How to Session Plan When Given Weekly Themes
Written by Gab Barton, MT-BC
As music therapists, we are taught to assess, treatment plan, set achievable goals, and implement therapeutic interventions with our clients and groups of clients. But what do you do when you are given weekly themes to follow in an in-patient adolescent mental health facility?
Currently, I work at a non-profit that contracts music therapy services to local facilities, schools, hospitals, and more. Since I see such a wide variety of clients, it can be helpful to have set goals each week to address. But it is important to remain mindful of incorporating other clients’ needs that are present during each session.
Below is an example list of some themes that have been set:
Week 1: Family/Support Structure
Week 2: “Who am I?”
Week 3: What is Integrity?
When planning for each of these themes, there are several things I keep in mind.
Set an achievable goal.
After each theme is set, I re-word it into a goal that the group would benefit from addressing.
Week 3: What is Integrity?
Goal 1: To increase understanding of integrity.
When I work with residential units, it is easier to determine goals to work on or continue working on because I have already assessed the clients and started building rapport. But, when I see acute clients, more assessment and adapting is required within the session.
2. Plan a session that includes patient preferred music when possible and set an objective.
Week 3: What is Integrity?
Intervention: Lyric Analysis & Art
Goal 1: To increase understanding of integrity.
Objective 1a: Through lyric analysis of Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind,” clients will show an increase in understanding integrity as evidenced by, answering at least one question asked by the therapist, sharing at least one of their personal values with the group, and adding one of their values to the chalk wall.
3. Prepare for potential adaptations.
While the possibilities for adaptations are endless, below are a few I have encountered while facilitating this specific session.
The session location may change – The location may not have a chalk board. It’s important to be prepared by bringing dry-erase markers or a poster board and markers to adapt the art portion of the session.
You may be given a different group than you were expecting to work with.
The group may have to be shortened – Try to consider which parts of the activity can be shortened or taken out while still addressing the goal set.
A client may go into crisis – Know the facility’s protocol and what your responsibilities are.
A client may refuse – How can you encourage the client to engage if they are refusing? Do they not like the song, do you still need to work on rapport building, or are they not in a good mental space to receive therapy? Make sure you consider all possibilities for refusal. You may not get an answer, but it’s important to be kind and never assume.
4. Have a back-up plan.
I always have a back-up plan if the session does not go exactly as planned or if it is apparent that the group needs to address the same or different goal. It’s important to use your discretion to determine if the same goal or a different goal should be addressed.
Same Goal: To increase understanding of integrity.
You can guide the clients in creating a playlist of songs to describe their values and share one of the songs with the group.
Let’s say that you go into a session and the group is having difficulty interacting with each other and a staff member informs you that they’ve been trying to get them to engage all day with no success. Without having extra materials for an activity to address this goal, you can use music and each of the clients’ song knowledge to challenge them to create a list of songs – at least one for each letter of the alphabet.
Different Goal: To improve group cohesion.
Working together to create a list of songs using every letter in the alphabet.
Click the button below for a session plan using “Humble and Kind” by Tim McGraw to increase your clients’ understanding of integrity.
