Category: Countertransference

Music therapists who work in end-of-life care have the opportunity to develop deep and meaningful relationships with patients and families.  Sometimes we get the opportunity to work one on one with the same patient for months, visiting them regularly and talking with them about important, intimate topics.  Their life, their death, their fears, their struggles, their joys.  Even when the relationship has only a few sessions to develop, we are stepping into intimate space with this other person.  As therapists, we try to prepare ourselves for all of the various feelings that our patients may have, and for how to support them in that process.

We often don’t prepare ourselves enough for how much our patients have feelings about us, though.  Continue reading “It’s About You” →

Narratives

During the height of the primaries earlier this year, Meghan and I participated in a (rather heated) community discussion about the role misogyny and sexism played in shaping how the presidential candidates were perceived. In a private follow up with Meghan, I noted that my entrance into a feminist perspective began with my daughter four years ago, that before my daughter was born being white and male afforded me a position of privilege buffering me from the troubling hegemonies that affected others. But after my daughter’s birth, I argued, I vicariously lived my daughter’s interactions with the social cues – e.g., a cascade of pink clothing, affirmations of being “cute”, questions about her favorite princesses, etc. – that dictated how she “should” be, affording me new insights and expanded awareness.

Continue reading “Do clients really die to meet our needs?” →