Family Fun!

Don't have too much time to blog today/this week as my family has been in town. Today was Teren's first graduation ceremony (the lonnggg one) that honored "Doctoral Hooding and Masters Recognition."


Hubby made it on the jumbo tron!

Tomorrow will be the All-CCM graduation and hopefully will be more intimate.

We are eating tons, laughing a lot, and making up for lost time!



Teren and Me at lunch at Montgomery Inn


Me, Ronna and Robby waiting in the car until we could be seated at Terry's Turf.



Adie, Teren, Me and Rande at Terry's Turf



More pictures to come! Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Countdown Begins

I'm a big countdown person. Once I know how many days until something occurs, I find it easier to make it through the days and then have something to look forward to. It's just how I work and how I get myself motivated.

Yesterday was my last day working with my groups and clients on Saturdays. Parents brought in two thoughtful and beautiful bouquets, a lotion gift set, cards, and hugs.


Flowers from my clients

So, here's my work countdown until my last day of work!

3 more Tuesdays
1 more Wednesday
2 more Thursdays

This Wednesday my In-laws and some extended family come into town for my husband's Masters Graduation from CCM. We actually moved to Cincinnati after our July 2009 wedding for him to pursue his Masters in Orchestral Conducting from CCM and now he is finally done! I'm so proud of him!


My in-laws and us at our wedding

I am looking forward to spending time with our family, packing up our apartment, and moving on to California!

You're Nominated!

That's the email I got about a month ago from Hamilton Choices, Cincinnati's Choices program. Ohio Choices is a "nonprofit organization, [that] coordinates support for youth involved in multiple systems and their families." I have a number of clients that I work with who are currently a Hamilton Choices client, which means music therapy is funded by Hamilton Choices. These clients are by far my toughest clients because they have a number of mental health and emotional issues. Although they are my toughest clients, I have learned the most by working with them. Not only do I see them in my music therapy sessions, but I get to go to their team meetings and be a part of their care team. Attending these meetings has been key in my growth as a therapist. Working with school teachers, therapists, doctors, psychologists, parents, and care managers in these meetings, I am able to better understand what the client is going through, start to understand their everyday life, and get feedback from very important people.

On Thursday, Hamilton Choices held their annual award ceremony. Three of my clients from Music Therapy Services performed, and one client was a Hamilton Choices client. One of his goals is self-expression...and boy did he express! It was tons of fun to see him perform in front of 80-100 people. I'm a proud music therapist :)

I won the "Innovative" award. The award states:

Brianna Shaffer build[s] "Innovative relationships and support[s] networks for youth with emotional or behavioral disabilities and their families."




I am very honored.