My apologies for not posting recently. I guess life caught up with me a bit the last few weeks and I didn't get to the blog. I'll try my best to not let it happen routinely!
This last week was rare in that I didn't have a ton of people to see at the end of the month, so I could take my time with each client I did see. One client in particular was especially enjoyable. She's one of those people who is either in a great mood or extremely anxious. She was in a good mood that day, but had been pretty anxious most of this week. We talked a lot about how she could cope when she is anxious and she stated that she will close her eyes, pray, and then sing silently to herself. I asked her what she sings and she stated that she sings old hymns. That lead to a nice time of reminiscing and discussion of her faith. She spoke of times when her faith has helped her cope with other things in her life. She was really talking a lot, which was fun for her and gave me a lot of good information.
I finally got into the music portion of our session by suggesting that we sing some songs that she can easily recall when she gets anxious again. She thought that was a good idea and I played and sang hymns with her that recalled portions of our conversation. "Nearer My God to Thee", "What a Friend We Have in Jesus", and "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" were some of her favorites that we identified as some that she could use and enjoy. While I sang, she stared at a picture of Jesus praying very intently. It was quite touching to see.
I guess the main thing I took from this session is just an affirmation of something I think we all know on some level. Regardless of faith or religion, our spiritual well-being is drastically tied to our sense of quality of life. Take some time this week to explore more how your beliefs affect your current sense of well-being and how you can take care of yourself spiritually today. It may mean praying, reading, taking a walk, talking with a friend, or just sitting quietly for a while. Whatever it means for you, take care of yourself this week!
Showing posts with label coping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coping. Show all posts
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
A Little Out of my League
This week was really hard in some spots. I had a GPS stolen from my company car, almost killed a few times by people pulling out in front of me, and had a particularly hostile encounter with a client's son. Those weeks happen and I'm admitting that it stressed me out quite a bit. However, I refuse to let that define my week. Here's a story from Tuesday that was a bright spot in my week.
I got a new referral over the weekend and went to go complete the assessment. In case I haven't covered this in a previous post, I'll do a quick review of what I look for in an assessment. I am assessing how I can help a client with my services, so I look for their needs and how I can use my role and their strengths to help them meet that need. I look for social needs [such as isolation or loneliness], emotional distress [anger, depression, anxiety], physical discomfort [pain or agitation], and spiritual concerns [questions of afterlife or suffering]. I can meet these needs through a variety of means on a case-by-case basis.
Okay, back to the story. This woman is in her 60s, which is fairly young, but not unheard of. She is very aware of her situation but is having a difficult time coping. She regularly spoke of wanting to "get better". When I was able to bring up the subject of music, however, her whole demeanor changed. She likes classical music, which is something you don't hear often in northern Iowa. Usually, I get a response of "Lawrence Welk" or "country western" with an occasional "jazz music", all of which I am well stocked. Classical music, though, is something different. We started talking about it and she enjoys not just little guitar etudes, of which I have a few, but she started throwing about composers like Wagner and Vivaldi and operas like La Boheme. Way out of my league as far as playing ability, although I do enjoy listening to them at times. She described the music as having the ability to "make my heart soar" and she loved to sing. She did not study music or perform, but always had a deep seeded love of that style. At the end, she did state that she likes "little swing tunes, too" which gave me something to play for her. She would close her eyes, bob her head around, and smile when I was done and she'd talk about her experiences in music. It was a good session, not in that a lot of emotions were processed, but in a rapport building sense. I feel she really opened up to me, which will be a huge tool in my favor going forward.
With the knowledge I now have of her, I'm planning on trying to provide a CD player and some classical music for her to listen to. To help with her grief, I'm going to try to lead her in some guided imagery, which I'll try to blog about when it happens. That's definitely a topic I'd need another post to do even a hint of justice to. Until then, here's some more reading for you to do. Check out The Mindful Music Therapist to read up on some great music therapy conversations!
I got a new referral over the weekend and went to go complete the assessment. In case I haven't covered this in a previous post, I'll do a quick review of what I look for in an assessment. I am assessing how I can help a client with my services, so I look for their needs and how I can use my role and their strengths to help them meet that need. I look for social needs [such as isolation or loneliness], emotional distress [anger, depression, anxiety], physical discomfort [pain or agitation], and spiritual concerns [questions of afterlife or suffering]. I can meet these needs through a variety of means on a case-by-case basis.
Okay, back to the story. This woman is in her 60s, which is fairly young, but not unheard of. She is very aware of her situation but is having a difficult time coping. She regularly spoke of wanting to "get better". When I was able to bring up the subject of music, however, her whole demeanor changed. She likes classical music, which is something you don't hear often in northern Iowa. Usually, I get a response of "Lawrence Welk" or "country western" with an occasional "jazz music", all of which I am well stocked. Classical music, though, is something different. We started talking about it and she enjoys not just little guitar etudes, of which I have a few, but she started throwing about composers like Wagner and Vivaldi and operas like La Boheme. Way out of my league as far as playing ability, although I do enjoy listening to them at times. She described the music as having the ability to "make my heart soar" and she loved to sing. She did not study music or perform, but always had a deep seeded love of that style. At the end, she did state that she likes "little swing tunes, too" which gave me something to play for her. She would close her eyes, bob her head around, and smile when I was done and she'd talk about her experiences in music. It was a good session, not in that a lot of emotions were processed, but in a rapport building sense. I feel she really opened up to me, which will be a huge tool in my favor going forward.
With the knowledge I now have of her, I'm planning on trying to provide a CD player and some classical music for her to listen to. To help with her grief, I'm going to try to lead her in some guided imagery, which I'll try to blog about when it happens. That's definitely a topic I'd need another post to do even a hint of justice to. Until then, here's some more reading for you to do. Check out The Mindful Music Therapist to read up on some great music therapy conversations!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Music as a Coping Technique
I had an interesting session on Monday morning with a client. She's fairly young, in her late 60s, and had a rough weekend. One of her medications causes some blood thinning and she got a cut that would not stop bleeding. It had slowed and stopped by Monday, but emotions were still raw for her. She was very anxious and, literally, afraid for her life. Another bleed like that could be her cause of death. When I got there, I saw that she was attempting to convince me [and possibly herself] that she was doing okay. One thing I do feel I excel at, however, is reading people's emotions, and I was picking up that she was not feeling positive about her situation.
We talked for a bit and I began to offer song choice for her, which is one way that I've found to read people's emotions. This client, generally, chooses the song that reflects how she feels. I would offer a "happy" song and once that I felt seemed to reflect what she was feeling. She always chose the reflective song. After a few of these songs, I began to make reflections on the songs and "pry" into her emotions. After she realized what songs she had been choosing what she perceived to be "sad" or "negative", she began crying. I let her cry, without interrupting, and, when she had finished, I said, "It seems like the music is helping you cope with your emotions, but not in the way you thought it was." She agreed and discussed how she used music to "help me when I'm really down", but hadn't realized that by reflecting what she felt, she was coping.
I think a misconception of using music as a coping technique is that if you play happy music, it will make you happy. Conversely, in this scenario, if you play sad music, it will make you sad. People do not want to be sad, generally, so people may only play happy music. This coping technique, sometimes called avoidance, may be useful for some people, but they do not realize there are other ways. Reflecting the emotions, and owning up to them, can also be an effective way to handle emotions.
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Blog for the week is Music Therapy Source. It's run by a great hospice music therapist out of Iowa City.
We talked for a bit and I began to offer song choice for her, which is one way that I've found to read people's emotions. This client, generally, chooses the song that reflects how she feels. I would offer a "happy" song and once that I felt seemed to reflect what she was feeling. She always chose the reflective song. After a few of these songs, I began to make reflections on the songs and "pry" into her emotions. After she realized what songs she had been choosing what she perceived to be "sad" or "negative", she began crying. I let her cry, without interrupting, and, when she had finished, I said, "It seems like the music is helping you cope with your emotions, but not in the way you thought it was." She agreed and discussed how she used music to "help me when I'm really down", but hadn't realized that by reflecting what she felt, she was coping.
I think a misconception of using music as a coping technique is that if you play happy music, it will make you happy. Conversely, in this scenario, if you play sad music, it will make you sad. People do not want to be sad, generally, so people may only play happy music. This coping technique, sometimes called avoidance, may be useful for some people, but they do not realize there are other ways. Reflecting the emotions, and owning up to them, can also be an effective way to handle emotions.
---
Blog for the week is Music Therapy Source. It's run by a great hospice music therapist out of Iowa City.
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