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MASTER OF ARTS IN COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGYINTERNSHIP HANDBOOK

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CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE MAC PROGRAMSaint Martin’s UniversityMaster of Arts in Counseling PsychologyGodfrey J. Ellis, Ph.D., DirectorOld Main 412MAC@stmartin.edu360-438-4560fsx 360-412-6187

TABLE OF CONTENTS4 Chapter 1: Introduction and Prerequisites

6 Chapter 2: Some Basic Internship Definitions

9 Chapter 3: Starting the Search For an Internship Site

10 Chapter 4: Matching Interests With Available Sites

14 Chapter 5: Selecting and On-Site Supervisor

16 Chapter 6: Note to the On-Site Supervisor

17 Chapter 7: Filling Out the Internship Concept Form

18 Chapter 8: Expectations for the Internship

20 Chapter 9: Responsibilities of the Student

23 Chapter 10: Completing the Internship Contract

25 Chapter 11: The On-Site Evaluation Process

26 Chapter 12: Looking Ahead to Graduation

INTERNSHIP HANDBOOK

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INTERNSHIP HANDBOOK

INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNSHIP HANDBOOK

If you’re reading this handbook, you’re either looking ahead (which is fine) or you’re now ready for one of the most critical components of your graduate training — the internship experience. This MAC Internship Handbook discusses prerequisites for getting started, defines some basic terms, helps you choose an internship experience that will be right for you, and provides a list of internships completed by prior MAC students.

The handbook also discusses the role of the “on-site supervisor” and guides you through the forms you’ll need to complete. In addition, there is detailed information on MAC internship policies and procedures, how to set up an ideal internship contract, and information on the end-of-semester evaluations by the on-site supervisor.

PREREQUISITES FOR AN INTERNSHIP

It is mandatory to receive degree candidate status prior to beginning an internship; for more information on how to receive this advanced standing, please see the MAC Student Handbook, chapter 12.

Advancement to degree candidate status is not the only requirement prior to beginning an internship. You need to have taken two more classes. In addition to the courses already required for degree candidate status, students are required to have completed the following courses prior to enrolling in MAC 691: Counseling Internship. Those classes are:MAC 601: PsychopathologyMAC 602: Assessment and Treatment Planning

Some students wish to begin their internships as early in their program as possible. Often they wish to take advantage of a sudden internship opportunity or a shift in their job descriptions. The internship, however, represents the culmination of all the classes you have taken in the MAC Program. Students usually do not have sufficient training to get the most out of an internship until near the end of the program. By the last two semesters of the MAC Program, students are well-trained and confident in their abilities. In addition, it can be anti-cliMACtic to finish two semesters of internship and have to return for more classwork. The internship provides a natural transition from the structure and safety of the classroom to the world of the professional workplace.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND PREREQUISITES

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Note: Occasionally, students wish to begin their internships without having completed MAC 602: Assessment and Treatment Planning (see MAC Class Notebook, chapter 4). Permission to waive this requirement is rare, but has been granted in a few exceptional cases. If you wish such a waiver you must apply, in writing, and address the four mandatory conditions, described below. Be sure to include a supportive letter from your proposed on-site supervisor. The MAC faculty will consider the request and respond in writing.

The four mandatory conditions for being able to take MAC 602 at the same time as your internship are:

1. The nature of your internship is such that assessment and treatment planning skills are not a clear necessity for beginning this particular internship experience.

2. The on-site supervisor is supportive of your beginning the internship without the training provided in MAC 602 and documents this support in a letter.

3. You have completed 18 to 24 hours of coursework (other than MAC 602) and are prepared to take MAC 602 the next time it is offered.

4. You have demonstrated academic and/or clinical sophistication either by prior experience or in your performance in MAC coursework through the first 18 to 24 hours of the program.

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Confusion over the definitions of basic terms can sometimes cause misunderstandings between students, faculty, and agency personnel. Such

misunderstandings can often be avoided if everyone has the same definitions of important terms.

WHAT IS AN INTERNSHIP?

An internship is defined as a supervised opportunity for students to work in community based counseling agencies outside the academic setting.

An internship experience is a primary component of virtually all training programs in the helping professions. It is also an expected requirement of most credentialing agencies (such as the Washington State Department of Health, Division of Licensing). An internship represents the culmination of your graduate training in counseling psychology. It constitutes a trial experience in professional work under the direction of an on-site supervisor and an academic faculty member at the educational institution. An internship has three important consequences:1. It gives you the opportunity to integrate and apply the fundamentals of the

profession in real-world settings. 2. It forms the basis for the transition from the role of the student to the role of

the practicing professional. 3. It shapes future employment by representing an area of specialization. (It is

not unusual for students to be offered a position in the agency in which they completed their internship.)

WHAT IS THE “INTERNSHIP SERIES”?

In the beginning of the MAC Program, there was no coursework that accompanied the internship experience. However, an internship class is a requirement of the Department of Health, Division of Licensing. In addition, most MAC students felt the need for more contact with MAC faculty and fellow internship students. For those reasons, the MAC Program began to offer a two-course series of seminar/workshop class work entitled MAC 691: Counseling Internship I and MAC 692: Counseling Internship II (see MAC Class Notebook, chapter 8). This series is designed to be taken concurrently with the 600 hours of supervised field experience.

The series of two classes represents the academic portion of the internship experience (which takes place off-campus and out in the community). The internship classes were designed to provide the means to integrate, consolidate, and synthesize academic knowledge with real-life work experience through case-staffing and clinical evaluation. The classes provide direct feedback of clinical style using specific cases drawn from the off-campus internship.

CHAPTER 2 SOME BASIC INTERNSHIP DEFINITIONS

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WHAT ARE “INTERNSHIP HOURS”?

Students often are confused about what activities constitute the 600 hours of internship experience. When you first begin your internship experience, you will spend a fair amount of time simply learning about the agency — how it functions, who the overt and covert leaders are, what the official and unofficial ground rules consist of, and how to relate to the clientele within the agency guidelines and structure. Other acceptable activities include attending workshops or in-service presentations at the agency, as requested by your on-site supervisor, and transporting or interacting with patients or clients in the milieu, during meals, and so on and in required case staffing. All of these types of activities count toward internship hours.

What does not count is travel to and from the internship site, time spent in the internship classes at Saint Martin’s University, time reading the texts and preparing assignments, and all other activities not directly related to completing the on-site portion of the internship experience. As you begin to fit into your internship, proportionally more time will be spent on the real meat of the experience — face-to-face counseling, co-therapy, being assigned as the primary therapist, and other mental health-related activities. This pattern of a slow beginning is one of the reasons the MAC faculty discourages two short internships in favor of one full experience.

Internship hours represent time spent in justifiable and educational activities (as much as possible doing face-to-face counseling) that relate both to the mission of the MAC Program and the purposes and goals of the internship agency.

Do yourself a favor. Consider the definition of internship hours carefully. If you are merely filling time with irrelevant activities, your internship experience becomes little more than a very expensive hoop to jump through, rather than the most significant educational experience of the entire program.

First-semester interns are given slightly more structure in what constitutes acceptable internship hours. They typically start an internship experience with a relatively low rate of face-to-face client contact. They may see only two or three clients a week and, then, only in a co-therapy context. By the end of the internship experience, the clinical intern usually experiences more client contact. They may see up to a dozen clients per week and be the primary therapist for a few of them. Keep in mind that it takes time to demonstrate sufficient preparation and personal confidence for the agency to trust you with that degree of clinical involvement.

A simple rule of thumb is that, over the two semesters of the internship, the intern needs to have spent an average of at least 50 percent of the total hours (300 clock hours) on face-to-face client contact.

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HOW MANY HOURS MAY I COLLECT?

You may wonder how quickly or how slowly you will be allowed to collect internship hours. That question can be somewhat difficult to answer. Let’s begin with the minimum number of hours you can collect. If you are doing a volunteer internship in the evenings or are having difficulty getting hours, you may wonder how many would be the least number of hours to make a legitimate internship experience. The problem is not only that you risk failing to make satisfactory progress but also that an internship of only a couple of hours per week does not allow a feeling of involvement and continuity.

It is the policy of the MAC Program that you must amass at least seven hours per week. Anything less than that does not constitute a meaningful internship.

If you amass only the minimum number of hours, you will not reach 300 total hours by the end of the semester and will need to extend your work into the interim period between semesters or even into another semester. If this turns out to be the case for you, you should know that it will not be necessary for you to enroll in, or to pay for, any additional academic credit hours.

For some students, it is easy to amass hours. Perhaps they’re doing an internship as part of a regular employment or are working at a site where they’re given a generous number of cases or administrative problems to solve. If you are this fortunate, you will probably wish to collect the maximum hours possible. But, how many is that? The important point is that the internship experience needs to involve enough time to follow some cases or administrative problems over time. In addition, it will be necessary for you to be working on your internship throughout the semester-long academic portion of Counseling Internship I and II. For these reasons, the maximum number of hours that you may amass per week is determined by the number of weeks available for internship work during the semester you are working on your internship. That will vary according to whether or not you collected hours between semesters and whether or not part of your internship was completed over the shorter summer semester.

The bottom line is that the semester total of 300 internship hours typically requires 20 hours of work per week in a 15-week fall or spring semester and 30 hours per week in an 8-week summer semester. These weekly totals can be decreased if students are able to work during the off-time between semesters.

If you have less than 300 hours remaining in Internship II, the hours per week will need to be reduced. You should not finish the internship before the end of your second semester in the Internship Series.

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The selection of an internship site is easily the most important decision that you will make during your involvement in the MAC Program. Because

the internship provides in-depth experience and training in one specific area of counseling psychology and will figure prominently on your resumé or vita, the choice of an internship usually lays the foundation for an individual’s professional identity for the next three to five years. The choice of an internship, therefore, should not be made lightly.

Sometimes students have an internship opportunity “fall in their laps” and are tempted to choose an internship based on convenience alone. Don’t fall into this trap! Although learning can take place in any internship experience, the best internship will be the one that most closely matches your strengths, interests, and goals.

It is worth making an intelligent and well-studied choice so that your internship will truly be a memorable and growth-producing experience. You have had dreams in the past about what you really wanted to do with a counseling degree. Follow those dreams; don’t trade them in for convenience!

RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOCATING A SITE

Internship placements are not formally provided by Saint Martin’s University; it is up to the student to secure an internship placement that meets the approval of the internship faculty. The faculty will give you every assistance (as will the following pages) in the search and selection process, but locating an internship site is fundamentally your responsibility. Although students are expected to find their own sites, the faculty wishes to be as helpful as possible to students starting an internship experience.

CHANGES AFFECTING THE SEARCH

The internship process has undergone a number of significant changes. Previously, much of the internship advising load for the internship faculty occurred informally and prior to the student’s registration in formal coursework. The bulk of this early advising involved helping each student to find an internship experience that fit his or her specific career aspirations and personal style. Much of the faculty involvement occurred by informal, drop-in conversations and/or telephone consultations, and consumed a considerable block of time. In order to improve the efficiency of faculty time and the effectiveness of the internship experience, several changes were put into place.

First, the six-hour internship experience and a three-hour internship class were combined. The number of credit hours that students were required to enroll in this area was reduced from nine to six.

CHAPTER 3 STARTING THE SEARCH FOR AN INTERNSHIP SITE

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Several factors are important to consider when beginning the search for an internship site. Those factors include: determining how to find the time to

complete a two-semester internship experience; recognizing the true diversity of internship opportunities; and finding ways to narrow the range of options available. Each is discussed in the following sections.

OPTIONS FOR MAKING IT WORK

Students often are worried about how they can fit an internship, particularly a volunteer internship, into their busy schedules. This may indeed be a challenge and require sacrifice. However, things are not as bleak as they may appear. More than 400 people have walked this path ahead of you. Most of them also had important life commitments such as significant relationships, children, or full-time employment. Yet, they were able to make it work. You can, too! Perhaps you can make it work if you collect hours at a slower pace. Or, you may be able to find a paid internship so you won’t have to work. Keep in mind that there are several options, not just one, for completing an internship.

In the past, students have tried the following solutions. Perhaps, one will work for you:

•   The majority of students have simply utilized non-working time (evenings and weekends) for working at the internship site. This way, the students can keep their income-generating day jobs and still find the time needed to complete an internship. Remember that it is possible to complete an internship by amassing as few as seven hours per week, and you may find that you can proceed at that pace without major impact on your employment, your family life, or your mental health.

•   Several students have negotiated a paid internship. While those are relatively rare and the competition for such placements is high, paid internships are permissible and some agencies and/or programs will reimburse interns. Paid internships must meet the same criteria as other appropriate placements. To qualify to complete a paid internship, you must be able to fulfill the objectives for internship work within the placement. Emphasis must be on the internship experience as a learning process rather than as paid employment.

•   Many have utilized their existing jobs for an internship site. This is another form of a paid internship, of course. To use your regular employment for this training experience, you must justify that a continuation of your existing job will yield the same educational growth as any other type of internship. Most students have done this by making a lateral transfer into a new job description for part, or all, of their employment responsibilities.

CHAPTER 4 MATCHING INTERESTS WITH AVAILABLE SITES

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•   A number of students have taken a leave of absence from, or terminated, their full-time jobs to free up time to do their internship at non-paid sites. Most agencies and programs that are willing to take on an intern consider their on-site training as adequate compensation for the student’s time. The MAC students reciprocate by volunteering their efforts to advance the agency’s goals while they are meeting their own educational needs. It has been a fair trade-off for many interns and agencies.

THE DIVERSITY OF INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

As previously discussed, it is the responsibility of the student to seek out his or her own internship position. Sometimes students, particularly those new to the mental health field, have no idea where to begin. You may find yourself in that position.

Where do you start?!

One of the most valuable aids to assist students in setting up their own internships is to know where previous graduate students served their internships. The MAC website features a list of 300 internship sites where MAC students have completed successful internship experiences. The listing includes the names of each agency or program, along with the names of the on-site supervisors and the date that each internship experience began.

If you find one or two possibilities that really interest you and want more information on them, the MAC director may be able to get permission to release the phone number of the alumni or student(s) who completed those particular internships. (That information is not routinely provided in order to protect students’ confidentiality.)

It may be worth making a comment or two about internships in private practice settings. It is true that internships in private practice sites have been allowed in the past. However, we now strongly discourage such placements. At most, a private practice setting will be allowed only in rare cases and, then, only as one piece of a larger internship experience.

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Private practice internships are not usually very successful. They may, in fact, be inappropriate for an internship experience. Why is that the case?

1. The students usually are given too much responsibility, too fast. Most interns want and need instruction and training — not a share of an ongoing caseload. They are not ready for the isolation and pressure of private practice.

2. The students often have inadequate supervision — usually because the private practice supervisors are paid to see clients, not to supervise. Unlike an agency setting, supervision basically consists of non-compensated time.

3. Sometimes students are allowed to receive direct therapy fees even though they are still therapists in training. That is considered to be unethical.

NARROWING THE AVAILABLE OPTIONS

You may have found the list of internship sites helpful in demonstrating the diversity of internship opportunities — or you may have been totally overwhelmed! An “internship quiz” has been developed to help narrow down the many options presented in the listing.

The internship quiz is simple to take. Consider each question in as much detail as possible and look at the type of internships your answer might suggest. For example, question #8 asks, “Do you prefer to work alone or as part of a team?” If your answer is, “prefer to work alone,” you might consider internship options “h” (CPS), “i” (CWS), “j” (FRS), and “n” (schools). On the other hand, if your answer is, “prefer to work with a team,” you might consider internships “a” (CD hospital), “b” (I/OP), “c” (ACoA treatment), “d” (CMH & BHR), and so on. The idea is to look for patterns that develop from your answers. If you see the same internship site showing up again and again, you know what to consider.

After answering the questions in the quiz, you may have a better idea of the type of internship that would be appropriate for you. Again, a wise selection will help ensure that your internship is truly a growth-producing experience and not merely a long and expensive busy-work assignment.

In addition to using the “Self Study” form to narrow the list of available options, talk, talk, talk! Your instructors may be able to offer help and suggestions. In addition, it’s always helpful to talk to other MAC students (current and former) regarding how they acquired their internships. They may be able to give you some hints about how to search for a site, as well as direct you toward positions

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that match your particular needs and interests. Students already working in the field are another source of advice. They may even know about positions currently open. At the very least, they may refer you to someone more directly involved in your specific area of interest. Additionally, most programs, agencies, and healthcare facilities have someone on the staff who can offer useful guidelines.

Finding an internship will take significant effort. However, once found, the internship can provide the most relevant, meaningful experience for your graduate efforts and serve to propel you toward your career objectives. Each semester, some students are forced to change internships sites because something didn’t work out as expected. If you can “hit a bull’s eye” in your internship selection, you have a much high probability of a positive experience during your two semesters of internship work.

FORMALIZED PLACEMENT CONTRACTS

The MAC faculty is investigating the possibility of developing a limited number of formalized, on-going contracts with selected agencies for which students could apply. At present, there are two formal placement contracts available.

The first is with Thurston-Mason Community Mental Health Center. The center expects to be able to handle up to five MAC interns per semester. Further information can be obtained from the MAC director or from Walt Barfield, the on-site supervisor at 360-438-1900.

The second is Saint Martin’s own Counseling and Wellness Center. This is another excellent placement with a variety of experiences and good supervision. Further information can be obtained by contacting Jan Berney, director of the Counseling and Wellness Center, at 360-459-4371.

Other formal placement contracts, such as with Group Health, may be established in the future.

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You’ve narrowed down the choice of an internship experience to a few types of settings; perhaps you even have some specific agencies in mind. Now,

you face another critical responsibility: selecting someone to provide you with appropriate supervision at the agency. We call that person the “on-site supervisor.” The choice of the supervisor is one that needs to be made with great care and interest in your own professional future and in cooperation with the MAC faculty. It should not be made lightly.

The appropriateness (i.e., credentials) of the supervisor is one of the most important elements in determining the success or failure of the internship. In addition, it’s a key factor in the core faculty’s decision of whether or not to accept your choice of an internship site and/or internship supervisor.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

The on-site supervisor is the one who will assist you with the occasional and immediate crises and with an evaluation of your ongoing work. If your supervisor is not in a decision-making position in the agency and/or can offer only abstract opinions about clinical cases or administrative problems, and agency policies and procedures, you are left at a distinct disadvantage.

The bottom line is that you, the intern, must not be the “resident expert” at the agency. If you are the expert, then, by definition, the internship experience will not be an educational, training experience for you. The MAC Program does not accept transfer credit from the “School of Hard Knocks” — you must be trained by someone who knows more than you do, and preferably, by an experienced and competent decision-maker within your internship agency!

In order to satisfy the requirement of the MAC Program, then, the on-site supervisor must have certain basic qualifications. In terms of formal credentials, your supervisor should normally possess an earned Ph.D. or M.A. in the social sciences and have several years’ experience in your particular area of interest. Prior experience in supervising interns is desirable.

Credentials, alone, are just the beginning. The on-site supervisor is considered an extremely important player on the MAC faculty team. Without the leadership of a professional at the internship site itself, the MAC Program would lose a great deal of its power and effectiveness. That’s why the quality of the available supervision is one of the key variables in whether or not the internship is approved. An ideal on-site supervisor will be able to offer the intern several intangibles, including the ability to:

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CHAPTER 5 SELECTING AN ON-SITE SUPERVISOR

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•   Communicate information and provide key, on-the-spot training as appropriate

•  Provide emotional support and sincere reinforcement and praise

•  Offer tactful and sensitive criticism and confrontation

•  Facilitate professional and career opportunities for the interested intern

It may be helpful to think of the ideal supervisor as filling certain roles and responsibilities for the intern and the MAC Program. Although not an exhaustive list, the responsibilities of the on-site supervisor can be thought of as falling into four main areas:

1. Orientation: One initial responsibility of the on-site supervisor is to thoroughly orient you to the agency and to your assigned tasks. In the early stages, in particular, the supervisor can provide essential feedback and act as a teacher and role model. The quality of the initial orientation to the internship experience is the strongest, single determinant of the success of the overall internship.

2. Teaching: The on-site supervisor can play a key role in educating you by providing assignments and training to help promote your learning and professional growth. Ideally, the on-site supervisor will help you consciously apply theory to real-life work situations. An internship can do much more than merely provide an opportunity for direct service to clients.

3. On-site supervision: The primary responsibility of the on-site supervisor is to provide you with quality supervision at the internship facility. He or she is expected to provide a minimum of one hour per week in formal supervisory conference with you as well as to be available to you for informal consultation regarding difficult situations. The supervision may include a combination of individual conferences and on-the-spot consultations, group and peer supervision, and agency staff meetings or in-service training.

4. Evaluation: The final important area of responsibility for the on-site supervisor is to provide evaluations of you throughout the internship experience. This evaluation process is not limited to the formal paper-and-pencil evaluation at the end of each semester, but represents a semester-long, on-going process. In particular, it is expected that the supervisor will notify the internship faculty of any problems with your performance as soon as they become evident.

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We certainly wish to express appreciation for the service you render to the MAC students and, in the long run, to the field of counseling psychology.

We recognize that your involvement is strictly voluntary, and we in the MAC faculty wish to sincerely thank you for your help! You are an important element in the training of tomorrow’s therapists and mental health professionals.

Please feel free to review this handbook to learn more about what is expected of all MAC graduate students who are pursuing further training through an off-campus experience.

It is worth pointing out to you, the on-site supervisor, that not all interns are the same! While the overall quality of Saint Martin’s MAC students is impressive, there is variability in the students’ strengths, backgrounds, energy levels, intelligence, motivation, and social skills.

In a phrase, caveat emptor — let the supervisor beware!

The MAC Program attempts to prepare students as well as possible for the internship experience, but not all students fit into all agencies and programs smoothly. If the student and the on-site supervisor have difficulty getting beyond the initial transition problems, please let the internship faculty know as soon as possible!

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CHAPTER 6 NOTE TO THE ON-SITE SUPERVISOR

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By this time, you’ve collected a lot of information about the internship site. You’ve decided on an internship site that interests you. You know why this

choice suits your needs and why this particular is an “ideal” one (i.e., acceptable to you and the MAC Program). It is now time to put all that on paper.

We have developed the Internship Concept Form, not a binding contract but as a working, planning document to help you put your best, tentative thinking on paper. This form is quite simple and, more importantly, informal. It is primarily designed as an aid for students. It gives you a chance to explain how the site you are considering fits your interests and needs.

The MAC faculty will look at what you’re thinking about, and offer you guidance and feedback. With this step, areas that need to be further researched can be identified and unnecessary legwork can be prevented. You may be asked to rethink your site, reconsider the on-site supervisor, or reexamine your internship goals. Or, the form may be approved as presented. Once the Internship Concept Form has been approved, the way is cleared for you to finalize preparations, make some commitments to the agency, receive some commitments regarding caseloads and supervision, and collect some signatures.

Please do not proceed to the contract phase until the Internship Concept Form has been submitted and approved. Do not submit both forms at the same time.

You’ll find that the process of completing the Internship Concept Form, and later the Internship Contract, will help you think through critical questions in a more structured, and possibly deeper, way. In addition, it puts this information in a written format that can become a part of your academic file and help future students. The form invites comments from the internship faculty about the advisability of your preliminary choice. It also requires some information you’ll need to get directly from the agency and/or on-site supervisor. The most important information is, of course, details about the specific duties that will be expected of you as an intern at the agency.

The Internship Concept Form can be printed out and then filled out by the on-site supervisor. When completed, submit the form by email, fax or in person to the MAC office.

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CHAPTER 7 FILLING OUT THE INTERNSHIP CONCEPT FORM

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The MAC Program has a number of expectations for you. These include the total number of hours and a variety of policies and procedures.

INTERNSHIP HOURS

Internships require a total of 600 supervised hours of professional experience spread over a minimum of 30 weeks (two semesters). It is the policy of the MAC Program that you must log a minimum of seven hours per week. This ensures that you are making adequate progress to complete the internship in a reasonable amount of time. It is also the policy of the MAC Program that you may not collect hours so rapidly that you finish the 300 hours before the academic semester ends. Students sometimes have difficulty understanding why a maximum number of hours is imposed on the internship experience. As stated earlier, it is necessary to spread the internship over a sufficient period of time to guarantee that you can follow a small caseload of clients over the full course of treatment.

Note that students occasionally run into problems by trying to collect hours too early. No student may begin to collect internship hours prior to completing the following:

1. Qualifying for degree candidate status (see MAC Student Handbook, chapter 12) and completing MAC 601 and MAC 602 (see MAC Class Notebook, chapter 4)

2. Enrolling in MAC 691: “Counseling Internship I (see MAC Class Notebook, chapter 8)

3. Having all paperwork completed and the internship contract signed by the MAC director.

Any hours collected prior to completing all three of these conditions will not be counted toward the required 600 hours.

NUMBER OF INTERNSHIP SITES

If at all possible, your internship should be spent at one site. There are several reasons for this policy, the main one being that it provides a more in-depth educational experience. Students who have to be in two or more internship sites (concurrently or sequentially) are at a disadvantage. If the two experiences are concurrent, you have a divided loyalty between the two sites that may leave you, your fellow workers, and any clients confused and frustrated. If the multiple sites are sequential, you will no sooner have “learned the ropes” than the one-semester experience will be over. As far as the clients go, they will be cheated out of critical continuity; just as they have bonded with you, they will be transferred to another therapist.

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CHAPTER 8 EXPECTATIONS FOR THE INTERNSHIP

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Although it may be necessary to arrange an alternative internship, taking on a second internship merely for variety of experience is not considered an acceptable reason. Unless you have an excellent reason for having two sites, you will be expected to make a choice among acceptable internships and stick with it for two semesters and 600 hours. Aim for depth, rather than breadth, in the internship experience.

The bottom line? Completing an internship at two sites will be possible only where the major presenting problems, theoretical styles, and clientele are very similar across the two internship agencies.

MALPRACTICE INSURANCE

Another policy is that you are responsible for your own accident, injury, and health insurance. Your internship site may also require you to provide your own malpractice insurance. By no means should you do professional counseling, especially for pay, without having some kind of malpractice coverage. We live in a “sue-happy” society and you need protection; a malpractice lawsuit could quickly drive you into bankruptcy.

Malpractice insurance is available and surprisingly affordable. The American Professional Agency®, for example, offers mental health counselors $100,000 for each single incident for only $26 per year. The more highly recommended coverage of $1,000,000 is still only $49 per year. Ideally, you will not need to use the coverage — but if you do, $49 is nothing compared to settling a lawsuit out of your own pocket!

For more information or to request an application form, contact the American Professional Agency, Inc. at 1-800-421-6694 or visit the agency’s website at www.americanprofessional.com. 

One last word about insurance: If you are using your private car in internship-related activities, that car must, of course, be fully insured for transporting clients. Check with your agent if you have any questions.

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What a student gets out of any learning experience reflects what he or she puts into it. Sometimes good things happen completely by accident, but

most often a positive learning experience happens because someone has made it happen. The following delineation of responsibilities is intended to point you in the right direction. It is only a beginning.

RESPONSIBILITIES TO SELF

As an intern in a mental health field, you have responsibilities to yourself, first of all. Those responsibilities include self-care, self-nurturance, and your own therapy as resources permit. For more on the subject of avoiding burnout, see the MAC Student Handbook, chapter 8.

RESPONSIBILITIES TO CLIENTS

Most of the key aspects of responsibility to one’s clients fall under the general banner of adhering to professional codes of conduct and ethics. Chief among these is the responsibility to treat all information concerning clients with the strictest confidentiality. You are expected to fulfill your various professional roles in a disciplined manner and at the highest level of competence possible (in view of time and skill limitations). Remember that you are now a professional — and you must act like one. You cannot allow yourself to give in to the temptation to gossip about any cases to a friend or partner.

While not mandated ethically, students in the MAC Program are expected to invest time and render service above and beyond the minimum expected by the University or the agency or facility where the internship is taking place. Although the MAC Program does not require you to do internship work during holidays or exam week, an agency may request that you work during these periods. Because the nature of the internship will determine your responsibility to clients, these hours will need to be negotiated between you and the on-site supervisor.

You are expected (it should go without saying) to offer service promptly, courteously, and fairly. You are encouraged to share with the internship faculty, the on-site supervisor, and other appropriate persons any instances in which the agency and MAC Program policies or requirements conflict with a client’s needs. In addition, you have the obligation to keep any personal problems from affecting your performance as a clinician. Personal issues must be recognized and kept in check. In a phrase, you are expected to be fully committed to your clients and, in every practical way, put the client’s interests first.

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CHAPTER 9 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE STUDENT

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RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE AGENCY

Students sometimes think they are doing an agency a huge favor by completing an internship at that site. “After all,” they reason, “they’re getting my time and expertise for nothing (or practically nothing)!” The on-site agency director may not see it quite the same way. To the director, interns often represent liabilities — students who are lost and confused most of the time, require a lot of training, and will be finished and gone just about the time they finally become effective. That interpretation suggests that it is actually the MAC interns who owe a debt of responsibility to the internship agency.

What exactly are those responsibilities?

•   First: Develop, maintain, and express a positive and enthusiastic mental attitude. Everything will go better if you begin the internship experience with a genuine eagerness to learn and an excitement about the many challenges that lie ahead. This may sound obvious. In fact, it is becoming rare in our troubled society. Remember, it is your responsibility to establish a pleasant and cooperative relationship with your on-site supervisor as well as with all the other agency workers. Make a decision that you will cooperate fully with your supervisor and be responsive to his or her guidance. This will not only win over your supervisor, it will ensure that your experience is positive and, above all, successful.

•   Second: Be professional in both conduct and performance. Let the agency dictate dress and interaction style. Some agencies have informal t-shirt and blue-jean environments; others have formal, business-attire environments. You are the guest here; look to the agency for direction. Also, commit to furnish all reports and other work required fully and on time and to carry out service and other field activities in compliance with agency policy and practices. Above all, be conscious of the fact that you now represent an agency as well as the University — your actions reflect upon both institutions.

•  Third: Provide “second-mile service.” Prove that you are an asset, not a burden, by doing more than is expected. Lighten other people’s load rather than your own. It is a good idea to enhance agency efforts through extra service to clients, development of new resources, public relations contacts, feedback, sharing new learning, and so on.

It is mandatory to devote the full amount of time expected in the field and to be flexible when asked to change, for a good reason, the specific hours worked. Finally, you may choose to appropriately question and evaluate agency policies and practices when that would be helpful and to work responsibly for their improvement.

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RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE MAC PROGRAM

The MAC Program needs your success. Students’ future success at setting up an internship depends, to a large degree, on the agency administrator’s experience with prior MAC internship students. This means that the agency director and the staff will judge the entire program based on your performance. Hence, you have an important responsibility vis-a-vis the MAC Program.

The primary responsibility students have to the program is simply to fulfill all educational internship requirements in a professional manner. Responsibility includes competent discharge of all assigned duties, completion of all expected reports fully and on time, enthusiastic participation in the internship class series, and spending the full time expected in the internship experience.

A second expectation is to work at maintaining an open three-way communication between the student, the agency, and the MAC Program. One way that you can do this is by working diligently to solve problems arising out of inadequacies or misunderstanding in the internship process. You are truly the ambassador for the MAC Program!

Finally, you have the responsibility to bring cases or interesting problems from the agency to your peers in MAC 691/692: Counseling Internship I and II. The sharing of real-world case illustrations and knowledge gained in the field enriches the program and the education of other graduate students. This sharing takes place primarily through the formal internship coursework.

 

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Once your Internship Concept Form has been submitted and approved, the stage is set for you to sit down with your on-site supervisor, finalize

the details, and fill out an Internship Contract. The Internship Contract binds you ethically to provide agreed-upon service to the agency. It should be written carefully and with as much anticipation of future events as possible.

The Internship Contract includes information about the on-site supervisor and internship opportunity. In addition, it includes space for summarizing what you, the on-site supervisor, and the internship faculty agree to provide in order to make the internship a productive, educational, enjoyable, and ethical experience.

In the contract, the internship faculty are looking for quality experiences, major clinical responsibility, and excellent supervision. Below are some sample-only items for you and the on-site supervisor to consider. You may include similar items in your contract or come up with some of your own. Please be as specific as possible.

What you will provide: [   ] Summary of duties and tasks that you agree to take on[   ] A commitment of hours per week and length of internship in months[   ] A statement of your personal commitment to ethical standards[   ] A commitment of professionalism and a promise of reliability[   ] A commitment of willingness to accept direction and feedback

What the internship site will provide: [   ] Some indication of the anticipated amount of supervision, including

where and how the supervision will be provided[   ] Any financial stipends or pay, and the conditions under which it will be given[   ] A commitment of the number of cases (or other tasks) that will be assigned[   ] Any in-service or other training opportunities that will be made available[   ] A commitment to provide periodic evaluations of the intern’s performance

(to be submitted to the MAC faculty)[   ] A promise to provide at least a few cases where you will be the primary

therapist (or, at least, be a co-therapist)[   ] Other appropriate elements that the internship site will provide[   ] Permission to audio/video record one session or portion of a session.

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CHAPTER 10 COMPLETING THE INTERNSHIP CONTRACT

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The permission to audio or video record a portion of a session is a mandatory, graded activity in MAC 691: Counseling Internship I and MAC 692: Counseling Internship II. You may ask the on-site supervisor for this permission orally. However, many supervisors prefer to have the request in written form for their files. In order to actually record a client, you will need a release of information.

What the MAC faculty will provide:[   ] Case consultation and clinical feedback using MAC 691 and MAC 692

as the vehicles[   ] Availability to the intern for individual assistance and problem-solving[   ] Availability to the on-site supervisor for working out wrinkles and

difficulties with the intern[   ] A promise to treat all information regarding cases and the agency in an

ethical and professional manner[   ] Enthusiastic support of the intern in all of his or her professional activities

Repeating the earlier warning, please remember that no hours will be counted toward the internship until the contract is signed by you, the on-site supervisor, and the MAC director (obtained in that order). Each semester, there seems to be someone who begins to collect hours before finalizing the contract — and each semester, the student finds out that they have been volunteering hours that don’t count. Don’t let that happen to you!

The Internship Contract must be given to the on-site supervisor to fill out. When completed, the contract must be submitted to the MAC office.

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Once your contract is signed and approved, you will enroll in MAC 691: Counseling Internship I and begin collecting hours. The bulk of internship

reporting will occur orally in MAC 691: Counseling Internship I and MAC 692: Counseling Internship II. You will report to your faculty member and to your peers, who will give you supportive feedback on your cases and clinical style. However, at the end of each semester, you will be asked to meet with your on-site supervisor to fill out an Internship Evaluation Form. Using this form, the on-site supervisor will evaluate your progress.

This sometimes causes alarm in the student. Remember that your on-site supervisor may not be an educator, per se, and that different supervisors will have different standards. Thus, he or she will not determine the grade you earn in either of the internship classes. Of course, the on-site supervisor will play a role in the grading by serving as another source of data for the decision that will be made by the core MAC faculty member. (Naturally, if the on-site supervisor is concerned with something, then we are also concerned.) Note that you should have an opportunity to discuss the evaluation with the on-site supervisor. The evaluation is meant to be mutually agreed-upon. This means that we expect you to sit down with the supervisor and discuss what the evaluation will say. It should not be a surprise!

The Internship Evaluation Form must be given to the on-site supervisor to fill out. When completed, the form must be submitted to the MAC office. 

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CHAPTER 11 THE ON-SITE EVALUATION PROCESS

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Congratulations! Now that you have completed your internship experience, you are ready to look ahead to graduation. The MAC Student Handbook

provides details about the application procedure for graduation, as well as information regarding the hooding ceremony and formal commencement ceremony. Please visit chapters 13-15 of the Student Handbook to learn more.

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CHAPTER 12 LOOKING AHEAD TO GRADUATION