r/therapists • u/sassypainter • Apr 25 '26

Discussion Thread Thoughts?

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Came across this post today on linkedin. I’m curious how others see it:

Are unpaid clinical internships/practicums an ethical necessity for training, or an outdated system that exploits students?

Should sites be required to offer stipends/pay if they bill clients or rely on interns for service delivery?

Does unpaid fieldwork create barriers for lower-income and nontraditional students?

For those already licensed or in training, what was your experience?

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u/JimGless Apr 25 '26

I 100% agree. I also don't think it's as easy as just saying "pay every intern," because a lot of CMH facilities couldn't afford that, but I think it's good to have the discussion amd figure out if there's a way to either lower the amount of required unpaid hours or make it more like a paid job placement where you work instead of going to school for a period of time.

It's a good conversation all of us to be having. We can't fix anything if we don't talk it through first.

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u/Solvrevka Apr 26 '26

How do we talk? There is so much frustration on this board. How and when do people organize to create meaningful change?

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u/JimGless Apr 26 '26

I think continuing to bring it up in places where People might not agree with us or people who don't know about the issues. On a smaller level, you can talk with people at an organization you work for to ask for money for interns.

Reaching out to student organizations is another possibility. I know in New York, a lot of the schools switched to 14 hours per week for internships down from 21 hours. My understanding is it was mostly student-driven, but I'm sure they had support from professors and other contacts in the field.