My journey to becoming a music therapist
- christinaphung
- Dec 4, 2017
- 2 min read
I first heard about music therapy by simply doing a search on Google. Basically I was looking for professions I could do with music, but not simply just being a music teacher, piano teacher, playing in a band etc (I have a lot of respect for people who are in these jobs full-time). I was a social worker and I had played the piano since the age of 7 and I really wanted to see if it was possible to use music in my work, to help people in the community. For me, whenever I'm unhappy or angry, I go to my piano, I strum on the guitar or I sing away my worries. Music is my outlet.
Fast forward a few years later, I quit my full-time permanent job and embarked on a journey to study music therapy in France, taking me out of my comfort zone in Australia and really pushing me to embrace the unknown. It hasn't been an easy journey moving to a new country, learning and memorising about 300 French songs, both traditional and popular to be able to engage French clients, working at a psychiatric hospital seeing people with depression and alcohol dependance, understanding more about children with multiple disabilities, some of who cannot walk or eat by themselves. But then you see the light shine on their faces when music is present. They respond to music, the music that speaks to their hearts and body. There is no need for words.
The journey is far from finished as I embrace my new identity as music therapist and try to get more people interested and involved and to spread the message that music can heal, it speaks when words fail. What about you, is music your type of therapy?
Please visit the World Federation of Music Therapy for more photos and to read an article I wrote:
http://www.wfmt.info/2017/11/08/10749/
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