When music therapy major Kennedi Walz applied for an internship at Therabeat in Atlanta, she felt the usual nervousness on whether she would get it or not.
But her worries rattled other parts of her life, too.
“This is my last stretch until taking the board certification exam and graduation, and I will have to move to somewhere unknown and farther away from my family and friends,” said Walz, who graduates from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in May.
Her nerves ratcheted up even higher after she learned that she was selected for the internship, making her the first UTC music therapy student to earn an internship of any kind. It’s an even bigger deal because she was the first UTC music therapy student to even apply for an internship.
In January, she will move to Atlanta and work with Therabeat, which uses music to treat such conditions as autism spectrum disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning and developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries, among others.
Since receiving the news about her selection at Therabeat, her nervousness has been tamped down by other emotions.
“I am extremely proud to be representing this university and the new program,” Walz said. “I also feel excited because this was the internship placement that I really wanted. They work with many populations and began as a private practice, which is a future goal of mine—to have my own private practice here in the Chattanooga area where there isn’t one.”
Katherine Goforth Elverd, director of music therapy at UTC, describes Walz as a student who has “exuded patience and passion toward her desire to become a board-certified music therapist.”
“She is goal-oriented, determined, organized and is a highly dependable student,” Elverd said. “Kennedi is a model student and has rightfully earned the honor and privilege of being the first UTC music therapy student accepted into their clinical internship placement.
“It has been such a pleasure to watch her develop from that hopeful student into a music therapy intern that is moments away from her professional career. I am so proud and excited for her.”
Walz’s Therabeat internship lasts six months and, in her first two weeks at the organization, she’ll work with board-certified music therapists, helping those with physical, occupational and speech disabilities.
“I then will start to be integrated into the sessions by doing one intervention, then two, then so on until I will be leading the sessions with my assigned clients that I will have throughout my time there,” she said.
Like so many other occupations, COVID-19 will be an issue, she said, but she will be able to further develop her skills in telehealth, which practices music therapy through Zoom meetings.
“I probably will not have as many hands-on opportunities as I would without COVID, but I will also have the opportunity to grow my skills in telehealth.”
Walz already has taken part in telehealth through a program at UTC that focuses on special-needs kids and teens, who were given instruments at their homes, which ranged from North Georgia to Maryville, Tennessee. With students guiding them from a studio at UTC, the patients pounded drums, rattled egg-shaped shakers filled with beans and sang, among other music-related activities.
“All in all, I am grateful for the experience I have had thus far and for what is to come through this internship to help mold me into the best music therapist that I can be,” she said.
For more information on Therabeat, go to: http://www.therabeat.com/
