Clinical Guide to Music Therapy in Adult Physical Rehabilitation Settings

Book excerpt: Anyone's first job out of college can be overwhelming at best, especially when entering a setting as structured and challenging as an adult rehabilitation facility. Target outcomes with this population fall under the two general categories of improving functional skills and facilitating psychosocial adjustment and emotional coping while receiving treatment. The tasks of emotional coping and the role these skills play in the treatment process are often overlooked by case managers and social workers who focus on more concrete functional skill sets. Music therapists have the unique opportunity to address both of these areas through a medium that is familiar and comforting to everyone: music. This book presents tools and information designed to arm the entry-level music therapist (or an experienced MT-BC new to rehabilitation settings) with basic knowledge and materials to develop or work in a music therapy program treating people with stroke, brain injury, and those who are ventilator dependent. The author offers goals and treatment suggestions designed to encompass all of the vital target outcomes, thus assisting music therapists to address the needs of the whole person. Examples of goals, techniques and approaches can also be modified for use with pediatric populations. This book facilitates the process of entering a new setting and allows music therapists to easily manage through the adjustment period or working in an unfamiliar setting.