The holiday season is upon us, and with that brings some difficult times for people who are experiencing grief and loss. This year is especially hard due to COVID-19 and the hundreds of thousands of lives it has claimed. As a result, some people may have a hard time managing grief and loss this year. […]
Category Archives: Hospice and Palliative Care
Caregiver Well-Being: Managing Compassion Fatigue
Compassion fatigue can be a serious problem in healthcare as it affects both the provider and the person receiving care. Yet, it can be managed and treated. Learn more about compassion fatigue in my latest post.
Caregiver Self-Care Through Music: Getting In Tune With You
The Need for Caregiver Self-Care Caregivers providing long-term care for others have a great need for effective self-care practices. Last week I wrote about some of the difficult feelings caregivers can experience when providing long-term care to someone. Today I’m going to talk a bit more about the importance of caregiver self-care. Specifically, I want […]
Personal Means of Evidence in End-of-Life Care
As I addressed previously in this blog post, there are a variety of ways that music can be used to enhance a person’s sense of health and well-being. Likewise, the practice of music therapy itself is incredibly diverse, with music therapists working from different orientations including: humanistic, psychodynamic, and music-centered, in addition to behavioral, medical, […]
Using Music for Complicated Family Grief
Recently I wrote about grief and complicated family dynamics. In it I suggested that the death of a family member with whom you have a strained relationship can bring up conflicting feelings, while also presenting you with the opportunity to more clearly define what kinds of relationships you want to experience and to examine how […]
Hospice & Palliative Care Music Therapy
Recently I was asked by the hospice company where I work to write an article about what I do as a music therapist. I’m sharing it here with you so that you may also get a clearer sense of what music therapy is and the role it can play within the realms of hospice and […]
Saying Goodbye Through Music
“Goodbye.” What feelings, thoughts, images, or experiences come to mind when you see that word? Depending on the context, “goodbye” can take on a lot of different meanings. “Goodbye” can signal a temporary parting, or it can represent something more permanent. And when it represents a more permanent situation, saying goodbye can carry bittersweet feelings. […]
State of Presence, State of Mind
This last week found me in contrasting, yet similar situations- both of which required being in a present state of mind. Typically my week is filled with making hospice visits to older adults diagnosed with illnesses such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Adult Failure to Thrive, and/or some form of […]
The Quality of a Life Well-Lived
“Quality of Life” is a topic that is often on my mind as a result of the work I do in hospice. As a music therapist working with those who are at the end-of-life, I use music to provide physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual support to people during the last months, weeks, days… sometimes hours […]
In the Garden
This past Monday we were blessed in Colorado with beautiful weather for Labor Day here in the US. Motivated by this warm weather, I decided to stop by the garden of the Callahan House so that I could take in its beauty while there were still flowers in bloom. Being there in the garden caused […]