I'm a Music Therapist

When I first started supervising music therapy practicum students, I really wasn’t sure how to help them get the most out of our debriefing time after the session. Over the last few years, though, I’ve developed a list of questions and conversation starters that have helped to start a lot of interesting, deep-dive conversations in the clinical seminar class I teach, or when I’m supervising individual students.

The full list of the 75 Music Therapy Supervision Prompts is below, divided into several categories including:

• Session Observations
• Leadership Skills
• Relating to the Client
• Relating to Yourself
• Musical Skills
• Planning Ahead
• Career Reflections

I hope you find the list helpful, and you can also access a Google Doc version of the list here. Hope it’s helpful in framing some great supervision conversations!

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Session Observations

1. What was the highlight of the music therapy session (for you, for your client[s])?
2. What didn’t work during the music therapy session (for you, for your client[s])?
3. Name one expectation of yours that was fulfilled during the session. Name one surprise that arose in the session.
4. What is your biggest single takeaway after this session?
5. What factors did you not have control of during the session? How did these contribute to the session’s outcome?
6. How did humor come into play in your most recent session? How did it contribute to the session’s outcome?
7. How did movement come into play in your most recent session? How did it contribute to the session’s outcome?
8. Did any potentially harmful situations come up in session? How did you address these?

Leadership Skills

9. What did your body language say about your presence in this session?
10. If you could change one thing about your last session, what would it be?
11. Could you have used fewer words to explain something? Was there anything you could have explained more clearly during the session?
12. Did you create space for the unexpected in your last session? How did that go?
13. What did you do to ensure physical and psychological safety during today’s session?
14. What message did you intend for your client(s) to come away from session with? Did you think they receive this message?
15. In your last session, how did you scaffold the interventions you led?
16. In your last session, why did you present the interventions in the order that you did?
17. When did you feel most confident as a facilitator? What led to you feeling this way?

Relating to the Client

18. From your client’s perspective, what was do you think was your most helpful interaction with them?
19. From your client’s perspective, did you think they felt uncomfortable at any point? Did this discomfort contribute to or take away from their therapeutic progress?
20. On a scale from 1 (very unmotivated) to 10 (very motivated), how engaged was your client during this session? What factors may have explained this?
21. What information about yourself are you always okay disclosing to a client if they ask?
22. What information about yourself are you sometimes okay disclosing to a client if they ask? Under what circumstances would you be okay sharing this information?
23. What information about yourself are you never okay disclosing to a client if they ask? Why are you protective of these personal details about yourself?
24. What forms of touch are okay to share with a client?
25. How does your client communicate when they are very engaged and motivated?
26. How does your client communicate when they are disengaged and unmotivated?
27. What do you feel your clients “owe” you within a session?
28. What do you feel you “owe” your clients within a session?
29. Beyond their treatment goals, what did your client(s) need specifically in this session? (e.g., validation, attention, space, control, comfort, etc.)
30. Why do you think the client(s) decided to attend music therapy today?
31. What role did you allow the client(s) to fill during your last session?
32. Did a client make you feel uncomfortable or frustrated at any time? How did you deal with this feeling?
33. What is a wish you have for your client(s)?
34. In what ways are you and your client(s) similar? In what ways are you different?
35. What direct (and indirect) ways did the client(s) give you feedback during the session?

Relating to Yourself

36. What does emotional labor mean to you? What, if any, emotional labor did you take on in your most recent session?
37. Are you comfortable being silly or playful with your client(s)? Do you feel you should be more or less silly or playful in the future?
38. Do you tend to be more introverted or extroverted? How does this come into play when you facilitate sessions?
39. What about your clinical work have you been taking home with you?
40. Check your public social media presence. Is there anything that needs to change or become private?
41. Do you personally value spontaneity or detailed planning more? When does this tendency serve your clients and when does it not?
42. How do your personal music likes and dislikes influence the music brought into sessions you lead?
43. Are therapeutic “lies” okay? Under what circumstances?
44. Do you feel like music therapy would be helpful to your personal growth?
45. What’s an area of clinical growth you’ve experienced in the past month? Year?
46. In general, why do you believe music therapy works?
47. How do you best receive feedback?

Musical Skills

48. What piece of music exemplified the energy of your session? Listen to this piece of music and see what other insights emerge.
49. When is the last time you introduced a new instrument to your client(s)?
50. When is the last time you introduced a new song to your client(s)?
51. What musical styles are you most comfortable facilitating in session? What are the reasons for this?
52. What musical styles are you least comfortable facilitating in session? What are the reasons for this?
53. When is the last time you brought in your primary performance instrument into session?
54. What musical cues really supported your client’s progress? How might you have made these cues clearer, if needed?
55. What was the role of rhythm or tempo in your last session?
56. What was the role of pitch or melody in your last session?
57. What was the role of volume or dynamics in your last session?
58. What was the role of timbre (vocal, instrumental) or instrument choice in your last session?
59. If you had switched from either recorded music to live music (or vice versa) in your last session, how might this switch have influenced the session’s outcome?
60. What musical artists, lyrics, styles, or themes are you NOT okay with in session? What led you to set these musical boundaries?
61. How has your relationship with music changed since you began leading sessions? More recently?

Planning Ahead

62. Set three intentions to work on for the next session. Schedule time in your planner, phone, or calendar to practice one of these skills.
63. Write down a short “To-Do” list to increase your awareness for these skills next session
64. Write down a short “NOT To-Do” list that you’d like to be aware of for your next session
65. What visual aids can you make that could be used in the next session?
66. What do you need to practice before your next session? Musically? Non-musically?

Career Reflections

67. What habit(s) have best served you as a music therapist?
68. What is the best mistake you made in a session, and why?
69. What do you most hope your clients take away from your sessions?
70. What’s something that you recently changed your mind about regarding music therapy?
71. What is your first memory of working as a music therapist/student?
72. What three people have most influenced the music therapist you are today?
73. What took you a long time to figure out about how to be a music therapist? How did going slower add up to more?
74. What comes really naturally to you about being a music therapist?
75. How have your reasons for becoming a music therapist changed since you first entered the profession?