I accomplished basically two things. At first those two things seem largely unrelated. On a closer look, the two tasks are intimately connected.
First task:
I spent the entirety of the morning - four straight hours - using MS Paint to shade in a map of Missouri counties in which a music therapist works. This is part of my work for the CBMT State Recognition Task Force. That's the group of people who are working really hard to secure state licensure for music therapists in Missouri.
This map project took hours because MS Paint is substandard for graphic design tasks. It's what we had to work with. This map will eventually be in the hands of many of our state congressmen and state senators, brought to them care of the music therapists taking time to attend a Hill Day this spring at the Capitol. It needs to look good. That's why I spent a lot of time outlining and shading one pixel at a time.
It was a somewhat painful but effective way to burn through a snow day morning.
Second task:
I finally managed to dig my car out from the piles and mounds and heaps of snow to get over to the hospice house to see a patient this afternoon. This was the wonderful woman who had been wrestling with some serious grief and emotional/spiritual pain but who told us she had peace and she was ready the last time we saw her.
She is now in the early phase of actively dying. She was awake but sort of staring "through" the ceiling when I arrived. She focused her gaze on the Native American flute when I pulled it from my bag, so I started with that. She was too weak to talk or smile, but she sure tried her best to smile at me. After a few minutes of flute, she also seemed pretty interested in my guitar. I played and sang the hymns I knew she really enjoyed in previous visits.
It is astounding, but even with this much weakness and this much decline, she still nodded her head in time to a few of her favorite songs. I chained hymns together using the iso principle (it really is one of our favorite tricks) to increase her relaxation and help her breathe a little more deeply and evenly. She attempted another smile but when that didn't quite happen, she winked at me!
I had all but played and sang her to sleep when I got a sense that she wanted something else before I left her to rest. I got the cedar flute back out and said I would improvise another song, one especially from me just for her. She nodded and sighed contentedly. As I finished my last improvisation of the visit, she winked at me again and promptly fell asleep.
This kind of interaction with people is all in a day's work for a music therapist (or intern, as the case may be).
What does the first task of map making have to do with providing supportive presence and comfort at the end of life? Or with helping a child achieve their academic goals? Or whether or not someone receives music therapy to help them walk and talk again after an accident?
It all comes down to whether or not the right people "get it." Do you "get" music therapy? Does your employer? Neighbor? Grandmother?
Our hospice administrator - the big boss - told me today she would gladly speak to any of my prospective hospice employers back home on the value of having a music therapy department when it comes time for me to find or create a job. She gets it.
Do our legislators understand that music therapists are highly-trained clinicians and highly-skilled musicians, both? Do they understand that what we do is evidence-based treatment?
Probably not. Not unless we tell them.
Advocacy efforts like this map are one way we can make sure moments like my afternoon with my patient can continue to happen.
Working on this map today revealed two important facts.
The first is that there are a heck of a lot of music therapists providing services in many Missouri counties for a state that, as of yet, does not officially recognize their professional status and credentials.
The second is that there is a shameful number of counties in our state alone that have absolutely no access to the services of a music therapist.
The more people who "get" what we do, the faster we can change that.
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