Thanks for joining us here at Private Practice from the Inside Out!

I help MFT trainees and interns all the time in the job process. The biggest tip I can give is to work on your confidence and networking skills! It will impact every part of your job search. Check out the articles section of my website for tons of free tips

Miranda Palmer MFT

For example – for my practicum/internship I talked with a nursing home who wanted to do more reminiscence work with their elders; however, no one had time to develop a group and curriculum. As an intern I offered to focus the curriculum on group narrative therapy as an intervention for depression/anxiety, pilot three groups and train the social workers. That was my “in.” After that I found out that physical therapy had a high rate of drop out due to non-participation and was able to help by identifying those patients for whom depression was a factor in non-participation and address that problem. Finally, I also was able to become a resource for hospice when I heard that Mental Health services are not easily funded during the patient’s “transition” to hospice. As a free intern I was able to follow patients from skilled nursing care through the funding transition to hospice which helped many families to have continuity in one part of their care during a very stressful time.

These are just some examples but I would say, in short, the greatest asset of an intern is to be able to do what others can’t because the “funding” isn’t there. If you’re really motivated/creative – work with the agency to find grant work once you have done your special project. You should have some outcome and anecdotal data to write a killer grant!