Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Ian Kelly and I have worked in the mental health field in various aspects for about 5 years now. Some of my training has been professional, such as being a therapeutic behavioral specialist and a success coach with the Dangers of the Mind, but another aspect of therapy that I use daily is through music. As a therapeutic behavioral specialist, I used to help adolescents and teens find adaptive behaviors through methods that worked best for them, I.e. naming it to tame it or working on “I” statements. While helping others learn their own adaptive behaviors I began to realize my day to day passion was also my adaptive behavior in regards to stress relief and decreasing tension.
Music in itself is therapy and being able to at times be vulnerable and put that into song form can be a way to ease various stressors that may take over thoughts in the mind more than planned. I notice the more I write the more I begin to heal in different ways. While making music I am able to combine social and emotional learning skills with music to make art therapy. I like to attack social awareness through speaking on issues that I see around me, whether that be on a micro scale or a macro level. Within talking about social awareness I often find myself analyzing my self awareness through the process. Being an artist is all about self management and how you maximize your time to treat your art like therapy.
Relationship building is also something that is key and necessary in any situation. I noticed that building rapport with clients and students helped make things flow smoother in regards to having progressive conversations as a therapeutic behavorial specialist. The same thing applies with being a musician. You can’t do it all yourself, unless your Prince. You soon learn that building relationships are the foundation to a healthy career. What you’re acting, thinking, and feeling plays a major role in the process of social emotional development. Through doing various studies I also noticed a correlation to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. While I realize there are some artist that participate in drug use, I noticed that, Facing one’s fears instead of avoiding them. Using role playing to prepare for potentially problematic interactions with others. Learning to calm one’s mind and relax one’s body can all be done through music and what you decide to talk about.
