Interview with Mia Clow - Music Therapy and a Trauma-Informed Lens
Mia Clow, MTA
In my October check-in, I asked what you needed right now. One of the things that came up was trauma and how to work through it when this pandemic is bringing up previous trauma, or perhaps feelin traumatic itself. I asked Mia to sit down with me and chat a little bit about what she knows, having joined a Trauma-Informed Practice Music Therapy Workshop. I thought a little extra knowledge on the topic would be helpful. Before I dive in, it’s important to read this piece remembering that while Mia is an expert and Music Therapy, she makes no claim to be an expert in trauma, but she has kindly agreed to share what she’s learned with us. So let’s jump in!
I sat down the other night (virtually) with a good friend of mine, Mia Clow. Mia is a registered Music Therapist and works here in Toronto at the Music Therapy Centre and in Long-Term Care homes. Mia and I met at Acadia where she got her Music Therapy degree, but not before she gave Biology a try. In her first year of Biology she discovered Music Therapy - a program that blends her passion for music and the arts and working in health care. She knew it was a perfect fit.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, Music Therapy aim to “use music to create a therapeutic relationship with our clients, and help them reach their goals and create positive change.” Working in long-term care, Mia says that a lot of her clients’ goals right now include “engagement to retain cognition…to help them maintain or even help them have better quality of lives…help them with social engagement and interaction.” I was curious to know what role music plays in helping acheiving goals. I’ve only ever had therapy that most of the time has been a mixture of different psychological schools of thought, and Mia shared that a lot of the goals her clients are working on can be different than the ones I might work on with therapist. She talked about physical and mobility goals, and using music to help clients with this. The motion of pitch moving higher or lower paired with a physical gesture was one example she gave me. She also mentioned using the concept of walking or stepping on a beat to help with some of these mobility goals.
Mia also talked about how music can be such a powerful tool, especially when it comes to illiciting strong memories. She describes a really beautiful moment of a client she was working with, and during a session her husband came in. The song they were singing must have brought up a lot of memories Mia said, because “she got up and started dancing and singing along, and then [her husband] came over and started dancing with her…” This was a really special moment because this client doesn’t always recognize her husband, or can sometimes mistake other people to be her husband.
Before we talk about coping with trauma, let’s talk about what trauma is exactly. Trauma can be, in my own words, an event or multiple events that have harmful or life threatening effect either emotionally or physically, and results in effects that last beyond the occurence of that event. Mia shared that something they talked about at the workshop was how a Remeberence Day ceremony at a long-term care facility could trigger previous trauma from veterens living in the home. She also made the point that trauma can be different for everyone, and experienced differently - “the same thing can happen to two different people, and one person can experience it as trauma and the other person might not.” That makes a lot of sense, especially when I think about this pandemic. I think I would consider this a traumatic experience for me for a lot of different reasons, but I know some people who are thriving and they have a good handle on themselves, whereas I’m struggling to make myself dinner a lot of days. We all have our own stories that dictate how we are handling this.
So if you are experiencing trauma, or this pandemic/general state of the world is bringing up difficult memories of previous trauma, what can you do? Mia talks about something called “the Green stage”. She says, “When somebody is reliving trauma, they’re often in a fight or flight mode…and what I want to do is kind of meet them there…and help bring them back down to…we call it the green stage...” It’s in this stage where we can make meaningful connections and feel a little more stable. As a Music Therapist, Mia would use either music or conversation to help with this depending on the situation, and reach out to a counsellor if she feels concerned for her client’s well-being. We talked about the importance of mindfulness and doing what you can to be in the present and stay grounded when you feel yourself leaving the green stage. “I know we talk about this so much,” Mia says, “and it’s kind of one of those buzzwords but it really really means a lot, is to stay mindful. And you can only do that when you’re down in the green stage.”
We also discussed the idea of self-compassion and being kind with yourself. If something comes up and you start feeling a lot of emotional responses, reminding yourself that it’s okay, or Mia suggests reach out to someone who will reassure you and validate you. Making these kinds of connections may help keep you grounded and help prevent you from getting too far into a yellow or red zone. Having this mindfulness will help you decide what you need - do you need to work through this or do you need to just stay mindful and prevent triggers? We need to decide for ourselves if this is something we’re ready to tackle and Mia suggests “honestly, right now might not be the time for some people. It also might be, and depending on how powerful that trauma is, you might want to and need to seek out some more professional help…”
Like we said, everyone is different and every trauma experience is different so we don’t have any perfect answers, but I thought at least sharing some insight from a closer field of work might be helpful. Be kind with yourself. You are allowed to feel what you feel. Do thing that keep you grounded - go for a walk or sit outside on the steps, listen to a song that makes you happy, watch a funny show (I always watch Whose Line is It Anyway Reruns..they always makes me laugh!), or call a friend you know will be there for you. You got this.
Huge thank you to Mia Clow for sharing what she has learned and being willing to discuss some ideas with me. If you haven’t already figured it out, Mia also does all the artwork for this blog, so not only is she a music therapist extrodinaire, she is also a talented artist! Check out her work HERE!