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Internship handbook

(Table of Contents)
Chpt 1: Introduction & prerequisites
Chpt 2: Basic definitions
Chpt 3: Starting search for an internship site
Chpt 4: Matching interests with sites
Chpt 5: Selecting an on-site supervisor
Chpt 6: To the supervisor
Chpt 7: Concept form
Chpt 8: Expectations
Chpt 9: Responsibilities
Chpt 10: Contract form
Chpt 11: The evaluation process
Chpt 12: Looking ahead: graduation & post-graduation

(Online Forms)
Internship "quiz"

Internship concept form

Internship contract form

Internship evaluation

Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology ("MAC")

The MAC Internship Handbook:
Chapter 4:  Matching interests with available sites 

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 below.

Students are often 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. For one thing, over 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, other 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 7 hours per week and you may find that you can proceed at that pace without major damage to 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 paid 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.

• 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 discussed above, it is the responsibility of the student to seek out his/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 other graduate students completed successful internship experiences. At the bottom of this page is a listing of approximately 300 previously completed internships. The listing includes the names of each agency or program 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 even 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 latter 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.

Private practice internships are not usually that 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 on-going caseload. They are not ready for the isolation and pressure of private practice.
   
2. They 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.

It may help to examine a full list of previous MAC internship sites completed by previous students in the MAC Program

Narrowing the Available Options

You may find the list of "Previously Completed Internships" helpful in demonstrating the diversity of internship opportunities. Then again, you may have been totally overwhelmed!

An "Internship Quiz" was developed to help narrow down the many options presented in the listing. It should help you consider some important considerations. Having answered the questions listed, 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.

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 (from the box). 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 internships "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 across the questions. When you see the same internship site showing up again and again, you know what to consider.

This Internship Quiz may help you narrow the options

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