This presentation offers an autoethnographic exploration of a Palestinian music therapist’s journey through war, displacement, and grief, and the impact of these experiences on clinical identity and practice. Relocating from Jaffa to Europe during a time of escalating violence, the therapist reflects on the interplay between personal trauma, cultural rupture, and professional adaptation. Through lived experience and clinical observation, the presentation examines the dual role of being both survivor and healer, and how music served as a vital tool for emotional regulation, reconnection, and resilience. Themes include the challenges of working with clients while coping with ongoing war, the reconstruction of professional identity in migration, and the transformative capacity of music to bridge past and present. The relevance for international music therapists lies in expanding awareness of therapist lived experience, especially in contexts of conflict, diaspora, and cultural transition.
