“Safety, Security, and Sanctuary in Trauma-Informed Music Therapy Practice”

Wednesday, March 18, 2015
10:00am – 4:50pm

6-hour CMTE
Florence Ierardi, MM, LPC, MT-BC; Scott Horowitz, LPC, MT-BC; Jessica Houser, MA, MT-BC; Marisol Norris, MA, MT-BC

The concept of therapeutic safety is fundamental to music therapy.  This 6-hour intensive institute will explore the many facets of therapeutic safety; not only physical safety but also emotions, self-expression, sense of self and community, and trust in the therapeutic relationship.  The presenters will begin with a discussion of these factors and their relationship to ethics principles and multicultural perspectives.  They will use case material, recordings and re-creation of music therapy experiences from clinical practice, including but not limited to young children in medical daycare, adult and child inpatient psychiatry and multi-family groups with children and non-custodial parents.  Theoretical orientation that informed their clinical work will be described.  Participants will be invited to identify music therapy techniques that established safety, as well as other clinical factors, such as physical environment and group norms that encouraged security and a sense of being in a safe space. In small groups, participants will have the opportunity to share their own clinical experiences to identify potential music therapy methods and techniques that serve to develop safety and trust in their particular therapeutic environment.   By the end of the course, participants will be able to intersect areas of ethics and multiculturalism with theoretical orientation and music therapy implementation when considering safety in music therapy practice. This course provides 1 hour of instruction toward the CBMT Ethics Requirement.

 

Institute Outline:

10:00-10:40 Introductions, overview of course and course objectives, discussion of safety and review of ethical principles

10:40-11:10 Case example:  Child in medical daycare.  Each case example will include ethical and multicultural perspectives, as well as theoretical orientation or model as considerations of safety.

BREAK

11:20-12:10 Trauma theorists.  Review of theories and small group discussion applying theories to practice.

12:20-12:50 Second case example: Songwriting with an adolescent in an inpatient psychiatric setting.

LUNCH BREAK

2:00-2:20 Synthesis of morning topics: Ethics, trauma-informed approaches, multicultural considerations, theoretical orientation or model.

2:20-3:20 Third case example: Multi-family groups with children and non-custodial parents.  Group musical participation and discussion.

BREAK (20 minutes)

3:40-4:00 Fourth case example: Adult with selective mutism in an inpatient psychiatric setting.

4:00-4:40 Small group discussions and applying ethical, multicultural and trauma-informed principles to music therapy practice.

4:40-4:50 Musical closure.