[humanser] Making client notes and back-to-back sessions

[Cheryl Wade]

I provide counseling services but, in a hurry like that, I make Braille 
notes on my notetaker that are quick and concise and use the words I 
want to include in my official notes.  Then I use the Braille notes to 
make official notes. I always have Braille files, anyway, so I can 
easily access information during counseling interviews without having 
the client see me hunched over the computer listening to some 
headphones. I think the process is more discrete.

Cheryl Wade, Outpatient Therapist
Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Services
Bay City, MI
On 12/11/2016 5:44 PM, Kaiti Shelton via HumanSer wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Nex semester will be my last for music therapy practicum before my
> internship.  My professors have done a great job in finding a
> placement for me that will give me some practice in logistical matters
> such as transportation before internship, and also in placing me
> according to my strengths and my expressed preferences for population
> (children with disabilities).  I will be working under a music
> therapist who owns her own private practice, and will need to travel
> to the space she is renting for sessions each week.  I will be working
> with two clients individually, first a 5 y/o girl with mild-moderate
> Autism, and then a 7 y/o girl with down syndrome and some additional
> cognitive and physical delays due to a brain tumor she had removed as
> an infant.  Both girls are very different and have unique abilities,
> preferences, and musical skills, and I'm really looking forward to our
> sessions together.
>
> I'm wondering how those of you who see clients back-to-back chart
> progress.  The first child I'll be working with has 45 minute
> sessions, which are paced rather quickly with a lot of different
> musical interventions used to keep her focused (she's a really sharp
> thinker, so she's always asking questions/checking things out/moving
> about the room when she isn't engaged.  A professor and I observed her
> in a session, and my future supervisor probably used about 20
> experiences with her in that time.  Some of those songs were sung
> transitions or directives, but a lot was going on in the session.  The
> next client has sessions for an hour and 15 minutes, which I have not
> yet had an opportunity to observe.  I've never had back-to-back
> sessions before, and found that charting was easier if I did it
> immediately after practicum sessions.  I will have some time after the
> sessions to journal and evaluate on the bus ride home, but I'm
> concerned that especially information about the first session might be
> lost.  (It's also noteworthy that practicums even at this stage rarely
> exceed 90 minutes in length, and mine will be 120 minutes a week).
> Are there any tricks or strategies I could quickly employ in the brief
> time between the departure of my first client and the arrival of my
> second?  Thanks in advance for ideas.
>