Dear MFT Interns:
I was an MFT intern less than 2 months ago, and I wanted to impart what I learned during that 4 year process while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind. Some things I had to learn the hard way, some things worked out for me by chance, and some things I did well and it paid off. Hopefully this info will help you! Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
1. Finding an internship site or supervisor
Finding an internship site or supervisor is a lot of
pressure and a lot of time-consuming work.
I could dedicate a whole separate post about that process. Here are some things that helped me:
- Join CAMFT.org and go on the "Job Board," under "Members Only." It lists paid and unpaid internship sites. There are other sites online, but this one worked best for me.
- Go to CAMFT events, especially when they have events specific for interns. This is a great opportunity to network (more on that later) and to see what kind of potential internship sites are in your community. There are usually several agencies and other sites with booths looking for interns at these events. For those of you in Ventura County, I would recommend joining the CAMFT Ventura County chapter. They meet the 2nd Friday of each month except for January and June. Here is their website, but it hasn't been updated last I checked: VC-CAMFT.org
- Keep in touch with your colleagues in grad school or previous jobs. If they are at an internship site they really like, maybe they can put in a good word for you.
- Check out PsychologyToday.com. This is a website I use all the time. I pay to have a profile on there, but I also use it to make referrals and I used it to find my own personal therapist. But it could also be a good place to check out therapy practices and agencies in your area and you could even use the filters to find ones with specialties you're interested in. Many of them have separate websites that might give you information about whether they are hiring interns.
Paid or unpaid?
When I first started looking, I was convinced I'd never find
a paid internship. However, it wasn't an
option for me to have a non-paid job. I
took a paid private practice internship where I split the fee with my
supervisor, and I had the freedom to set my fee with clients. After a couple months of struggling to build
a steady client base, I realized I would need a second internship to supplement
my income and get my hours quicker. I
then got another paid internship with a non-profit who paid a flat rate per
client. It didn't pay much, but I
consistently had about 13 clients per week and knew I could count on that.
Once you get offers for internships
It might be such a relief to get an interview after applying
to so many places that you might be ready to take any position offered. However, this is going to be the place where
you really start to develop your skills and build your career. It is so important that you are a good fit
with the site, the client population, and most importantly, the
supervisor. During your interview, it's
important to ask questions to make sure that the site will also meet your
needs.
2. Self-care and personal development
The beginning of my internship journey was pretty
rough. I'm the type of person who
strives for perfection and am very hard of myself when I don't excel at
something right away. I didn't give
myself much room to make mistakes and I was very sensitive to any negative feedback from my supervisor. Here's what
helped me get out of this cycle:
I found a therapist and worked through my issues.
I had previously tried therapy with a couple other
therapists who weren't a good fit. I
finally found one who was a really good fit for me and being an MFT with a
similar specialty as what I was interested was a bonus. She really understood what I was going
through because she went through it herself. Plus, you get to count personal therapy hours (triple!) toward your 3,000 hours.
I let myself be vulnerable in supervision.
At first, I didn't want my supervisor to know
all my insecurities because I was afraid of getting fired. This did not serve me well, as my supervisor
could see through my act and we weren't getting anywhere. My personal therapy helped me find the
strength to be vulnerable in supervision, and this played a huge part in
building a strong, productive supervisor-supervisee relationship. It wasn't always perfect and supervision did
give me anxiety, but I usually left supervision feeling supported.
Another piece of advice I received from a former supervisor was to have a hobby where you can see tangible results, such as gardening. In our line of work, we may have clients with whom we're not a good fit, or we are but it's hard to measure their progress in a concrete way. There have been times when I was feeling ineffective and having thoughts like, "Am I helping them at all? Is this working?" That's where it could be really therapeutic to do something like gardening. I didn't develop a specific ongoing hobby, but I found that doing puzzles, writing, and creating board games to use in play therapy gave me a similar feeling of satisfaction.
3. Becoming part of the psychotherapy community
As an introvert, the thought of "networking" gave
me so much anxiety (still does!). I am
not someone who is comfortable selling myself or talking about my
accomplishments. Over the years, I
shifted from trying to make a name for myself and get
referrals to connecting with other therapists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, and
other providers to better serve my clients.
When I look at it that way, it feels more authentic to me and motivates me to reach out. I've built relationships with many different
providers through consulting on behalf of my clients and explaining what
services I provide from a place where I'm passionate about what I do. This has fortunately led to referrals and opportunities
for professional growth for me in a way that doesn't feel icky.
Although it costs money, PsychologyToday.com is a great way to get referrals and network with other therapists. I also started this blog and Facebook page "TheThriving Therapist" to connect with other therapists in a way that is more
comfortable for me than going to networking events, and it gives me an
opportunity to communicate through my preferred medium of writing. There is also LinkedIn.com, which I don't use much but I know many other people do.
Training Opportunities
It's also good to attend as many trainings as you can, since
they are usually less expensive when you're an intern, and you can count them
toward your hours. This is a good time
to explore different specialties you might be interested in and meet people in
those specialties.
4. Dealing with the BBS
Oh, man-- where do I start? Let me start by saying, it's
really tempting to vilify the BBS. The
process to get licensed is grueling and it feels like the BBS purposely make it
more difficult than it has to be. On
days I was particularly frustrated, feeling angry at the BBS made me feel
better in the short-term, but not in the long-term. The reality is, the people working at BBS are not out to make our lives miserable. They have been underfunded and understaffed but I have spoken to some nice people there who did what they could to help me. I got much farther being nice to them than taking my frustration out on them.
Here are some tips on having a harmonious
relationship with the BBS, as they do have the power to grant you your license:
Paperwork
Keep it organized and in a safe place (I literally
bought a fire-proof, waterproof safe to store my original paperwork). Get it signed regularly in case, God forbid,
something happens to your supervisor. Visit
the BBS website to see a list of everything you'll need to apply to take the
exam. When you start your internship,
get your supervisor responsibility form signed, and keep that in a safe place,
as you will need it to get licensed. After
being at an internship for awhile, it's easy to forget about that form or where you put it. If it's a paid
internship, you also need to keep your W-2s during that time, so keep those
with your BBS paperwork as well. Also,
keep in contact with all previous supervisors in case you need them to re-sign
anything. Keep copies of everything, and
store them in a separate place.
Here's an article on submitting your hours:
The best thing I ever did was join trackyourhours.com. You enter in your hours and it does all the math for you and shows you how many hours you need and in which areas.
5. Preparing for licensing exams
I can honestly tell you that I don't know anyone personally who passed
the exams without taking an exam preparation course. And the courses ran from about $600-$1,200 in
2015. What I can tell you is, figure out your best learning style and choose which course best fits your needs. At the time I was studying, there was Gerry
Grossman, AATBS, and Therapist Development Center (TDC). I used TDC based on hearing good things about it and knowing my health
limitations would make it difficult to attend a class. Thankfully, I passed both
exams on the first try. I supplemented
with some Gerry Grossman practice exams, which I think just confused me and was
unnecessary. TDC was all online and I
could do it on my own time at home, but it did take a lot of discipline.
I also studied with other interns and joined the MFT Guide
group on Facebook. Support from other
interns going through the testing process was huge for me. The other thing was really increasing my self-care, especially the week of and the day before taking the exam. Everyone has their own self-care regimen--
mine on the day before the first exam was getting a massage, going to an
acupuncturist, and seeing my chiropractor.
I also stayed in a hotel near my testing site so I could get a good
night sleep in a comfortable bed. I
think doing all these things significantly reduced my anxiety so I could focus
and use all the strategies I learned from the TDC course.
Final tip:
This is a long, difficult process, but it can be well worth
it if you stay the course. You won't be
an intern forever, and you are not alone!
Here's one last link:
5 Important Tips for Pre-licensed Therapists in private practice
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