by Jon Reeves, PhD | Oct 9, 2017 | Lifehacks, Tips & Advice, Professional Resources
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.
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by Reina Remigio, PhD | Sep 25, 2017 | Professional Resources, Student & Intern Resources
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?
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by Christina Wohleber, PsyD | Jan 3, 2017 | Professional Resources
Imagine that on that you are at the grocery store on a Saturday morning for a quick stop to get some milk, and you spot one of your clients just a few places in front of you in the checkout line.
What do you do?
Should you wave to them? Walk up and ask if they were able to work things out with their significant other? Remind them of their appointment this Monday (since they missed their last one)? Ignore them and frantically try not to make eye contact?
If this situation is new to you, you may experience some panic.
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by Kyler Shumway, PsyD | Oct 17, 2016 | Professional Resources, Student & Intern Resources
Can’t you just feel the tension of this year’s political climate?
Look at you, reading a blog post about politics on a psychology website.
And who can blame you? Only about 24 million people may have tuned in to the live presidential debate between Clinton and Trump [1], but everyone is talking about it. With the presidential election coming up, you can bet your clipboard that your clients are going to bring this into session.
Most clinicians can agree that political conversations have little place in the therapy room. Angsting about presidential prospects and governmental goings-on appears to have limited healing power for our clients. Regardless, our clients continue to ask us where we stand on gun control, whether we are pro-life or pro-choice, and for whom we plan to vote.
So, what do we do when our clients want to talk politics?
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by Igor Vasilj, PhD | Oct 3, 2016 | Personal & Professional Experiences, Post-Grad, Professional Resources, Student & Intern Resources
Psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, and other mental health professionals have the professional flexibility and freedom to work in a number of diverse settings.
Everything ranging from inpatient and outpatient hospitals, Veteran Affairs medical centers, college counseling centers, private practices, and community health centers, among many others.
It is often said that working at a community mental health center (CMHC) can be one of the most difficult and challenging sites for mental health work, and yet it can also be one of the most rewarding experiences.
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by Christina Wohleber, PsyD | Aug 22, 2016 | Professional Resources
Client termination, whether it is planned or unplanned, is difficult.
It can lead the clinician to having a multitude of emotions. After all, it is the ending of a relationship, which can be a challenging thing for any of us to go through.
To make it harder, most individuals are not taught appropriate techniques to end a relationship. How many of us plan on how we are going to conclude a relationship? We are social beings at heart and are not often focused on planning for the conclusion of a connection nor are we trained in healthy ways to process the ending of a relationship.
Despite these challenges, it is important for clinicians to always be focused on the possibility of termination in order to gain comfort and understanding of how it impacts both the client and clinician.
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by Valencia Wiggins, PhD, LPC | Aug 8, 2016 | Personal & Professional Experiences, Professional Resources
“What type of supervision will I receive at this training site?”
How many times have you asked this question during your interviews for practicum, pre-doctoral internship, or post-doctoral training sites? I recall my own apprehension about my clinical supervisors over the last few years.
I had the opportunity to experience wonderful clinical supervisors who provided excellent supervision. I attribute my professional and personal development as a clinical psychologist to the clinical supervisors I worked with during my graduate school training.
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by Christina Wohleber, PsyD | Jun 27, 2016 | Professional Resources
Planned client termination may be one of the hardest aspects of clinical work.
Although planned termination is often a great opportunity for both the client and therapist to gain additional insights, it can lead to a variety of thoughts and emotions that can be unpleasant for all involved.
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by Time2Track | May 24, 2016 | Professional Resources, Time2Track News & Features
Behavioral health students know how important it is to keep detailed records of their clinical hours during practicum and internship training, especially when those hours have to be signed off on by supervisors and submitted to their schools.
But what about after graduation?
All states and provinces require a certain number of supervised hours to be accrued in order to obtain a license for practice (along with other requirements). Each state and province has their own set of rules depending on the license you’re working toward.
Since licensure is the final step in your journey to becoming a licensed professional, it’s important that it go smoothly. Tracking hours is just one part of it, but it’s a very important part. Here are some tips, frequently asked questions, and instructions for tracking hours during this final step.
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by Tara Luchkiw Rosema | Apr 26, 2016 | Professional Resources
Imagine yourself in this scenario: You finally made it! After much hard work, you are now licensed and you recently accepted a job as a staff psychologist at a clinic in a great location. Your job description? You will provide therapy and assessment, maintain appropriate documentation, collaborate with other health providers, yada, yada, yada. That’s easy – you’ve done all this stuff before in your practica, internship, and fellowship – you’ve got this.
You will also have to supervise trainees. You had a small taste of that in your training. You fumble around a little as you figure it out, but you know enough about supervision to get by. After you get settled and feel like you have a good handle on things, you notice there are some other kinds of positions open to psychologists. These positions have additional responsibilities and they pay more money. They have titles like “Coordinator,“ “Director,” “Division Manager,” and “Chief Mental Health Officer.” You have heard these titles before and have known lots of people who have held them. Perhaps now you are ready to level up.
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