“No, She Doesn't Seem to Know Anything about Cultural Differences!”: Culturally Centered Music Therapy Supervision

"Wei," a young Taiwanese musician and music therapist in training, first began meeting with me as a supervisee late in the first year of her master's level program. This was also her first year and winter on the East Coast, having recently moved from Taiwan where she had spent her whole life. Viewed by many as quiet and shy, Wei was new to music therapy. However, she arrived as a skilled pianist, very disciplined, dedicated to learning, and willing and open to receive supervision and support. Behind a rich, contemplative world of inner thought, she struck me as emotionally innocent.After completing her initial 150 hours of practicum training at a Jewish center for the elderly, her teachers reported to me that Wei seemed to be having a difficult time with essential skills as she prepared for her upcoming internship. This included her comprehension and fluency with the English language as well as the breadth and diversity of her musical language. Her teachers were concerned about her general ability to engage with her clients and effectively communicate activities and interventions as well as learn and perform traditional Jewish and Hebrew songs. Despite the cultural gap between Wei and her clients, Wei seemed to enjoy the structure of groups and music-centered therapy at her site and felt supported by her site supervisor, who was a pianist and immigrant herself. Nonetheless, she seemed to be in need of support and guidance for her cultural transition and was offered additional outside supervision with me mid-year, which she readily accepted. Culturally centered and musiccentered supervision assisted Wei in gaining confidence in her abilities, learning important tools for building musical relationships, and becoming more comfortable with her developing and shifting ethnic identity.Of Indian descent myself, I found that Wei and I shared many Asian values such as being emotionally reserved, communicating indirectly, and gaining knowledge through contemplative means (Landrum-Brown, 1994). However, I also felt that Wei's needs as a recently arrived international student would require care and sensitivity to navigate, being quite different from my own experience of growing up in the United States. I found Nilsson's (2004) framework for international students very helpful in guiding the supervision process, which recommends assessing students' levels of acculturation, addressing cultural differences, fostering a supervisory environment that supports the development of a strong working alliance, and being explicit about supervisory expectations. I also considered the development of her ethnic identity and investigated the role that a strength-based perspective could add in supporting a culturally centered supervision model.Level of AcculturationAcculturation refers to the "degree to which an individual conforms or identifies with the attitudes, lifestyles, and values" (Lee, 1996, p. 19) of the host culture. It is generally acknowledged as a process of cultural adjustment and negotiation between one's own culture and the host culture that occurs over time (Berry, 1998; Bhatia & Ram, 2001). Among the barrage of new communication styles, social interactions, and family values that foreigners are confronted with, those who have not had much exposure to U.S. mainstream culture may find themselves feeling vulnerable or afraid that they will lose their own cultural values and language. Sometimes this comes at the expense of learning English or making new American relationships and can lead to a further sense of isolation or homesickness. Plake and Sodowsky (1992) and Nilsson (2004) found that international students' acculturation to the United States involved three areas: level of acceptance of the U.S. culture, fluency in English, and feelings concerning being accepted by Americans.A recent immigrant, Wei had a high level of identification or strong connection with her own Taiwanese culture but a low level of identification or limited sense of connection with American culture. …