The second surprise: Choosing to stay home with my son felt great. Deciding to leave my job felt horrible. Those look like the same thing, but it didn’ t feel that way. Working was a big part of my identity. I was“ Michelle, the music lady” – a cringe worthy yet endearing title that I appreciated. I made the grouchiest hospital patient smile because I was able to ease whatever pain they had, and this also made the grouchiest nurse smile. I was needed! How could I leave?
The third surprise: So... I left my work, successfully had a baby and was a full time stay at home mom. It turned out I was well suited to staying home with babies. I really enjoyed it. I never had a second thought about work.
When I stopped making objective lists and started looking into my heart I realized there was one constant through all of this turmoil. I had a feeling. I just wanted to be with our son. I can’ t tell you why I felt this way. I. Just. Did. I was surprised to discover that I knew all along what I wanted to do; I just had to look within myself to find the answer. I didn’ t need to cut out my emotions out of the issue … I needed to do what I felt was best. I wanted to stay home with our son.
But I had it all wrong. Clinical work is not the only work for music therapists. The reality is there are a lot of ways to be a music therapist. Assuming that being a clinician is the only way to be a music therapist is a very narrow view of the field. It’ s also dismissive of our other music therapy colleagues, such as the researchers and educators. There are many other roles music therapists play that are equally valuable: advocates, connectors, and supportive service providers.
The second surprise: Choosing to stay home with my son felt great. Deciding to leave my job felt horrible. Those look like the same thing, but it didn’ t feel that way. Working was a big part of my identity. I was“ Michelle, the music lady” – a cringe worthy yet endearing title that I appreciated. I made the grouchiest hospital patient smile because I was able to ease whatever pain they had, and this also made the grouchiest nurse smile. I was needed! How could I leave?
I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that if I left a music therapy job, I was letting down the field of music therapy. We’ re always hearing how music therapists are losing their jobs because of lack of funding … I had funding, why would I let that go? What if I found out that staying at home wasn’ t for me, and I couldn’ t get that job back? Was I permanently closing a door? We’ re always hearing how there are music therapists trying to start programs in hospitals, but they can’ t get them off the ground … I was already in a program. Why would I let that go? I kept thinking leaving my job would disrupt all the annual statistics in the AMTA sourcebook. Could it make music therapy look less needed for government advocacy efforts? Would my leaving hurt things for other music therapists in the field?
Throughout my music therapy education I was told:
Music therapy is an honorable career that is often unappreciated. Music therapy helps many, many people in a very unique way. You will constantly be educating society about music therapy, and you will constantly be advocating for clients to have access to music therapy.
I felt like a warrior for the field just by being a music therapist. I was riding my horse of advocacy to save the world by sharing music therapy through my work with clients and coordinating with other professionals. I loved music therapy, and I literally had the t-shirt! I get one every year from the student fundraisers at conference. I was surprised to discover that I felt if I left my job, I was turning my back on music therapy.
The third surprise: So... I left my work, successfully had a baby and was a full time stay at home mom. It turned out I was well suited to staying home with babies. I really enjoyed it. I never had a second thought about work.
Another very surprising thing happened: music therapyrelated opportunities appeared. The national conference for the American Music Therapy Association( AMTA) was going to be in my state. They contacted me and asked me if I would be a co-chairperson. It was project management type of work and involved communicating with the various conference committees, keeping track of tasks and a lot of emailing. I could do that! I helped get the national conference online by creating the AMTA National Conference website, Facebook page, and Twitter accounts 2. It was incredible! I had never done work like this on such a big scale, and I really loved it.
2
AMTA National Conference website( http:// amtanationalconference. com /)
AMTA National Conference FB page( https:// www. facebook. com /
AMTANationalConference)
AMTA National Conference on Twitter( https:// twitter. com / AMTANatCon)
Next, I was contacted( out of the blue) by a music therapist colleague with a big private practice. She needed someone to keep up with her website and social media accounts. Would I do it? YES!
At the same time I was catching up with another music therapy colleague, Rachel See. She said,“ I just bought a domain‘ www. MusicTherapyEbooks. com’ 3 Wouldn’ t it be neat to sell e-books that other music therapists write? It would be so helpful for the author and the buyer.” I asked if she wanted a partner and, thankfully, she did. Now we promote and sell e-books written by music therapists.
3
Music Therapy Ebooks( www. musictherapyebooks. com)
9 | P a g e