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How to interview for a private practice placement
Why do you want to work in a private practice as an LPC intern? Do you want more autonomy? Are you looking for more experience in this unique clinical setting? Maybe you want a chance to develop practice-building skills within the shelter of your internship. These are all good reasons to pursue placement in a supervised private practice during your internship. But before you go about getting a site, you’ll need to interview with several supervisors who offer this unique training opportunity. Here are five questions to ask during your...
read moreSome advice for a new therapist
Not long ago, my supervisee asked me for some parting words of wisdom. We were wrapping up our work together, and she wanted a sort of top 10 tips list as she ventures into post-graduate life. I talk and write about this stuff all the time. Yet this list was still tough to come by. How to narrow it down? How to come up with pithy yet helpful statements about this amazing profession? Well, I took a stab at it. If I really had to get things down to the basics, here’s what I would suggest: 1.) Read (or re-read) Yalom’s book The Gift of...
read moreLearning from my mistakes
No matter how good of a therapist you are, if you don’t take good care of yourself, you won’t be in the profession very long. I learned this firsthand during my internship. Let me tell you a little bit about what I did wrong. I worked two jobs during my internship. The first was a full time position at a community mental health center. The second was a part-time position in a supervised private practice. In my job at the community mental health center, I was working with children and families. I did not have much training in working...
read moreYour attitude matters
So far, we’ve talked about a few important components of your internship: how to find a good site, ways to secure a great supervisor. But the key component in your internship is you. That is to say, the best site and supervisor in the world won’t count for much if you don’t bring your best to the table. This doesn’t mean that you need to be a perfect intern. Or that you have to have stellar clinical skills. Or have been the best in your class. Simply put, it means that having a good attitude will get you a long way. And that taking pains to...
read moreHow to get great supervision
Ok, I admit it, this topic is a bit tricky. The supervision should fit the intern—so there’s going to be some variability there. Still, there are some fundamentals you should look for in your supervision. But let’s not get into that just yet. First, you should know what your supervisor’s job is all about—this will help you interview potential supervisors as you hold all these different roles in mind. Different hats Your supervisor has a couple of different roles. And while each supervisor has their own boundaries and personal style in...
read more20 LPC intern job sites
Sometimes people contact me asking where they can find a site for a paid job as an LPC intern, LMFT associate, or LMSW, or as a doctoral candidate in psychology or counselor education. I love email. But I hate getting those emails. Hear me out—I swear I’m not a curmudgeon. I like helping folks! That’s why I made this site—to offer help for folks seeking mental health internships. I hate those emails because that question takes a long time to answer. And it’s pretty much impossible for me to do well without knowing you better. Asking me “Where...
read moreYour ideal internship: gather your ingredients
The difference between an awesome internship and a grueling one comes down to a couple of factors. The equation, in my head, looks something like this: great site + great supervisor + motivated intern + awesome self-care = ideal internship So, the next couple of posts you’ll find here have to do with each of these pieces. We will start with the basics of finding a great site. Get excited! What do you think makes an ideal internship? Do you know what your bottom line is for your internship experience— have you sorted through your must-haves...
read moreWhen supervision disappoints
Today’s guest post is by Kat Elrod, a LPC supervisor here in Austin, with some tips on how to handle different kinds of conflict with your supervisor. It is hard to fully identify whether or not you will be a good fit with a supervisor from the interview process alone! Conflicts, disappointments and dilemmas often don’t appear until further into the relationship. The good news is you hold not only the power but also the responsibility to change or add supervisors if you are dissatisfied with your experience. What sort of disappointments...
read more5 tips to handle post-graduate life as a counseling intern
You’ve been waiting for this day for ages. You’ve slogged through more tests, papers and role plays than you can count. Today, you graduate from your program. If it is such a happy occasion, why might you be feeling worried or apprehensive about it? Well, there could be lots of reasons. Most folks don’t like change, and graduation signals a big change in your role and responsibilities. Maybe you’ve heard horror stories from your colleagues, peers, or professors about how difficult it is to get a counseling internship, and you’re worried...
read moreOne surefire way to cripple your counseling career
Pick a bad supervisor. There, I said it. But I should clarify. Yes, there are some supervisors out there that are just plain bad. Just like there are some therapists who are bad. These folks are negligent, burned out, checked out, and/or unethical in their dealings with clients and supervisees. But those aren’t the folks I’m writing about today. I’m hopeful that you already plan to do your best to steer clear of those. I want to make sure that you pick a good supervisor—someone who is self-possessed, thoughtful, present, and well trained....
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