Wow I haven't written in a while. Well a few updates...
I started a project. I'm determining which types of interventions (active music, lyric analysis, or relaxation) improve the mood of pts the most, which they find most helpful, and which they enjoyed the most. There are a lot of variables and I wish I started a project sooner in my internship then I could've done a really awesome elaborate one because I always think about all these things I want to find out and do studies on but I don't write them down so I forget them....
The adolescent unit has been CRAZY. The doctor is kinda new (I think he started about when I started) and he takes all the kids off their medications and he accepts children as young as 4... so now we have this huge age range with more kids not on medication with no kind of program in place because of all the changes happening with the new doctor. We had a meeting the other morning that I went to about the unit and what kind of program to implement. They are also going to set apart a separate area for the younger kids (thank goodness) and provide more activities for them to do and stuff because they really just sit around the majority of the day... which basically means the staff is just trying to keep them from killing each other the whole time.
Alsoooo there has been a bit of drama. My supervisor was very upset yesterday because she feels the expressive therapies department is becoming more and more undervalued. Kind of like we are just "the activity people" when we are doing actual therapy, just like the therapists and social workers do. Unlike the therapists and social workers, we are not assessing the patients, we are not involved in treatment team meetings, we are not writing our treatment goals for the pts most of the time, and other fun things like that. My supervisor was saying she feels like she is not doing what she is supposed to be doing as a music therapist which is ethically incorrect. There are a lot of little things that have been going which has made us feel like we are being more and more undervalued. Anyways stuff went down with my supervisor and her boss and I think things are going to be getting better from now on. Her boss really does value us and I think the staff does too, but I don't think they fully understand what we do. (My supervisor told me I should present the results of my project to the staff so maybe that would help!) It's been a good learning experience at least!
Some other stuff that's been going down... I talked to my supervisor about some anxieties I had the other day (something happening to make me cry will kinda bring that conversation up) and she was very encouraging and it was also really great to let her know about some of that stuff. Then something happened agaaiiiinnnn a few days ago and now I kinda just feel anxious whenever I go to the hospital and I hate it. Today I even almost started to cry when I was playing a song while a patient was being rude. What the heck?? That never happens to me. I usually don't mind and can handle it... I managed to just keep going though but for a second I was afraid I was going to just break down in front of the patients how EMBARRASSING would that be?!?!
Also roommate things have been going on to stress me out too but it's all good. I've really just been so impatient to be done. I have 6 weeks left and I just want it to be over NOOOWW! It's a wonderful internship. I love it and I'm learning a lot but can I graduate already?? I'm trying to be more in the moment and enjoy the experience but it's hard sometimes. Senioritis is hitting hard. That reminds me I need to order my cap and gown and all that fun stuff yay
Lily is coming to visit me this weekend!! I think this is the longest we've been apart! I can't waaaaiiittt :) :)