Transcript Music Therapy for Self-Expression: Opening the Lines of - BIA-MA

Music Therapy for Self-Expression:
Opening the Lines of
Communication
Presented By:
Chrissy Cetnar, MS, MT-BC
Introductions
 Chrissy’s involvement with BIA & Background: family
involvement
 Show of hands
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Clinician?
Brain injury survivor?
Family member?
Caregiver?
ICE BREAKER
 Health Rhythms: Musical Game
 Shake Your Shaker!!!
 Listen to the beat, play however you want!
 “Everybody just like”
 “Back to your own thing”
What are some skills we just used?
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Listening
Paying attention
Concentrating
Imitating others
Taking Turns
Physical stimulation
Cognitive Stimulation
What is Music Therapy?
 “Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use
of music interventions to accomplish individualized
goals within a therapeutic relationship by a
credentialed professional who has completed an
approved music therapy program.”
 “Music Therapy is an established health profession in
which music is used within a therapeutic relationship
to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social
needs of individuals.”
 American Music Therapy Association, 2014
What is Music Therapy?
 “After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the
qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment
including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music.”
 “Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, clients'
abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of their
lives.”
 “Music therapy also provides avenues for communication that
can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves
in words.”
 “Research in music therapy supports its effectiveness in many
areas such as: overall physical rehabilitation and facilitating
movement, increasing people's motivation to become engaged in
their treatment, providing emotional support for clients and their
families, and providing an outlet for expression of feelings.”
 American Music Therapy Association, 2014
How can music therapy be helpful
during the recovery process?
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Provide motivation
Distraction
Assist in physical rehabilitation goals
Facilitate cognitive stimulation/development
Facilitate self-expression
Assist in strengthening communication between patient and
family/friends
 Facilitate social skill development
 Facilitate communication skill development
 Provide an avenue for developing relaxation skills/coping
mechanisms
Types of Interventions
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Singing
Music and Movement
Playing Instruments
Drumming
Lyric Analysis
Song-Writing
Music Assisted Relaxation
Music and Imagery
Improvisation
Why is expressing ourselves difficult
at times?
 Some things to think about….
 What are we afraid of?
 Are we comfortable with our audience?
 Music can provide us with the vehicle we
need to use to get our point across and open
the lines of communication!
Lyric Analysis for Self-Expression
 This intervention uses the meaning behind song lyrics as a means
of facilitating communication.
 An example of how this might be used, is if a family and a patient
are having a hard time communicating with each other the music
therapist may ask each member to choose a song that represents
how they are feeling about the recovery process. In the next
session, the therapist and family members would listen to the
songs and if the individual is comfortable, provide them an
opportunity to describe what the song means to them in their own
words, or allow a different family member to try to interpret what
they are trying to get across.
 Sometimes just identifying a song that represents how someone is
feeling is enough to get communication started.
Which interventions work well for
self-expression?
 Music and Imagery
 Drumming
 Song-writing
 There are many more effective
interventions for facilitating
self-expression.
 We will try the ones mentioned
above today!!
Music and Imagery
 Sometimes a good first step is to visualize what we want to
communicate to our family member, care giver, or loved
one.
 No volunteers for this one- the whole room can participate.
 Safety first- if at any time you feel uncomfortable open your
eyes and discontinue participation
 Seashell Imagery: Sam Colon, Anna Maria College
music therapy intern
Drumming for Self-Expression:
Inspirational Beats
 This drumming activity is adapted from the
HealthRhythms protocol developed by Dr. Barry
Bittman and music therapist Christine Stevens.
 It is meant to be used as part of a step-by-step
protocol, but for purposes of this presentation we
will use this one step of the process.
Inspirational Beats
(adapted)
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How hard has the recovery process been for you?
Play it on your instrument
Would you like to put that into words?
Can anyone relate?
 What would you like to say to someone who
supported you through the recovery process?
 Play it on your instrument
 Would you like to put that into words?
 Can anyone relate?
Song-Writing for Self-Expression
 Volunteers
 Christina Aguilera- Beautiful
 Everyone may take a worksheet.
Thank you!
~ Chrissy Cetnar
 “Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it
is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many
of my neurological patients, music is even more - it can
provide access, even when no medication can, to
movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a
luxury, but a necessity.”
― Oliver Sacks
 Please consider incorporating music and music therapy into
your life and throughout your recovery process either
individually, or with others going through this journey with
you.
Questions?