Over the Edge

Today, for a bunch of reasons was a day that people were just a little on edge. We had a meeting regarding plans and services and such for a client today. It's like going to meetings for any organization when you realize that some people go about their business in a very different way than you. It sparked a very interesting conversation about building professional identities and made me think. You have to know who you are as a therapist in order to prevent burn out and to keep your passion for the work. Otherwise you'll flail and sink. So it turned out to be an enlightening afternoon. We watched some historic Nordoff-Robbins video clips today too and video clips from a senate hearing from 1991. Sassy polyester power suits. It was fantastic. On the senate videos I saw the MT director from ASU sitting next to Oliver Sacks, just hanging out. It was really cool but also interesting. The N-R video clip was enhanced by all of our ITD's history. She has so much experience and knows so many people that she has stories for just about everything we do. Other than that we did more observations and participation in sessions.

Aside from observing and participating in sessions today, we each kind of figured out our weekly schedule. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday I will have like 5 sessions during program hours. Thursday afternoon I will have the time to read, practice, finish up paperwork, and all that good stuff. In scheduling our ITD tried to give us at least one afternoon free to get some stuff done. I feel better having a tentative schedule set. I feel like it makes things a little bit more manageable.

I will share a story about something that happened today. Kari, my co-intern, was leading a piano improvisation experience this afternoon and the client was definitely testing her. The client would play on the black keys and wait for Kari to settle into a pentatonic groove. And then smile and switch to the white keys- and back and forth and back and forth. This client is so musical and as we found out, playful. It was a lot of fun and a testament to the client's musical perception and level of intention in the playing.

In other news, my friend Stacey took her boards today and passed. She is officially Stacey MT-BC!!!!!! It gets more and more exciting as my friends start becoming certified. It makes me think about how I will be there very soon.

I officially start sessions- like unsupervised and all next Thursday morning. Thank goodness I have a whole week to prepare. Its definitely exciting. I mean its exciting every day. I'm sure you're tired of hearing that, but its still true.

Tomorrow is a class on Diversity Training. We'll see what happens with that. For now, I'm eating a lovely bowl of ice cream while I watch Gypsy. Thank you TCM for playing the classics, commercial free. You know, they don't make movies like they used to. Rosalind Russell makes an excellent Mama Rose. You gotta get a gimmick--- ha. I guess that maybe applies to finding your professional identity... strippers to MT? Sounds like a stretch (or an excellent plot of a Lifetime Movie). I digress. I'm enjoying my dessert and waiting for the snow to really start falling. I was promised 5" and I don't think that happened. I woke up this morning and it looked like it had just dusted us. I was promised horrible winters... with the way that the winter is shaping up on the East Coast, people are going to start coming to Rochester for the weather! Geez. :)