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When I was starting to build my practice, one of the values that I wanted to keep front and center was giving back. To get to the place of a fully licensed therapist, there are a lot of people that need to support you along the way. I needed the guidance and wisdom of seasoned therapists to encourage me, show me the ropes, and remind me that I was capable of doing this very unique and sometimes difficult job. Many people don't realize that once you complete a 3-4 year master's degree, you have to do a year long internship, and THEN work for 2 full years accumulating client hours before you can even be fully licensed. It's a LONG road. So, once I had an established business, I wanted to be able to bring graduate interns into my practice to cut their teeth as a therapist and pay forward the guidance and encouragement that I had received as a new therapist almost 10 years ago. What I love about having interns is that because they are fresh out of grad school, they are going into the therapeutic relationship with their clients open-minded, eager, and without cynicism. They KNOW they don't know everything, which helps them to stay curious about their client's situations. This in turn, helps clients feel listened to and less judged. One of the best qualities of a graduate intern is that they excel in having empathy and unconditional positive regard for their clients. They rely less on theory or models of therapy because they are less comfortable carrying out certain treatments, and rely more on just getting to know the client as a human, not a subject to be diagnosed and fixed. We are proud to serve our communities and to be able to offer reduced fee counseling to our clients through our intern counselors. If you have been on the fence about trying counseling, hopefully I've convinced you to try it out with one of our compassionate interns. The cost is low so your investment is minimal - why not give it a try?
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