Unfortunately, I do know that it's been waaaay too long since I've typed words into this space! How have you been? With a lot of days passed, today may be sort of a "catchall!" I'm not usually one for New Year's resolutions, but...a). as a blog reader, I want pages to be kept up with- so if I want that from others, I must expect that from myself! b). this is a great, free, way to communicate with other therapists, professionals, families, and community members and c). advocacy!
I also know that there have been a lot of changes since I've been in last- one that (hopefully) jumps out rather quickly, if you had been familiar with Music Matters. My friend Keli at Colette Paperie gave Music Matters a lovely makeover, from the website to my business card to the blog. I'm really very pleased with the new look, and believe it's one that the company will be able to grow forward with. Speaking of the company- I'm going to start using "MM" in type here when I refer to Music Matters' name (sorry, no chocolate-covered candies that melt in your mouth : )
In addition to changes within my small world, my larger professional world of music therapy has surely seen an outpouring of attention in the media: therapists are blogging and social-networking away, ABC news (among others) has highlighted the field in relation to Congresswoman Gabby Giffords remarkable journey and experience with music therapy, Ben Folds attended our national conference last month (cool!)- just to name a few. It's been awesome to see the focus on music therapy this year, and I think that social media has been a great catalyst to push more and more awareness to the public. Therapists have been advocating for quite some time, but the ease with which technology allows us to communicate- in my opinion- really gives us an advantage.
Case-in-point: I met Lucy, a speech-language pathologist at A Love for Language, via LinkedIn. In her work, Lucy said she'd never met a music therapist and asked if I would be interested in submitting an article for her website. Yes, please! In the next few days, the article- giving an introductory overview of our profession- will be published, potentially reaching other who have never had experience with music therapy...all because we joined each other's online "professional network."
It's nice to be back. I hope you have a terrific week! (I'll be spending my last few days as a 20-something before my 30's hit on Wednesday!)
