Help! My Job is Killing Me- Music Therapy and Compassion Fatigue: (6 credits)

Music therapists spend their days being present for other people, often during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Over time, that emotional responsibility can take a toll.

You may notice that you’re more exhausted after sessions, less patient than you used to be, carrying clients’ experiences home with you, or finding it harder to recover between workdays. These can be important signals that your own well-being needs attention.

This practical course helps music therapists better understand compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress while developing strategies for recognizing and responding to their own risk.

Rather than focusing only on broad advice to “practice self-care,” you’ll learn small, practical self-management techniques that can be incorporated into your workday to help you remain more grounded, regulated, and professionally effective.

You’ll also complete a comprehensive assessment profile that you can return to quarterly to monitor your own risk factors and recognize changes before they become harder to address. Deep relaxation and reflective experiences provide additional opportunities to consider what you need to sustain yourself in emotionally demanding work.

Caring for yourself isn’t separate from being an effective music therapist. Learning to recognize your limits and respond to your own needs can help you continue doing meaningful work without continually running yourself into the ground.

In this workshop, you will learn:

How to recognize signs and risk factors associated with compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress.
How the emotional demands of music therapy work can affect your personal and professional well-being.
Practical micro-techniques for managing stress and remaining more grounded during the workday.
How to use a comprehensive self-assessment profile to identify and monitor your own risk levels.
How to revisit your assessment periodically to recognize changes in your well-being over time.
Deep relaxation and reflective practices that can support recovery from the demands of emotionally intensive work.
Strategies for becoming more intentional about protecting your well-being while continuing to provide meaningful care to clients.

Objectives:

1. After course participation, attendees should be able to identify which of the risk factors for Compassion Fatigue and The Silencing Response are happening in their therapy practice.

2. After course participation, attendees should be able to evaluate personal risk for burnout or Compassion Fatigue through self-assessment tools that provide a mid-course baseline, followed by quarterly risk assessment at home.

3. After course completion, Attendees should be able to apply 4 new micro-techniques or down- regulation strategies that act as neuro-protective factors against re-traumatization that increase time spent in Eustress versus Stress

4. After course completion, participants should be able to identify if they are satisfied and safe with their current job, or if it is time for a new client, a change of workplace, a more extreme overhaul of the career path, or a sabbatical for restoration.

5. After course completion, participants should be able to describe how self-management lowers reactivity at work- protecting our mitochondrial functioning - and when to use Self-Management versus Self-Care.

CBMT Domains covered :

"I.1.B, C, E, G Identification of potential for harm within treatment (e.g., physical, psychological, interpersonal, spiritual, environmental); Client-specific safety considerations (e.g., clinical disposition, diagnosis, active symptoms, trauma, medication use, physical and mental well-being); Verbal, physical, and music interventions for client safety; Safe physical management practices and compliance principles (e.g., handling medical equipment, transportation, physical support and assistance)"

"II.D.1 Collaboration with the client and/or family/care partner and other professionals for treatment planning (e.g., goals, treatment preferences)"

"III.A Task Statement 33 Utilize evidence-based techniques, including presence, authenticity, and respect, to establish and maintain trust and rapport with the client"

"III.A Task Statement 36 Engage the client in individualized music therapy experiences to address the client's established goals and objectives within multiple domains of health and well-being (e.g., psychosocial, physiological, spiritual, musical)"

"V.5A-1 Resources for continuing education (e.g., lessons, self-study, approved continuing education courses for music therapy); V.5A-2 Self-assessment and identification of personal/professional skill development needs (e.g., musicianship, leadership, therapeutic effectiveness)"

"V.5B-8 Personal resources that support mental and physical health (e.g., Employee Assistance Program [EAP], therapy); Task Statement 66 Monitor own mental and physical health and seek support as needed to ensure professional effectiveness and competence"

Schedule:

Introduction by Janna Cantu 3:42
Self-Awareness Section - Psychoeducation and practical factors that support you remaining safe within yourself and able to foster that sense of safety within trauma processing sessions description and reflection 21:28
the silencing response 12:25
burnout, conceptualized 3:24
tri-phasic model 1:29
safety and security 33:11
Self-Assessment Section - Get your baseline and repeat this battery quarterly as a preventive measure that provides statistical analysis of emotionally charged components that can be slippery to accurately measure.
battery of assessments 1:51:46
compassion satisfaction test, should I stay or should I go? 32:17
Self-Management section - Learn what it takes to remain in Eustress - that state of flow and feeling productively challenged- without going over the cliff into chronic stress mode
Skilled versus de-skilled 14:03
Detriangulation 1:19
In-vivo self-management. master this if nothing else 13:52
Self-care: take the stress out of relaxing! 19:34
Isolation 4:20
Skill Acquisition 4:17
Conflict Resolution 9:30
Complimentary micro-skills Section for remaining in Eustress during the unfolding of a new workplace trauma, or the processing of difficult material in therapy
"A relaxed body cannot be re-traumatized" 4:55
Congrats you made it! Here is me messing up, just for fun- allow yourself to remain human. Maintaining a morbid sense of humor goes a long way towards thriving in a traumatic environment at work. CEU Bloopers 1:40
20 minutes of self reflection as you go

Music Therapy and Compassion Fatigue: HELP! My job is killing me! – is approved by the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) for 6 CMTEs-Continuing Music Therapy Education credits. The Spiegel Academy, CBMT Approved Provider #P-106, maintains responsibility for program quality and adherence to CBMT policies and criteria.

Class Description