My new book, Music Heard So Deeply: A Music Therapy Memoir is now available. Go HERE to read chapter descriptions and find links to order — or read a sample chapter. It is available in paperback or as an e-book.
This is a book for a general audience, so I hope it can be an effective tool for advocacy. I’ve already heard some fun stories about spouses and parents who “finally understand” what the music therapist/music therapy student in their lives is doing!
As you are starting out on your own as a professional, preparing a realistic budget is important. This will help you know if job or contract offers you receive will allow you to manage financially. While no one enters music therapy and expects to become wealthy, you should not have to take on a second job in order to manage your basic expenses. You should also not be depending on a spouse to “subsidize” a low paying music therapy job or contract.
You will have fixed expenses that occur every month, and you should start with a list of what you estimate those will cost. These expenses include things like apartment rent and utilities, groceries, car payment, gasoline and auto insurance. You may need to consider having a roommate to manage your rental expenses. If your job does not include health insurance, then you may want to check and see if your proposed income will qualify you for subsidized health insurance, otherwise individually purchased insurance can be quite expensive and will be a significant percentage of your fixed expenses.
Other fixed expenses would include any school loan repayment you may owe, medications you may need for yourself, and your phone and internet bill. Remember that you will need to plan to make regular contributions to a retirement account (SEP-IRA, etc.) to insure that you will have income down the road when you retire. That may seem a long way off, but it will come quicker than you may think. It is also wise to have an emergency fund that contains the equivalent of three months of your regular expenses. If you are self-employed, you must pay quarterly taxes as that money will not be taken out of your payments. This should be set aside in a separate savings account so that you have the money on hand to pay the IRS when it is due each quarter.
You will also have a category of rotating expenses; those that occur throughout the year, but don’t occur every month. These types of expenses might include clothing, office supplies and computer cartridges. Other rotating expenses include music therapy equipment, music therapy books, continuing education and your AMTA membership.
An important financial consideration is how much travel a given job or contract will require and how that affects how much you are really being paid. To determine how much per hour you are actually making; do not look at the “per session” or “per hour” rate. Instead, determine how many hours it takes you per day to see the actual clients/groups and make that money. For example, let’s say that you are being paid $45 per session, and you have 4 sessions per day. You are required to drive to each of these homes and they are all at some distance from each other. You leave your home at 8 a.m. and arrive at the first home at 9 a.m. That means your work day starts at 9 a.m. (you don’t count the time it takes to get to your first client nor the time it takes to get home from the last client of the day). Your other three clients are scattered throughout the day; with the last client being seen at 5 p.m. You take an hour for lunch (lunch is not calculated as part of your paid time). This means it takes a total of 8 hours to make the promised income as you are not able to do any other paid work during the day when you are traveling back and forth to clients. So you are not making $45 per hour; you are making $22.50 per hour. You have to look realistically at what you are making per day and determine if that job or contract is really a viable option.
Organize your budget in a spreadsheet or in a computer program or app—there are lots of possible options. The most important thing is to have a very clear idea on what it will cost to run your household. That’s the only way you will know if the job or contract you are considering will meet your basic financial needs.
When you are looking for that first job, it is important to give a lot of thought to what you want and need in that first professional paid experience and part of that consideration is where you would be willing to live.
People have environments that will and will not work for them and the environment you live in can affect how happy you are in a given job or contract situation. Consider initially whether you would want to live in an urban, suburban or rural area. Do you like a busy, active environment with lots of access to different activities? Or do you prefer a quieter, more low key environment with a lot of access to outdoor activities?
Access to transportation can be important. Do you want to live in an area where there will be considerable driving involved, and if so….do you have a reliable, economical car? If you are in an urban area, is there good access to inexpensive, efficient mass transit?
Are you willing to move to a place where you don’t know many people? Don’t immediately reject the idea of a great job that is located somewhere unfamiliar. There are many ways to build networks of friends and support, starting with other local MT-BCs. You can explore a location pretty extensively online, discovering clubs, meetups, and other gatherings — and even using Google Maps street view to see what it would be like to stand in a particular neighborhood. For some people, finding religious and spiritual institutions can mean an immediate “home away from home.” For others, a sports or recreation club can mean the same thing.
On the other hand, maybe you know that you won’t be happy if you are too far away from core family and close friends. You may love your job, but if you are unhappy and isolated it will eventually affect your work.
Climate can also be an important consideration. Some people do not do well in colder climates with a lot of rain and overcast skies as it affects their mood. Others find that they do not tolerate heat well. Give careful thought to the climate of the area in which you plan to live. Is this a climate you can tolerate for at least two years?
Consider also your political and religious leanings. Some areas of the country are more liberal; other areas are more conservative. Certain religious beliefs tend to be stronger in the southern part of the country. Given your own political and/or religious beliefs, is the area of the country you are considering one in which you can see yourself having a lot in common with others or not as much in common with others? You can find kindred spirits almost anywhere, but if your own beliefs are a great deal different than a majority of those living in your area, you may find yourself feeling more isolated. You may not want to be a trailblazer while navigating your first job.
Does the area of the country you are considering offer enough of the activities you are interested in? Are there healthcare and/or education facilities pursuant to your professional interests or that offer advanced education, should you wish to pursue that?
Finding that first job not only takes time and effort, but it requires a great deal of thought in regard to what will work best for you in terms of where you will be living. Taking the time to think through these points will give you a much better chance of ending up in a location where you are happy.
When you are looking for that first job, it is important to give a lot of thought to what you want and need in that first professional paid experience. You may be looking at an employee situation or a self-employment (contract) situation, but either way there are factors you want to consider.
As a less experienced therapist, the availability of supervision from a more experienced therapist can make a world of difference as you start out your professional career. Will your first work situation offer an option for formal or informal supervision by an experienced music therapist? A supervisor can be helpful in refining therapeutic techniques, dealing with ethical questions that come up, increasing your knowledge of therapeutic resources for a particular client base and many other useful things.
Will your new work situation offer any benefits? Given the potential cost of health insurance, a job that offers health insurance that is at least partially subsidized can make a big difference in your monthly budget. Are there any sick days/personal days offered as benefits? While we all try to stay healthy, it is not unusual in the first year of work for a therapist to pick up more respiratory or other minor ailments than may happen later in one’s career. Having to go to work when you are sick because there are no options to recover at home is not fun.
Will there be any contributions to a retirement fund? As a young person, it is hard to look ahead and conceive of a time when you will not be working, but if you live long enough….that will happen. It is important to start saving for retirement as soon as you start working, and if your new job helps you in that way…that is an excellent benefit.
If you will not be an employee with benefits, do you have a reliable source of information for managing your self-employed income? You will need to buy health insurance, provide yourself with a buffer for sick days and emergencies, and begin to save for retirement. If you know how to file taxes as a self-employed therapist, you can do quite well, financially. Do you have an advisor for this?
A favorite uncle of Kathleen’s offered some valuable advice early in her career. He had been a social worker for many years in the southern California area. Uncle Jim’s advice included the point that having a variety of clientele is one key to preventing burnout. If all your clients are very low functioning and very challenging to work with, then burnout can occur much more quickly. Does your potential job (within the particular population you have chosen) offer work with clients of varying levels and needs?
Keep in mind that unlike some types of jobs, music therapy DOES require a significant amount of outside work in terms of completing required paperwork and planning/preparing for client sessions. A job that has you working many hours a week as well as on the weekends will not leave you time for paperwork and planning—and it will contribute to early exhaustion and burnout. Take a very realistic look at the work schedule that is outlined and ask yourself if it is truly manageable. A less experienced professional will likely need more time at first to complete routine paperwork and planning.
While you will not be compensated along the lines of an attorney or doctor, you should receive appropriate professional pay for your work. Be aware of the general rates in the area where you may be living—jobs that pay a great deal under a typical rate are not viable work situations. Pay cannot be based on marital status or family situation. Thus, a comment such as “most of our therapists are married, so this is really a second income for them and that’s why we pay a lower amount…” is not appropriate. The idea behind women’s rights is that women should be compensated in the same way a man would for the same job. The idea that a spouse will “subsidize” the partner’s low paying music therapy job should not ever be a consideration.
Try to look for job or contract situation that you believe you can remain with for at least two years. That will give you time to build experience and allow your clients to have consistency in therapeutic services. Bouncing from job to job or contract to contract is not good for professional reputation and clients and their families suffer when therapists are constantly coming and going in their lives. Your first job will not be perfect, but you want a situation you can live with, at least for a couple of years.
You may have an opportunity in a working situation where there is a combination of services being offered to clients—ranging from music therapy, to creative arts groups, to adapted music lessons to regular music lessons. Don’t rule out situations like this—it can offer variety in your work and give you a wider range of experiences.
When I started in music therapy in the fall of 1981, there weren’t that many music therapists working in school districts (or even in other types of agencies) in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. However, those professionals that were here were incredibly supportive to me and set a fine example of the importance of networking. I often had questions or needed ideas about resources, and Cathy Knoll and Linda Smith were always available. In those days it was support by telephone–there was no email!
I am pleased that over the years the positive attitude of “stick together and support one another” has maintained with most professionals working in the DFW area. The state motto of Texas is “Friendship” and that has been the attitude of most people in our area. I have heard from other people across the United States that sometimes that isn’t the case where they live. How sad. When we support one another, everyone in the profession benefits and most importantly–our clients benefit!
Sometimes the reason a professional is not friendly or willing to network is the fear that the other professional will “take their clients”. That issue is covered in our code of ethics, but stop for a minute and think about why an agency or family might terminate a contract with a music therapist.
1. Economic considerations can cause an agency or family to terminate a contract. They may no longer have money in the agency budget to cover the cost, or a family may be overwhelmed with expenses and have to choose to eliminate a service in order to manage financially.
2. In some instances, the music therapist could be charging a rate that is well above the typical rates for music therapists, and an agency or family may seek out a professional that charges a rate that is more in line with other professionals in the area. If therapists refer to the information available through AMTA and get general economic information about their community, they can usually set appropriate rates that will not cause an agency or family to change therapists for financial reasons only.
3. A lack of good work ethic or people skills can cause an agency or family to terminate a contract or choose another therapist. When a therapist is perpetually late or cancels sessions frequently, or communicates poorly with the agency, family or client….a contract can be lost.
4. Lack of skills or background with a particular population can cause the loss of a contract with an agency or family. Everyone has to start somewhere with a new population that they may not have worked with previously, but when that happens it is critical for the therapist to network with others that have experience with that population. Be honest with the agency or family and indicate your willingness to learn. Those of us that have experience with particular populations need to be open to networking or supporting professionals who are new to a population. All of us were beginners at some point, and helping colleagues succeed in our community strengthens the position of all music therapists in the community. By ignoring someone who is struggling and who has asked for help we harm everyone in the our field.
When we are supportive of colleagues and do not see them as competition, our clients benefit. And that’s why we are in this field—to help people! Being resistant to sharing or helping others really doesn’t pay off in the long run and is based mostly on unrealistic fears. I have seen the benefits of having a helpful and good network in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for many years–it is a win/win situation for everyone. Keep in mind, if we do not support our new, young professionals in positive ways we will not have a future for the field of music therapy. So…be the professional who is open to helping others–especially people new to our profession!
