Last week was a very busy week for me because school had started up again. This means that I am back to juggling school requirements in addition to my three days at the outpatient mental health clinic where I am interning.
In addition, it just so happened that my faculty advisor was scheduled to make an on-site visit to meet with both my supervisor and me. While I was a bit nervous about this visit, it actually went well and I feel that I learned a lot from it.
During the meeting, my advisor (let’s call him M) spent much of the time asking me various questions about the work I was doing in front of my supervisor. Some of the questions he asked were:
- What was the size of my caseload?
- How long had I been working with the majority of my clients?
- What types of diagnoses did these patients have?
- What type of therapy modalities did I employ?
- How did I determine which therapy modality to employ?
- How many groups did I facilitate and what types of groups were these?
- What types of material did I use for the CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) work that I did?
- How many intakes did I do per week?
- Was I involved in the determination of the diagnosing of clients?
- What was the presentation of cases like within the departmental intake discussion?
- What was the criteria for accepting a client into our clinic?
- Was I involved in case management (i.e., filing for SSI on behalf of clients)?
- Am I enjoying my work?
- Are there any aspects of the work that I find particularly challenging?
Later as I reflected back about this meeting, I realized that I should try to remember as many of the questions as I could that M asked me because they are likely to be ones that I would be asked on future interviews for employment. Talking about employment, that day is not so far off because I will be completing my studies at the end of this summer!
Going back to my evaluation, I shared that I was very happy with my placement, the learning experiences that I was getting and my supervision. I also expressed my challenges over being able to identify my counter-transference, my client’s transference or defenses. That said, I felt that the way my supervisor had walked me through my process recording earlier that day helped illuminate the process for me in a whole different way. As a result, I’m hoping that I will now have less of a difficult time in discerning these during a session with a client.
My supervisor concurred with my assessment but also expressed confidence in my ability to surmount this challenge. She shared how she felt that I was a true asset to her/the department and that it will be a true loss once I complete my placement. She described how I have established good relationships with my clients and have been successful at helping them make progress with their respective issues.
She also shared that while I had no clinical experience when I first started, I’m a very quick learner and therefore picked up a tremendous amount in a very short period of time. Finally, she commented on my talent on using a rather eclectic approach in which I use CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and DBT (dialetical behavior therapy) techniques while conducting supportive and/or psychodynamic therapy. In short, I feel that my faculty advisor’s site visit went very well 🙂
Has this been the typical format of your site visits? Are the questions that I was asked the ones that typically get asked of social workers on interviews? Please share your thoughts and comments. I really appreciate them.
Photo Credits:
qthomasbower – Red and White Flower – Fractal Mosaic
Patrick Hoesly – Stars and Nebulas
Sounds very similar to the site visits that I have conducted, Dorlee (when things are going well, that is!).
What sounds really important to me about this visit is it was a chance for you to really see all that you have learned so far and to receive some much earned kudos from your supervisor!
That’s good to know. I never had a proper on site visit last year due to various scheduling issues.
Yes, you are right – it was a good opportunity for me to see how much I have grown…
I’m now remembering another comment made during this visit – my faculty advisor said something like “you now sound like a real therapist who knows what you are doing.”
This is in marked contrast to how I had felt/expressed myself to him shortly after I had just started this internship and had so much to learn.
Thanks so much, Nancy, for your very kind feedback 🙂
Great idea to keep track of the questions for future interviews — and for when you’re a supervisor someday! Special congrats on the comment that “you now sound like a real therapist who knows what you are doing.” Outstanding!! 🙂
Thanks so much, Deb 🙂
It was particularly nice to hear this positive feedback because I tend to focus on what I still have to work on – namely my areas of challenge – and so I almost missed the big picture.
Thanks again,
Dorlee
Hi Dorlee,
As usual, a very interesting post. Great list of questions and I’m impressed that your faculty advisor was that thorough.
I am struck with how well you are doing (not at all surprised,though) and I can’t help but remember last year when you were so concerned about finding the right placement. Sounds to me like you certainly found a great learning experience.
I am reading a book entitled: “The Center Will Not Hold” by Elyn Saks …. whenever you have time to read a book, I think you’d really enjoy it. I heard the woman speak on Charlie Rose during his series on how the brain works. She has schizophrenia and yet went on to get her law degree and become a psychoanalyst. Intriguing story of her life.
By the way- I really like the images you choose to place on your blogs.
Best Wishes Always,
Terry
Dorlee, thanks for this post. It brought back memories of the nervousness surrounding site visits when I was a grad student. It is thrilling and scary to be taken seriously as a professional and as a learner!
It does sound like the visit enabled you to reflect on your learning and work, and also as Nancy mentioned have it pointed out to you how much you have learned and how hard you have worked. Those opportunities can become less structured and formalized as you move into the workforce, so I hope you will save the question list and make yourself fill it out when YOU interview your prospective employers! And later, when you are in the job, it can help you identify populations and work that you may want to try to do more or less of. 🙂
Dorlee,
What a delightful report and update on your career movement!
Somehow I am not surprised that you are a ‘quick learner!’ You seem to successfully and effectively juggle a lot of technical information along with applying that knowledge to the care and nurturing of human beings.
Congratulations on your success journey, thus far. Your intuitive and intelligent methods of navigating this career-transition initiative resonate in your writing!
Whatever full-time employer lands your talent and expertise will be a lucky organization!
Best,
Jacqui
Hi Terry,
Thanks so much 🙂 Yes, I ended up being most fortunate this year in having a terrific placement that really allowed me the opportunity to work on the clinical skills I was so interested in developing.
Also, many thanks for recommending the book “The Center Will Not Hold.” I will make sure to read it! It just so happened that I recently bought that book to read 🙂
Thanks – I’m glad – I try to find nice images to break up the text a bit so that the post does not feel too long to readers.
Best wishes,
Dorlee
Mike, You raise a very important point – advising me to interview my future employers as opposed to just leaving thing in their court and letting them see if I am a good fit for them.
I need to confirm that they are a good for me: that I will be getting good supervision, that I will be getting sufficient opportunities to grow, that I will be getting enough clinical experience, that they are recognized by the powers that be so that my time working at there would qualify towards my hours for the second licensing degree….
Regarding populations that I would like to work with, yes this is something that I still need to figure out.
Thanks so much for raising some of the important issues that I will need to do/consider during future interviews!
Best,
Dorlee
Jacqui,
You are so very kind…Your words of support and encouragement leave me rather speechless.
You’ve been with me, so to speak, for most of my journey via twitter and my blog and in fact, it was your enthusiastic tweeting of my blog about a year ago that slowly pushed me to start blogging on a more regular basis…
That was a wonderful gift because it gave me a forum to truly reflect upon my career transition travels and share this with others who are interested in doing something similar.
It also ended up introducing me to some wonderful career mentors, students and other lovely people who have been most helpful with their advice, guidance and support as I am training to become a social worker.
I guess I wasn’t rendered speechless after all 🙂
With much warmth and appreciation,
Dorlee
That sounds like my first year site visit–normal, appropriate questions, and definitely good ones to keep in mind for future interviews.
My second year site visit was really strange. It was early on, and my supervisor didn’t have me doing anything (literally, no cases) because she felt “motherly” towards me and was worried about my safety on home visits. I thought that a site visit from my advisor would help, but it ust turned into a weird situation where my advisor agreed with my supervisor and they talked about my like I wasn’t there. Very odd.
But I got switched to a new supervisor (that’s another story!) and did some actual work. In my experience, the faculty advisors haven’t done much. The intern I work with now has never had a site visit, and her advisor doesn’t seem to be planning one.
Thanks so much for sharing your feedback as well as some of your own site visit experiences.
That does sound like you had a rather odd situation during the beginning of your second year. I’m so glad that you were switched to another supervisor so that you were able to get a caseload and actual work.
I agree with you that some faculty advisors leave much to be desired but fortunately, there are also many who really care about their students and are available to offer them guidance and advice when needed.
Hopefully, your intern’s advisor will turn out to be one of the good ones, albeit late in the process 🙂
Thanks again,
Dorlee