Five Advantages to Working with an Intern Therapist

With demand for therapy at an all-time high, sometimes the only therapists with immediately availability are intern therapists. When looking for a mental health professional to help you navigate the complex trials and tribulations of your life, it’s understandable why you might want a provider with a lot of experience. This is your life we’re talking about, after all! So it stands to reason that working with an intern therapist might seem like a dubious proposition. Will they actually know what they’re doing? Are you basically a guinea pig for them to practice on? The short answers to those questions are, respectively, yes and no. But if you’d like to know more about what it means to work with an intern therapist, read on. 

What is an intern therapist?

An intern therapist is a graduate-level student who is in the process of completing the required coursework and clinical training they need to earn their graduate degree in psychology, marriage and family therapy, counseling or social work. Working under the supervision of a licensed therapist, these individuals are able to apply what they have learned in the classroom to a real-world setting. Intern therapists are involved in providing direct client care, including diagnostic assessments and therapy sessions. Through weekly individual and group supervision, intern therapists receive guidance and feedback throughout their internship to refine their skills, provide competent care, and ensure they meet the standards necessary for licensure.

Advantages to Working with an Intern Therapist

While we certainly want you to feel comfortable with and confident in your therapist’s ability to help you, there are a few benefits to seeing a pre-licensed or intern clinician that you may not have thought about (or are not aware of). Here are just a few of them: 
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1. Frequent supervision (two therapists for the price of one!)

All interns and pre-licensed therapists meet weekly with experienced, licensed clinicians who have formal training in supervising new therapists.  Unlike licensed clinicians, intern therapists are directly accountable to their supervisor for ensuring they provide evidence-based care tailored to each client in their caseload. This means your intern therapist will be talking regularly about your situation with an experienced clinician, putting their heads together to come up with effective interventions to help you reach your therapy goals. In other words, you get two therapists helping you instead of one. 

2. Smaller caseloads = more individualized attention

Interns therapists typically have much smaller caseloads than licensed or even pre-licensed therapists, in order to ensure that they are able to take the time they need to carefully think through and prepare for each session; for example, gathering helpful handouts, doing a quick consult with a more experienced clinician in their office, or paging through books to remind themselves how to approach a certain disorder or situation, and so forth. Even experienced clinicians may admit they miss their newbie days when they had that additional time to prepare for each and every individual client, couple or family.  

3. Curiosity comes easily

When a clinician is new to the field of therapy, there’s a decent chance that most (if not all) of their clients show up with symptoms, experiences, and challenges that the clinician has not encountered before. While this may initially strike you as a bad thing, the reality is that it can be easier for a therapist to stay curious while listening to someone tell their story when they haven’t already met with dozens or hundreds of clients who, on the surface at least, seem similar to this new client. An intern therapist is unlikely to make any assumptions about your situation because they don’t have many other clients to compare you to. While it’s important to note that all therapists do their best to maintain that new-therapist curiosity, it can be easier to do so when you are, in fact, a new therapist. And by staying curious, your therapist is able to ensure that you feel heard and understood as a unique individual navigating your own unique journey through life. 

4. Energy and enthusiasm

After going through several years of schooling, intern therapists are excited to apply or continue building on the extensive education they have received. After all, they got into this field to work with people, and now they finally get to do it! With all of the knowledge they have acquired fresh in their minds as they prepare to launch their new career, the energy they bring to the field is contagious and you will be able to sense their enthusiasm in each session. 

5. Up-to-date knowledge

While many of the basic principles of good therapy have not changed over the decades, it seems there are new approaches and innovations in mental health treatment nearly every year. Intern therapists typically have training in the most recent approaches to the ever-evolving field of psychotherapy, as well as knowledge of the latest research in evidence-based treatments for various mental health conditions.  

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Like the clients they work with, each therapist brings their own unique set of strengths to the work they do. Having an experienced therapist may be the right way to go for some clients, certainly, but pre-licensed clinicians bring with them their own valuable set of qualities and skills that make them worthy of consideration. If you are looking for a new therapist, reach out to our referrals team today to get matched with the right therapist for you. If you are interested in learning more about the internship program at LynLake Centers for Wellbeing, please check out our Internship page. 

Therapists in Minneapolis – LynLake Centers for Wellbeing

LynLake Centers for WellBeing provides integrative therapy and counseling services. Begin your journey to healing and wellness by scheduling an appointment with us today.
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