At Intuition Wellness Center, the training team is comprised of externs, interns and clinicians who are pursuing higher licensure levels.
What is an extern at Intuition Wellness?
An extern is a 3rd or 4th year doctoral student pursuing their PhD in a psychology-related field. By the time they come to Intuition Wellness, it is typical for externs to have already completed a year or more in direct service to children and/or young adults. Their position at Intuition Wellness is a 10 to 11-month part-time clinical field placement focused on therapy and assessment of children and young adults. They receive weekly individual supervision from a licensed psychologist at Intuition Wellness and from a supervisor at their university. They also have coursework designed to support them in developing their therapy skills while in their placement with Intuition Wellness.
What is an intern at Intuition Wellness?
An intern is a 5th or 6th year student pursuing their PsyD or PhD in a psychology-related field. Interns have usually completed all of their coursework and defended their dissertation. They are in their final year of their graduate program and very close to being awarded their doctorate. Interns have typically already spent at least three or four years in direct service to children by the time they apply through a national match to be placed at Intuition Wellness for 12 months. During that year, interns spend half of their week at Intuition Wellness and the other half at a partnered local school district. They receive weekly individual supervision from a licensed psychologist at Intuition Wellness and participate in several hours of structured learning activities each week.
What does it mean to be a “clinician pursuing higher licensure?”
Associate-level clinicians have a completed master’s degree and have achieved their first level of licensure, but are not yet licensed to practice without working under a supervisor. These clinicians are actively completing direct service hours and supervision hours in order to have the privilege of working independently. They have typically already spent a year and sometimes many more offering counseling services. These clinicians may have started developing their specialty areas. They receive weekly individual supervision from an independently licensed psychologist or therapist at Intuition Wellness.
Do supervisors attend sessions?
On rare occasions a supervisor may attend a portion of a session to assist a training team member in their work or at your request. Most of the time this isn’t preferred. Team members understand the importance of privacy, as well as the sacredness of the therapeutic relationship. With your permission, training team members may ask to record a portion of their work for their review or review by their supervisor. These recordings are only made with permission and are for the purposes of learning and better supporting you or your child. Your participation in services is not conditional on your participation in recordings.
What are the benefits of working with a training team member?
In addition to receiving ongoing consultation from other team members, all training team members receive regular supervision by one or two licensed psychologists or therapists. This means you actually have several professionals working to support you or your child!
Training team members have structured assignments designed to improve their clinical work. They think deeply about how they are serving you and get ongoing feedback from others about how to help you or your child achieve your goals.
Training team members are at the forefront of the science. They often learn about cutting-edge research as it is emerging due to their close ties to academia. Sometimes they are directly involved in conducting that research!
Training team caseloads are smaller than those of licensed team members, giving them more time to focus on each person they serve.
Fees for services with a training team member are less than they are with therapists who are practicing independently.
Research shows that most therapists reach their peak performance during their field placement, so you’re sure to get great quality service!
