houston life: the job

SO -- just to clarify. i just moved to Houston, TX from Lawrence, KS in order to do my music therapy internship, which is required for my studies. i am working at TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research) Memorial-Hermann Hospital, an inpatient rehab hospital within the Med Center for patients who have had Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), Spinal Cord Injuries, Strokes, Amputations, or things of the sort. the patients i see every day may have deficits in motor skills, speech and language, and memory and orientation due to their injury and/or surgery. they all receive at least 3 hours of therapy - physical, occupational and speech-language - from a consistent therapist on a daily basis, and stay anywhere from a few weeks to a few years at the hospital. the music therapy department makes its own schedule, seeing whichever patients they determine during a given week, mostly in co-treat sessions with any of the above-listed therapists. right now, there are two music therapists on staff, and one other intern.

needless to say, it's been an intense three weeks already! there have been some joys about this internship, and some disappointments, but overall, it is music therapy, which means i love it. i was so eager to jump in there (even on day one) and work with patients. i love my patients; sometimes it is also very hard..most of their stories are just short of tragedies. but, it is truly amazing to see the strides they make on a daily basis.

so, just to describe what exactly it is that i am doing each day. i see anywhere from 2 to 10 patients in a day, ages adolescent to elderly, for half hour sessions each, typically. if i am treating in a physical or occupational therapy session, i am most often facilitating motor movement with any variety of instruments i have on my cart. for example, i might be playing guitar - typically a song that is preferred by the patient - to provide a rhythmic and/or spatial structure for upper and lower extremity movement (walking, reaching, bending, lifting, stretching, stepping, etc). another example is using the drums as a target to play - kicking it with their foot in a certain position, or reaching to play it with a mallet, across their midline, or at a certain distance away from them.

music therapy is a professional therapy because music affects the brain so uniquely - when you're participating in or listening to or making music, your whole brain is activated, not just a certain area - like the Broca's area for processing speech, for example. this means that a patient is often more engaged with therapy when the music is present, making progress more efficient. additionally, the rhythm of music is processed in the motor cortex of the brain, which means that a person can entrain to (or, follow) a beat without even really thinking about it. the brain's connection of rhythm and movement is a direct one, so it can bypass cognition (meaning that people with brain injuries, for example, can still process structure through music!). music therapy can also be used to elicit/improve speech, improve memory function, and decrease pain and anxiety (and these are just goals for the population I work with!). sometimes the addition of music to the therapeutic environment is immediate - one can see a significant change in the patient's progression towards therapeutic goals the moment the music is added - and sometimes music therapy works over a long period of training. anyways, this is why my profession exists - to know how music can be used therapeutically, and be able implement it uniquely with each individual patient. pretty sweet stuff.

so, that's my job. in the midst of treating, i am doing assessments, learning TONS of music (bah! texas country will be death of me. and hannah montana), and reading literature on my field and others (e.g. neuroscience). i am tired - getting used to the 40 hour work week, and being on my feet all that time. but it's getting better - i'm not napping at 5 every day anymore!

on a side note: i get to ride the bus to and from work every day, and i LOVE it. truly a joy during my work week, not only because it's air conditioned (unlike the public transportation in costa rica, por ejemplo), but it is peaceful, and there are cool people, and i enjoy listening to music and relaxing before and after my long day.

anyways, thanks for all your warm thoughts for me. come visit me if you want to know more about my wonderful profession! or just ask me, i guess. but visiting is much better :) love and peace