Happy Monday Jewels and Gems!

Todays walk down memory lane takes us to the moment that I had decided that Clinical Psychology was not for me.

If you are just beginning to read these blogs, be sure to go back and read the other entries under the Confessions category of the blog!

So, as I participated in the my psychology internship, I quickly learned that there are many aspects to the Clinical Psychology profession that just didn’t mesh well with my personality.

My main concern was that the internship was emotionally taxing for me. I found myself having a hard time separating work from home. I was bringing all of those emotions of sadness home with me, even at the intern level. Becoming a therapist, would mean more emotional encounters, and I did not want to be sad all of the time.

Also, when I participated in the intake interviews, I was able to get the feel of a therapy session. I did enjoy helping the families, but their situations and what they were going through also made me sad. It was hard to find joy in what I was doing.

In addition to being sad from the the Intake Interviews and Monitored Visitations, the phone calls and interactions that I had with customers were usually unpleasant.

The frustration that the families felt was understandable, but I didn’t feel that I should be punished for the system and what they were going through. However, I felt attacked most of the time, and I was unable to help them out of there situation.

In addition to my hands on experience at the internship. I was also surrounded with Marriage and Family Therapy(MFT) students who were in their Masters Programs, and I was of course still in my Bachelor’s Program at CSUF. So, being the inquisitive girl that I am, I began asking them questions.

I also had some heart-to-heart conversations with some of the students who were completing an internship in counseling, while I was completing my undergrad psychology internship.

Many of these interns were struggling financially because I believe they  were working for free, just like me. They also had to pay the bills, so they were also working part time and going to school.

These MFT students soon taught me that getting your MFT is at least a 4-year-program. Not only did you have to complete your masters program, which takes about 2.5 years. You also had to complete a huge number of internship hours, that took most people about 2 years to complete. Most of the students I ran into told me they had to complete something like 3,000 hours of internship. Their internship including giving therapy sessions and shadowing a MFT. They also got feedback from their MFT after playing back some of their therapy sessions.

To me, it made more sense to get my doctorate than it would to get my masters since it is more of an advanced degree, and takes about the same amount of time to complete, 4 to 5

Next week, I will explain how these experience propelled me to the next stage of my career!

Please let me know what you think if you would like to share your thoughts!

Lots of Love

xoxo

Chauntel