel like I’m always learning and soaking in. I believe I learned what I needed to during those 6 months and continue to learn what I need to.
Useful aspects:
I got to work with and learn from a large team of professional MT-BCs. Everyone had something different to share and I love it!
Greatest Successes or Breakthrough:
The two big ones had to do with my growth as a therapist–
1) Realizing that I’m not there to “fix” anyone, but I’m there to provide the opportunity for them to change. This helped with my big fear listed above.
2) Learning the difference between sympathy and empathy and what’s appropriate for a therapist (in terms of therapeutic boundaries)
Of course…I also learned how to do tequila shots during my internship. Does that count? ;)
Kimberly
Great points, Kimberly. I love, love, love what you wrote in #1 under “successes/breakthroughs” – this is so important. In fact, it would make a great blog post on the Maven :)
I just finished my internship, so these questions are still fresh in my mind!
Challenges:
-guitar was a huge challenge for me. I was a piano major in undergrad and had avoided guitar like the plague in graduate school. I had to pick it up very quickly in my internship.
Wish I had learned more….
-about documentation and paperwork specific to the various populations I was working with. I still have a hard time getting my head around that stuff.
Most useful aspects:
– in my internship, we were exposed to a huge variety of client populations. I learned to switch gears very quickly depending on what client/age group/etc., I would be seeing next. I feel like this gave me quite a bit of flexibility as a therapist.
Greatest Success:
– Most recently I transitioned from an intern on staff to a therapist on staff. I was actually pretty terrified to take on my own client load with no safety net. When I finished the first week completely on my own, it felt amazing!! I felt like all that work in my internship had finally paid off!
Thanks for a great post!! Good luck as you start everything up!!
Hi Megan! Congrats on finishing your internship. That’s such a great feeling, isn’t it? Having your safety net taken away is so scary at first, but then – you nailed it on the head – it is so empowering. Best of luck in your new position. Enjoy the independence!
I did my internship in a locked psych facility 5 years ago. So good to remind myself of these things.
What were your greatest challenges?
Maintaining BALANCE. Balance in personal boundaries, therapeutic relationships, social/work life, emotional support, doing music clinically and for fun, and most of all balancing the amount of emotional energy I received and expended. This will probably be a lifelong lesson but at the start it was rough!
What do you wish you had learned more about during your own internship?
Drumming and improvisation.
What were the most useful aspects?
The creative freedom I was allowed in order to get to know my own strengths and weaknesses. I got to create my own groups and structure my 1:1 time with different clients. I am grateful for the trust and faith my supervisor had in me.
What were your greatest successes or breakthroughs?
When I started, there was a client I was terrified of. During my first few weeks I hoped and hoped that he would not come to my groups or see me walking in the hallway, cause when he did he would come chasing after me to try and touch me (the other staff would usually have to intervene) and he was incredibly difficult to redirect and had very poor boundaries. And I’ll just say it, I thought he was really creepy looking with his big intense eyes, hunched shoulders, and slurred and repetitive speech. I did not want to deal with him but he had been there for years and wasn’t going anywhere. I don’t remember what caused a mental shift for me, it may have been when he came to one of my groups and I saw him play a drum and realized that he was capable of something, and I saw that something and felt the challenge to take it somewhere. So I took him on as one of my 1:1 clients. We had to start just by having conversations with a barrier between us and gradually progressed to being able to play music together so by Christmas we were able to play holiday songs together which were his favorite. When his peers (and the other staff) saw that he could sing, play a drum, and keep appropriate boundaries with me they had a new respect for him too. He went from being someone I dreaded seeing to someone I looked forward to seeing everyday. On the last day of my internship as I was leaving he asked for a hug. I made him promise that if I hugged him he would let me go, and he did nicely. I drove home in tears and that still is my biggest lesson in compassion.
Ami, reading your comment gave me chills. I’ve had similar experiences with students (I work at a residential school for children with multiple disabilities, and some of the older students – 18-22-year-olds – have behaviors that are quite severe and scary at times) but I can imagine that those feelings would be even more intense in a locked psych facility. What an amazing thing to have been able to resolve your relationship with your client and leave on such a good note with him. Thanks for sharing your experience!
1. What were your greatest challenges?
My internship was incredibly challenging interpersonally. I despised supervision and talking about myself.
2. What do you wish you had learned more about during your own internship?
I wish I learned more about doing research. But who has time to do that during an internship. ;)
3. What were the most useful aspects?
I was pushed way beyond my comfort zone. This allowed for a lot of growth!
4. What were your greatest successes or breakthroughs?
I grew as a person which directly positively affected my work as a therapist.
Regarding research? I hear ya! Maybe some day in my “spare time” I’ll get around to that :) Thanks for sharing your answers…I can definitely relate to all of them!
I start my internship in 2 weeks, moving in 1 week! Kind of a mixture of nerves and excitement right now. One of those moments where I definitely feel prepared, while at the same time not really sure what exactly I should be prepared for.
So exciting! I am really looking forward to following your journey. My best advice is to keep a journal throughout the entire process…it’s so much fun to look back and see how much you’ve grown as an MT. Good luck!
I am currently in school finishing up a music therapy degree. I would love to be added to your newsletter! Thanks
Melanie!
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Hey I was just wondering if you know anywhere to look for internships in canada? I am looking for ones n ontario and nova scotia and are they ever paid?? thanks! :)