Adapt or….

You may have heard that choral groups are recommending that people avoid group singing or may have seen the article in which researchers used a smoke machine to determine air displacement by wind instruments. Music is by its very nature a social and communal activity. Music therapy is a very humanistic profession. So, what do we do when we can’t be with our patients and clients in person? How do we change our delivery method when our most important tool may be a means of spreading the disease we are trying to avoid? The American Music Therapy Association put together a task force and a resource page to help professionals access the most current information from infection control, to government guidance on schools, hospice, and skilled nursing, to interns, to financial information, and more. I meet with a group of music therapists for peer supervision. We commiserate and brain storm ways to provide services at this time. We look at interventions we can do without singing. We compare what works better in person and what works better in tele-visits. And sometimes we can’t learn without failing. Things may be rough as we try new techniques and ways of delivering services. Eventually we will be stronger for it.

Hang in there. How have you adapted?