“I wanted to do something that mattered:” An interpretative phenomenological analysis of career change to music therapy

Career change is typically a complex process requiring additional education and financial resources. To date, there is a lack of literature investigating the lived experience of people who changed careers from another profession to music therapy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the lived experience of people who changed careers to music therapy. We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with nine participants who had previously been in other professions and changed careers to music therapy. All participants received their academic and clinical training in the United States. We used interpretive phenomenological analysis to analyze data. Participants member checked the findings to ensure our analyses were trustworthy. We identified 12 themes and organized them into three sequential superordinate themes: 1) Seeking meaningful change (negative experiences in previous career, influential experiences leading to music therapy, learning about music therapy, desiring a meaningful career helping people with music); 2) Making the transition (financial stress, coursework and internship challenges, suggested curricular changes, generalizable aspects of former career); and 3) Finding fulfillment (positive educational experiences, the ability to use music within a career, the supportive music therapy community, making a positive impact with service users). Participants tended to change careers to music therapy because they sought professional meaning and wanted music to be part of their profession. Participants reflected on their positive music therapy education experiences and how they found professional fulfillment in their music therapy careers. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided. • Career change is typically a complex process requiring education and financial resources. • There is a lack of literature investigating people who change careers to music therapy. • We interviewed nine participants who changed careers to music therapy. • We identified 12 themes and organized them into three sequential superordinate themes. • Participants changed careers because they sought professional meaning and wanted music to be part of their careers.