Time2Track Blog
Real-Life Resources for Students & Early Career Professionals
The Dual Language Dilemma: Doing Your Best Work With Spanish-Speaking Patients
Despite the growing need for Spanish-language mental health services, there is a shortage of bilingual clinicians, as well as inadequate training for them [1,2].
Does this mean you have to brush up on your Spanish to provide Spanish-language services? Not necessarily.
Here are some helpful tips for working with Spanish-speaking patients if you don’t know Spanish. And if you do know Spanish but are hesitant to use it for clinical work, keep reading for tips to help make that transition as smooth as possible.
Balancing Heavy Workloads & Caseloads as Therapists in Training
Between your practicum and academic courses, if you’re in graduate school, you probably have a heavy workload. We all have a lot we need to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time.
But most of us would also like to enjoy a life outside of our professional career. So when there are multiple deadlines, projects without firm deadlines, and not always a clear line between “working hours” and “personal time,” how do we balance our priorities?
Life at the VA: Training at the Nation’s Largest Integrated Health Care System
During my second year in grad school and after a lot of thought, I had finally chosen to specialize in geriatric psychology. During one of our bi-weekly check-ins, my mentor asked, “Why don’t you apply to the VA?” I’m glad he asked the question.
I knew the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) was massive. As a respected training site, I also knew there could be many applications for a limited number of openings.
That said, I decided to apply, and I’m glad I did.
Are You Dreading the EPPP? Here’s How to Prepare for It.
The EPPP: 4 letters that will strike fear in the hearts of clinical psychology graduates everywhere!
Developed and administered by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPBB), the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology is a 225-item test of endurance spanning 4.5 hours (including the 15-minute tutorial).
For many, the EPPP represents one of the last hurdles that must be tackled before they can hang up a shingle outside of their office doors and proudly proclaim themselves to be a licensed clinical psychologist.
Therapist Burnout & How to Prevent It
Ever notice yourself getting a little more irritable than normal? Finding it difficult to interact with colleagues, clients, and even family or friends? Struggling to find empathy and patience for others? This could be the result of therapist burnout. Yes, even therapists get burned out and need to take a step back in order to take care of our own needs.
Therapist burnout happens when an individual’s psychological resources are overpowered by the demands placed on them. It is an extreme kind of exhaustion that can result from working with particularly challenging populations [1].
Not only does burnout cause us to simply feel terrible, but it also contributes to job dissatisfaction and poor job performance. Further, it can lead to frantic job searches, and, at the extreme end, it can result in ethical violations, which may have professional repercussions for the therapist – and may harm the client.
The Definitive Guide to Financially Preparing for Licensure
Licensing protects you, the public, and the profession. I appreciate that it exists, now that I have joined the ranks of licensure. However, the pursuit inspired many sighs, groans, and eye rolls between me and my colleagues. Complaints formed for many reasons – cost was (and still is) one of them.
What should you do to prepare – financially, at least – for licensure? Below, I outline seven steps with an estimated time that it will take for each. I will give you concrete suggestions, with real numbers and links included.
11 Ways to Survive a Long Distance Relationship in Grad School & Beyond
Many couples must separate physically for a variety of reasons, including career and academic advancement, military deployment, immigration restrictions, or familial obligations. Long distance relationships are becoming increasingly common [1] and graduate students and early careers professionals have even more reasons why they might need to live apart from their partners.
Being prepared by knowing the challenges ahead can help to ensure that your relationship and career are actually strengthened by the time apart.
How to Gracefully End a Therapy Session On Time
Ending a session on time and doing so gracefully can be tricky. There are a plethora of ideas out there of how to end a session on time, such as setting a timer or providing a nonverbal cue, and many of those suggestions may be effective in ending a session on time.
However, very few, if any, address implementation of those techniques fluidly and in a manner that is natural and least disruptive to the client’s process. Why does this matter?
Preparing for Your First Forensic Psychology Placement
If you have been following my blog postings for Time2Track, you’ve read about what kind of training programs are available to those of you interested in, using the term broadly, forensic mental health work. I’ve also discussed the complexities of instituting and maintaining boundaries with forensic clients.
Now, I’m going to break down the forensic practicum placement process in three parts. Part 1 talked about how you choose and prepare for an interview at a forensic-oriented site. (I use the term “forensic-oriented” to be broadly inclusive of any mental health training site for masters or doctoral level trainees that will work in a place where psychology and the law intersect.)
Part 2 (below) will touch on what to do after you’ve accepted your forensic placement offer but before you actually begin your training.
Bridging Gaps in Mental Health Care with Mobile Apps
We are fortunate to live in the digital age, where authoritative information on virtually any topic is easily retrieved by anyone with an Internet connection. This asset, combined with skyrocketing rates of smartphone usage over the past decade, may hold the key to improving health for a large percentage of the population.
Even with continued advances in the development of effective treatments and increased access to mental health care, a significant disparity still exists between need and actual delivery of mental health services. Internet-based applications, including mobile technology, could ostensibly increase access to treatment for those most in need [1].
Behavioral health providers tapping into this technology would be effectively reaching individuals through a device on which they already heavily depend. Data demonstrate that people with increased usage of smartphones include vulnerable populations who could benefit the most from interventions, including young adults, people with lower incomes and less educational attainment, and minorities.
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