I recently had the pleasure of bending the ear of fellow music therapist, Patina Jackson. She owns a thriving small business out of Texas and shares a bit of her wisdom, and a free resource!
From her helper side comes a role as a music therapist. From her imaginative side come engaging and evidenced-based strategies. From her nerdy side come professional forms; and from her teacher side come supervision and training! Patina loves Jesus and lives in the Dallas area with her super-husband, spunky daughters, Norah and Paisley and baby boy, Wyatt!
Find all of Patina’s great resources at www.musictherapyjoy.com
What inspired you to become a music therapist?
As a junior in high school, I planned to go into child psych in college to help kiddos. Then I heard someone say music therapy (and I laughed...). After researching it and realizing I could pair my loves of music AND helping children, I was all in! You have a wonderful, thriving business. Many of my colleagues use your intervention kits. They are so creative! What made you decide to become a small business owner, and how has your role evolved during the pandemic?
Thank you! I am so encouraged when I hear of other music therapists utilizing the resources! Over the first several years as a music therapist, my passion started to change from wanting to serve students, into wanting to support music therapists so that they had the resources, encouragement and support THEY needed to serve kids well! The pandemic just has all of the wheels turning! It has pushed me to stay up late nights finishing projects I have wanted to complete for a long time (like digital data sheets, planning sheets, student info sheets, and scheduling sheets that are easy-to-use and share fillable forms!), and to re-invent other projects I have done in the past (*spoiler alert* think the Music Therapy Joy Box gone DIGITAL)! What are some of your best selling kits? What’s your personal favorite intervention kit and why? Oh man... the Community Pack and the Intro to Communication Pack have been the most popular. The Science Pack is the most recently released pack, which makes it my current favorite, ha! "Outer Space" is my favorite song in there. And "Seasons Come and Go" is another one I love from it. Can you reveal any upcoming projects? Other than my forms, and the Music Therapy Joy eBox... I am hoping to make recordings for all of the songs in my shop (they currently include the music notation, strategy suggestions and visual aids, but not recordings)! What is your advice for future music therapists and future business owners? You can do it! Shine bright, stay positive, and have fun with it! When you lose the fun part or get burnt out (I have done both myself!), it's really hard to stay motivated. I have also tried to compartmentalize music therapy joy and raising a family, but I have so much more fun "working" when I am singing the songs I write with my kids, letting them test out my new "toys," or showing them what I am doing on garage band, etc.! To what do you most owe your success? Easy one! If it weren't for Jesus, I wouldn't have the passion, joy, hope, resilience - etc.! - that it takes to pour out those things on others. It's like the bucket filling metaphor. He fills my bucket so full that I can't help but pour it out! And I am humbled that I get to do it. Do you have a favorite memory from your career thus far?
There are days that "success" looks different. I'm not making a million dollars selling $3 digital downloads. If I measure success there, it can leave me discouraged. My favorite memories are really just looking back at how far I've come. Thinking about my first blog post that probably NO ONE ever read. Now, I do it for the one email that I get from someone who shares that they were feeling burnt out or needed new ideas and something from a post or my shop inspired their practice. Those emails mean the world to me.
What non-music hobbies do you have? DIYing my house! I love power tools! What’s on your go to music playlist? Shane and Shane is my favorite band. I love easy listening when I'm at home - I can have them playing in the house all day and it doesn't get old. But my girls and I (ages 3 and 5) get crazy in the car with the windows down and my embarrassing dance moves singing "Can't Stop the Feelin'" at the top of my lungs. The more weird looks I get, the better! What’s the last book you read?
I am currently reading, "Raising Worry-Free Girls: Helping Your Daughter Feel Braver, Stronger, and Smarter in an Anxious World" Who is your hero in the music therapy world?
My music therapy mentor, Mary Lawrence. She was my internship supervisor 10+ years ago, and is now my friend. She is not only an intuitive and talented music therapist (the best I have ever observed), she is also the most generous and caring person. I could go on and on. She is one of the best kept secrets in the music therapy world.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I have always wanted to go to Hawaii! Coffee or tea?
Coffee with cream and sugar in the morning, Mint tea with honey at night!
Check out this Free Download from Music Therapy Joy: "Hey, Pumpkin!"