Music Therapy! and a visit to Iowa City!

University of Iowa professors (Dr. Gfeller and Dr. Adamek up front), alumni and students

I am so fired up! I just got back from a terrific and extremely energizing Music Therapy conference in Iowa City, Iowa! And had the BEST time!! Many of you know that I am a board-certified music therapist. But do you know what that means? I get the question "what is music therapy" a LOT! I never get tired of answering it though. It's a way for me to share what I do and get the word out about music therapy. Do you know what music therapy is?

- Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. - from the American Music Therapy Association website

One of my former professors, Dr. Adamek, at the U of Iowa lunch, getting everyone ready for the Univ. of Iowa picture (above) which I am pretty sure is her favorite event of conference. :)

My original intent for jumping ship from my own Great Lakes regional conference in Michigan this weekend, was to re-visit my graduate school, the University of Iowa, and to reconnect with lots of old friends in the Midwest Conference of the American Music Therapy Association. I did those things. But I also got so much more from the conference then I had expected. The sessions that I went to were really great and inspiring. I learned a lot and it got my thoughts turning more about professional advocacy, which was the theme of the conference. I was also able to present with my friend Elisabeth, about business and being in private practice. That was a ton of fun!

To avoid making this the longest blog post EVER, I will close with some pictures from my weekend with my family. Stay tuned for more regular posts about music therapy, what it is exactly, why I chose it as my profession, and why I LOVE being a music therapist! :)

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

I remembered one of the reasons I loved living in Iowa City - there is real weather there! (totally missed that when we lived in southern california. We get some weather where we are in Indiana, but really nothing like  in IC)  It rained and stormed the first and last day we were there. Here is my husband and boys as we strolled down the ped mall. The rain didn't keep us inside and let up enough for us to take our walk down memory lane.

 

One of my favorite parts of Iowa City and also from our visit, was being at the Newman Center. So much happened to me there - I found my faith and became confirmed. I grew stronger in my faith and was asked to be on the retreat team and was also asked to lead the retreat team the following semester! and because of the retreat, I met my wonderful husband, David!! We revisited Iowa City for our friend's wedding a year after moving from there and David proposed to me at the Newman Center. So yeah, it is a pretty special place....:) The above picture is with Fr. Ed. He is completely awesome and the priest who confirmed me. We were so blessed to celebrate Mass with him on Sunday right before my presentation.

From church to the bar! lol. David and I first met at church when he came up to ask me about the retreat I had just given an announcement about at mass.  I didn't see him again however, for 3 months when we ran into each other shooting pool here at Brothers! (I was a bit of a pool addict in college. lol)  It was the last day of the semester. We recognized each other and started talking.......the rest is history, as they say:)

And onto our first date at the Brown Bottle. Well, it wasn't our first official date. That happened at the Bread Garden, which is now a Yoga Studio!  so we went to lunch at the Brown Bottle instead.

The food was so yummy!!

The old capitol. Have I mentioned that I love Iowa City?? :)

I am excited to share more about music therapy on future posts. But my question to you is - what do you already know about music therapy, if anything? What do you want to know?

Thanks for reading and have a terrific week!

Rebecca