Going the extra mile

With Training at Queen Margaret University & a completed MSc in Music Therapy, I was taught to practice in a person-centred, psychodynamically informed approach.

This will consist of meeting the Music therapist and discussing possible goals, and what/where the work will be directed.

Any relevant information can be shared and a consent form will need to be filled before commencing music therapy sessions. This consultation session consists of meeting the client, or parent/guardian, or family member.

This session consultation meeting is usually approximately 30-45 minutes.

The maximum length of a music therapy session is 50 minutes. However, it should be noted that the session can finish earlier at the discretion of the music therapist.

This is due to the possibility of the client reaching their maximum threshold, and therefore there would not be any therapeutic value in continuing that particular session.

If this occurs, the music therapist would then try extend the clients’ threshold to then allow them to use the full time.

After approximately 12 sessions, this does vary from person to person, a report will be written. This will be an overview/synopsis of the sessions and how they have progressed. It will also include the music therapist’s future plans, and where they feel the therapy can progress too. These notes could also include references to relevant music therapy research and psychotherapy theories to support the practice. This will be discussed with the client, and/or any other relevant person.

To be noted - In order for the music therapist to track the progress of the therapy sessions, after each session there will be analytic notes written by the music therapist.