Music Therapy and End-of-Life Care Blog
A collaborative exploration of creativity, aesthetics, and meaning-making at the end of life
Actually, yes, there is. Let’s talk, for a bit, about the presence of sexuality between us, the end-of-life music therapists, and the people to whom we provide care — meaning our patients and whoever else is included when we come for our sessions. Our music therapy literature barely acknowledges that sexuality exists — almost as if music therapists don’t have sex, or sexual thoughts, and neither do our patients. But we know otherwise. Continue reading “There’s No Flirting in Hospice”
We, the music therapy community, have a certain way of talking about our work in end-of-life care, and a certain way that we generally do not talk about our work in end-of-life care. End-of-life music therapy clinical work is often described as “so beautiful” and “so spiritual,” I think more so than music therapy in its other clinical iterations. We like to talk about the lightness, the tears of much-needed release, the uplifting, transcendent beauty of music in the moments leading toward someone’s death.
But that’s only a portion of the work, isn’t it? Continue reading “Where is the darkness?”
