Beyond individual wellbeing in a participatory action research study on self-care, psychoeducation, and radical acceptance in music therapy education

Abstract Situated within a feminist educational framework and participatory action research, this study explores how self-care can be facilitated in music therapy education through participatory, arts-based group processes that center student voices and lived experience. Across two cycles of collaborative groups, students and the facilitator co-created spaces that fostered emotional presence, creative expression, and integration of personal and professional identities. Data from observation, questionnaires, group dialogue, artistic works, and interviews were thematically analyzed and revealed six overlapping phases in students’ self-care journeys, marked by ambiguity, courage, and mutual care. Key challenges included navigating diverse learning preferences, balancing autonomy and collaboration, and ensuring psychological safety within institutional constraints. Findings suggest that self-care in education is relational, embodied, and reflective, rather than a set of fixed techniques or individual coping strategies. Informed by psychoeducation and radical acceptance, it invites educators and students to embrace discomfort, reflection, and dialogue as integral to learning. Rather than framing self-care as relaxation or personal enjoyment, this study redefines it as an ethical and pedagogical practice that bridges personal experience, collective process, and systemic conditions.