 |
|
|
|
|
|
Internship handbook (Table of Contents) (Online Forms) |
Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology ("MAC") The
MAC Internship Handbook: 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 good 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 definite responsibilities to yourself, first of all. Those responsibilities include self-care, self-nurturance, and your own therapy as resources permit. These topics will not be repeated here. We recommend that you read (or re-read) the web page on "Avoiding Burn-out" for ideas about your responsibilities to yourself. 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 expectations 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. The nature of the internship will determine your responsibility to clients during these periods. Therefore, these hours 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. Responsibilities to the Agency Students sometimes think that 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 low pay). 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, need a lot of training, and will be finished and gone just about the time they finally become useful. That interpretation suggests that it is the MAC interns who are on the receiving end of the favors and who, therefore, owe a debt of responsibility to the internship agency. What exactly are those responsibilities?
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. 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 responsible and 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. |
|
|
|
Email contact: (MAC@stmartin.edu) |