Students starting their first field course (i.e., seeing clients for the first time) typically experience nerves, confusion, and/or worry. Worry that they won’t be helpful to clients, or don't know enough to provide effective therapy, as well as general anxiety about managing their studies, sessions, and often, the necessary assertiveness required to complete their clinical hours.

An email subscriber in her first field experience emailed me recently to request an article on tips for first-time counselors. In this post, I cover tips that I’ve learned as a therapist and supervisor, as well as those offered to brand- new therapists by members of the Get Refreshed Facebook Group.

Direct quotes from seasoned therapists:

1 | Keep the Faith

"During a particularly challenging internship, I met a licensed therapist who told me: 'When you're done in private practice, it will all be worth it,' and it was. Keep the faith." --Lori

2 | Ask away!

"No question is ever stupid. Ask, ask, and ask again! Your job as a student is to learn, not to know it all. And if someone does minimize your question, go seek out an answer from someone else until you understand." --Noreen

3 | Work on Your “Stuff”

"I always recommend to interns: Start working on your own 'stuff' as soon as possible, if you haven't already. All the education in the world can't stop our own issues from interfering with the help we offer. Walk the path that you are asking others to walk. I had a supervisor who required that his supervisees be actively pursuing their own healing. I am so grateful for that now." --Michael

4 | Embrace Business

"Find your entrepreneur self in whatever work you do. The business side--whether at an agency or private work--can be so exciting and fulfilling." --Jessica

Three tips from me

I've served as a practicum supervisor and professor for five years. The following tips are based on the skills and habits I've come to pinpoint as most necessary for a successful transition to field experience (i.e., practicum and internship).

For the first time in your studies, you are in the driver's seat. This means you have increased flexibility along with increased responsibility. While your professors and site supervisors are committed to your success, accruing your required hours, while managing client and supervisory relationships, are mainly your tasks.

5 | Be Assertive

Ask for what you need. Many times, site supervisors are managing several internship and practicum students, which means they are keeping track of a variety of student requirements. Make sure to meet with your site supervisor regularly, update him/her on your progress, and ask for the information and feedback you need.

6 | Ask for Help

There are times when you may not be able to manage a situation on your own. Ask for help from your site or faculty supervisor, especially when you need someone to advocate on your behalf (after you've advocated on your own behalf). Also, always ask for clinical help via supervision.

7 | Be Intentional

Your initial field experience will most likely serve as a general training ground, where you are exposed to a variety of presenting problems. You'll notice what clinical work you enjoy most, as well as what you appreciate about your site context (private practice, agency, crisis, etc.). Trust yourself. Use this information to choose future internship sites that align with your interests.

Additionally, be intentional in your sessions. This is the time to experiment, try techniques and theories, have fun!

8 | Give Honest Feedback

Most likely, you'll have the opportunity to formally evaluate your site and supervisors during your placement; however, formal evaluation periods should not be the only times you offer or receive feedback. Try to practice ongoing informal evaluation, by asking for what you need, being curious, and requesting clinical direction.

Similarly, redirect supervisors when you need something they are not providing, so that they can make corrections before it's too late. Reading critical feedback in an end-of-term evaluation, when there were opportunities for improvement during the term, can be disheartening for supervisors. Use your budding joining, empathy, and relational skills not only with clients, but also with supervisors, colleagues, and faculty.

9 | Knowledge is Secondary

Your practicum experience will likely heighten feelings of inadequacy about your counseling skills. This is normal. Remember, success as a therapist is not found in doing something for the client, but rather in being someone for the client. Let go of the need to create change, and allow yourself to be present with your clients. What you need any given moment will flow from the presence.

Read, prepare, and learn. But, once you enter the therapy room, let the learning go; don't let it lead. It will return when it's needed. (I recognize this advice may be challenging, so please reach out with any questions.)

10 | Slow Down!

Focus on depth, rather than breadth. The first tip I give practicum students is: Slow down. Ask questions that clarify important information, rather than ones that give you more content. More content can distract you from important dynamics.

Use circular questions, tape your sessions, transcribe your work. These practices tie your clinical ideas to how you verbally participate in sessions.

The Importance of Support

Being a student therapist brings many challenges, including anxiety about providing counseling for the first time, time management, juggling personal and school responsibilities, among others. Before getting started, take some time to plan how you will meet the time demands of your field experiences. Ask for support from significant others, if possible.

Know that sometimes, you'll be surviving to get through. Many of us felt this way through all, or a portion, of our field experiences. Do what you can, when you can, and give yourself some grace.

I have lots of resources to help you in your training stage, including a First Session Checklist, Transcript Template, and Niche List. Register for the free resource library, and gain access to all the downloads:

Let's Chat

If you're a seasoned therapist, what is your #1 tip for student therapists and/or interns?
If you're a student therapist, which tip was most helpful to you?

If you enjoyed this article, please click the share button below.

10 Therapist (and Child)-Approved Activities to Support Kids with Anxiety

If you’re a mental health professional working with children, you will probably agree that many of the calls you receive from parents have something to do with anxiety or stress. Child therapists have the amazingly important yet challenging task of educating and supporting kids in a therapeutic setting that is both productive and fun. When working with children as young as preschool age, it can be a very daunting task to keep things fresh and exciting week after week! So, how do we help children develop the coping skills they need while keeping them engaged (and not glancing at their watch)? Here are ten therapist (and child!)-approved, fun activities that address anxiety-based disorders and promote relaxation and stress reduction in children:

The Art and Science of Therapy as Craft, Part 2: Crafting Questions

For this week's video chat, Dr. AnnaLynn Schooley returns to discuss therapy questions as an intentional craft, and she covers four basic question types: single answer, open, closed, relational, and circular.

Therapist Self-Disclosure Simplified

Self-disclosure is a touchy subject among therapists. Some therapists never self-disclose, while others feel stifled by having a rigid boundary around self-disclosure. As I consider self-disclosure in therapy, I ask myself, “When is self-disclosure appropriate?” “How does self-disclosure deepen the therapist-client connection?"

Solution Focused Brief Couples Therapy Tips, with Elliott Connie

Elliott Connie is a Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) practitioner, author, and speaker. He developed an approach to couples work that distills the essence of SFBT into guiding principles for working with couples.

As a therapist who loves working with couples, I am always interested in ways to enhance my couples therapy skills. For this reason, I invited Elliott to explain the reasons why SFBT is his choice for working with clients, as well as how it creates a contrasting experience for couples that have a history in therapy.

Family of Origin Exploration for the Therapist: How to Create Your Genogram

In article three of the Family of Origin for the Therapist series, you learned 3 simple steps for how to begin family of origin (FOO) exploration: 1) read Bowen’s chapter, 2) observe your FOO experience, and 3) reflect on what you learned. Hopefully, your curiosity has led to significant understanding.

Understanding is the foundation of Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST). Bowen (1985) believed that if clients could understand themselves as members of their FOOs and as created by their histories, they could begin and continue significant change.

In today’s post, I offer the next step in developing understanding: Creating your genogram. I explain how to create a basic genogram that you can expand as you continue your exploration.

5 Tips for Keeping Up with Therapy Paperwork

In my interaction with therapists as a mentor and supervisor, I’ve learned that one of the main struggles therapists face is having too much work and not enough time. Many therapists find themselves overwhelmed by documentation responsibilities, in particular; this includes completing client notes, referrals, billing, treatment plans, etc.

In today’s post, I offer several strategies for keeping up with paperwork, so that you can stay on track and avoid the stress of falling behind.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Client Types, and Their Relevance To Every Session

In her 1989 article, Of Visitors, Complainants, and Customers, Insoo Kim Berg details three types of “client-therapist relationships” (p. 21). Her wording is significant, because she is not labeling clients; she is describing them in terms of their relationship to the therapist, the process of therapy, and the problem. These three relationships have undergirded Solution-Focused Brief Therapy theory and interventions over the years, although they are not consistently discussed in newer works. The client relationship types are widely applicable to therapy, regardless of theoretical orientation, making them one of the most useful concepts in marriage and family therapy.

In this post, I present a review of these client types, and I explain their relevance to and usefulness for all therapeutic sessions.

How to Ethically Offer Coaching as a Licensed Therapist: A Step-By-Step Guide

One of the most common professional goals for my clients is expanding their private practice to include life coaching services. As professionals with a depth of knowledge in personal development and goal achievement strategies, therapists are ideal candidates for the coaching profession. Despite this near perfect fit, there are some important ethical consideration for therapists when offering coaching services alongside therapy, or when choosing to become professional coaches. In this post, I focus on offering solutions for these complications, in an effort to help you ethically practice coaching.

5 Step Plan for De-escalating an In-Session couple Argument

Most of us, therapists, have been there: A simple disagreement turns into an all-out screaming match in the middle of a therapy session. This is, thankfully, not a common scenario for most therapists, but it’s also not rare--especially for therapists who specialize in couple therapy.

In this post, I cover steps for disrupting an argument occurring in a couple therapy session. Intervention on the part of the therapist is necessary during some conflicts, because the arguments can cause further damage in the couple relationship. And, if therapists allow arguments to continue for too long, they can affect the couple’s sense of safety when in therapy.

The main goals of intervention in this case are to: