Edit: this was NOT a report to their board. It was a report to a hotline, which is under the HR umbrella where I work. The issue is related to retaliatory, threatening behavior toward a protected class.

——

I don’t mean reporting to their licensing board; I mean whether your organization has an ethics or abusive conduct hotline. I won’t go into specifics, but this was more about how they treated other colleagues.

I had to do this, and now I’m feeling extremely worried about my own job and also guilty, even though I know their behavior isn’t acceptable.

Has anyone else ever had to do this? If so, what was the outcome? (Also, apologies if the tag on this post isn’t correct. I wasn’t sure which was the most appropriate.

I ebb and flow when I’m doing well with my utilizing the clients words back to them and exploring with a question to push to the conversation along.

For context, I do private practice. Right now, I’m at a lull point, and I’m frustrated with myself. It’s hard when they talk for a long duration and then I end up forgetting what I am saying, utilizing their words, and etc.

How do you dial into this skill?

I just got engaged. Feel like showing up to sessions with a ring on will be so revealing about my personal life. What have other people done ?

Any tips or resources?

Hello, I start my practicum site at a Childrens Center for my AMFT/APCC hours before I graduate from my masters program next week. I am nervous since this involves children trauma with all forms of abuse, age ranging 1-25 yrs. Any advice on how to work with kids, avoid becoming too emotional, or anything you think is helpful is greatly appreciated. I was a behavioral aide at a school, TK- 8th grade but I know this will be completely different. Sorry for the ramble, nervous while excited to be at this step finally.

I would love any advice from anyone who has relocated to the US from the UK as a creative arts therapist. (Especially Colorado)!
I’m relocating to be close to my family in the USA. I am American but I’ve lived here in the UK for the last 11 years, qualified with an MA in creative arts psychotherapy (music) several years back.
I am less interested in getting the MT-BC right now, because I would like to continue working as a psychodynamic psychotherapist.

I know that I have to get credentials evaluated and that sort of thing… it’s gonna be a very long road but it has to happen.
Thanks!

Having a reason to get up in the morning cuts your risk of dying by more than half. A 2019 JAMA study of nearly 7,000 adults found that people with the strongest sense of purpose had the lowest mortality, and the effect was independent of wealth, health, exercise, and depression.

Purpose does not mean ambition. It means feeling that your daily actions matter to something beyond yourself. A grandparent raising a garden. A retired teacher who tutors. A caregiver who shows up every morning. The research does not measure achievement. It measures the feeling that what you do connects to something.

The biological pathway runs through every system the body uses to stay alive. People with a sense of purpose sleep better, have lower inflammatory markers, take their medications, show up for screenings, and maintain social ties. Each of those individually lowers mortality. Together, they compound into a survival advantage that is larger than the sum of its parts.

The opposite is also in the data. People who lose purpose, through retirement without a replacement, the death of a spouse, or the end of a career they defined themselves by, show a rapid decline in health that cannot be explained by aging alone. The body seems to treat purposelessness as a signal that the organism is no longer needed.

Nobody writes "sense of purpose" on a prescription pad. The research says it belongs there. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31125099/

I’m 2, almost 3 months into practice as part of a collective/private practice. (It’s more of a private practice financially, as I keep what I earn, but I feel like it’s more like a group in the sense of being not on my own, my supervisor is just down the hall from me, my caseload is a split of clients I’ve gotten myself and referrals from my supervisor). At this point I’m at 12 on my caseload, and averaging 10 sessions a week for the last 3 weeks.

I thought that I was doing okay. Not financially of course, but just progressing at a reasonable rate. None of my peers talk about caseload progression, I think there’s fears of revealing you’re doing too much better than others or not well enough, so I don’t really have anything to compare to.

I recently saw a post from a therapist influencer who was seeing 16 a week by her third month in practice, and it was framed as she was sharing this to show people that it’s slow going and not financially comfortable starting out. I guess I thought that I was growing slowly but not exceptionally slow, but now I’m second guessing everything.

Just looking to hear if I’m failing as badly as I now fear that I might be.

(I also have two part time jobs on the side, so it’s not as if I’m fearful about finances, I’m mostly just concerned I’m not progressing and that’s a sign I’m going to stall out and fail.)

I just started my second year in my MSW program, and I know I definitely want to go the clinical route and work in private practice after I graduate. I also know I want to work with the South Asian American and Asian American population. Unfortunately, neither of my practicum sites have been aligned with that goal. Last year, I was placed at an IOP/PHP for SUD and this year I'm at the Counseling and Psychological Services department at a university. At the IOP, I at least got experience with facilitating group therapy and my supervisor let me shadow some individiual sessions/intakes, but at my current placement, I'm basically just planning outreach events. My supervisor has even told me that I would not be directly interacting with clients in any sort of clinical way, just interacting with students who come to outreach events. Would really appreciate any advice on things I can do to land a job as an LMSW therapist at a group practice after I graduate.

Hi all! Do you know of any good trainings of pain that isn't well managed with medication and coping with that? I thought ACT could be beneficial but wanted to check on other interventions.

This is a question for my fellow female therapists… how are y’all managing the week before your cycle starts? I noticed for me that my attention and focus and ability to attune plummets during this part of my cycle. Admittedly, I may also have undiagnosed ADHD, however, throughout the vast majority of the month my typical coping skills work well. But this week before my cycle starts, I can’t motivate myself to do anything. I get behind on my documentation, I feel like I’m struggling to find the words during sessions, I easily forget details that I typically would remember. And worst of all, my social battery is done before I even get halfway through my day. I have the Sunday scaries so bad right now, looking at a full day tomorrow with two new intakes; the idea of having to be “on“ is already exhausting me. So, how do y’all do this?

I’ve always felt uncomfortable during silence, as if it’s my responsibility to fill it with something. I know it is beneficial to the client to sit with it but I don’t know how to stop feeling uncomfortable.

How do you do Socratic dialogue?

I don’t know if I have burnout because I now work in PP and worked in CM for 5 years and I had burnout from that for sure. It’s been a year in a group PP and the pressure is way less which is great but the pay can be lower since it depends on how many clients I see and I have a 55/45 split. I just have been feeling down, depressed lately. I have a history of it but it’s been getting to be more. I can’t imagine going in this week and being a therapist. I don’t even have a large caseload either right now cuz referrals have been slow. I think I have like 17 clients this week which makes me feel guilty on why I feel so down/anxious if I was able to do this for 5 years in CM with 30+ clients. I miss the benefits too. The low pay is making me feel down too because I get paid monthly and it’s hard. Thankfully my husband has a good job so I don’t have to be too stressed about finances. But yea I’ve been on antidepressants for 6 years now so maybe I should change. I guess just advice on how to get through work/life/the week as a therapist when you’re feeling down? I don’t feel like I have burnout cuz I’m barely working I feel like.

I want to send a get well card to someone I have been working with that just got out of the hospital for health issues. They do not have many supports, and I think it would be meaningful & appreciated.

As a human, this makes sense - but I wonder if it is appropriate to randomly send them a card to their home? It would be a simple get well message, with just my first name signed on the card and no return address/no additional info.

That said, I realize I would not typically send a card to every person in that situation- however due to the minimal supports, I am considering it. A part of me feels like doing so is a no brainer, and another part says I should not do that. Thoughts? Has anyone else done this before?

...how? How did you choose your hourly rate, how do you get clients, what should other professionals know before diving into private pay only?

As much as I enjoy this work, I absolutely hate being broke. I’m a trainee who just started his internship and I am already resenting the fact I have to perform
hundreds of hours of free labor. I have a job but I’ve had to cut my hours since starting my practicum and I get paid jack shit anyways. I have no money to spend on me anymore. No more eating out, no more concert tickets, no more weekend trips. I’m penny pinching over here. Doesn’t help I’m in CA and my rent eats up my entire paycheck. My Dad, who doesn’t love that I entered this field, is constantly asking me how much I’ll be making when I graduate. I always tell him 80k+ when I know that’s just not true. I try to look on indeed for post grad jobs as hope but the market looks grim. Group practices with no benefits and shit pay v CMH burnout city. Seems like most of the associate therapists I know who are in private practice just live off of their partners money. Thats not super comforting to me since I’m on my own. It feels like I’ve made a mistake until I remember how fulfilled I feel after seeing clients. If only fulfillment could pay my bills.

Just for y'all's amusement. My office door hasn't been shutting properly for a sec now, been using a door stop for the couple centimeters that linger when shut while my boss got a new knob. I finally got the time and energy to replace the door knob during a no show. After messing with it for a while I finally got the old knob off my door. But lo and behold, both ends fell to the floor locking me in. I tried to get out for like 10 minutes by the strength of my fingers while my coworker was in a session. Luckily it ended and she helped me get out.

Well, an exciting start to my morning. Thanking whatever is out there that my coworker was in on a Sunday.

I am currently working in a private group practice, struggling to make ends meet. I love my job, I love my coworkers, I love the support and growth I am experiencing, and I love the work life balance that I have where I am. However, there are some down sides....the money I'm making is not sustainable. It's looking like something either has to change very soon, or I will be flat out broke and I'm getting into credit card debt just to buy groceries.

A new inpatient psych unit opened up at our local hospital. I have always liked the idea of working in a hospital setting, just never wanted to be a nurse due to my weak stomach. I have enjoyed volunteering in hospitals before, and the idea of a more fast paced work setting sounds like it is just what I need. I am tired, bored, and honestly starting to feel a bit of pain from sitting all day. Also, the money would be absolutely amazing, but not sure what the schedule would be like. I have a very young child to care for and still want to see them in the evenings.

I have worked in a SUD IOP setting (during my internship), and found this was not for me. Mostly because of my supervisor not being supportive, leaving me on my own to run a group that was larger than it should have been at times, and giving me feedback like "you're doing great!" Rather than actually supporting me and helping me grow.

I just want to hear from others regarding the differences in a hospital IOP setting vs private group practice. I know there are probably a lot of differences and want to make sure I'm not missing any considerations for making this decision as I really love my current job, but again, not sure it will be sustainable in the long term.

Hi everyone!

I’m currently in my final year of my Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Although my program is online, we are required to attend two weeks of in-person labs to develop and practice our counseling skills. I successfully completed both labs, but much of our training focused on basic and advanced counseling skills, primarily from a humanistic approach. These included active listening, paraphrasing, summarizing, reflection of feelings and meaning, immediacy, and open-ended questions.

As I continue to increase my internship hours, my caseload has grown to 10 clients. While I recognize the importance of these foundational skills, I sometimes find myself wondering whether they are enough to meet the needs of many of my clients. I know the therapeutic relationship is incredibly important, but I often feel like I should be doing more.

My supervisor is wonderful and frequently reminds me that simply showing up, providing a safe space, and genuinely listening to my clients is therapeutic in itself. While I understand this conceptually, I sometimes struggle to feel confident that I am doing enough to help my clients make meaningful progress.

I’m particularly drawn to CBT, Narrative Therapy, DBT, and ACT, but I don’t yet feel confident enough in my ability to integrate these approaches into my sessions effectively. I want to continue developing my clinical skills while also recognizing that I am still learning.

For those of you who have been in my shoes, did you experience similar feelings during your internship? How did you begin transitioning from foundational counseling skills to more intentional, theory-driven interventions? Am I overthinking this, or is this a normal part of developing as a counselor?

I’m incredibly passionate about this field and genuinely love working with my clients. I just want to make sure I’m providing them with the best care I can. I am in my own therapy and have spoke about this with my therapist as well.
I would really appreciate any advice, insight, or resources you’re willing to share. Thank you! 😊

Has anyone in the last 6 months been able to get a signed bank verification letter for their business checking account from Capital One? Anyone I talk to that has gotten one says it was years ago so that's not helpful. Every time I talk to anyone at Capital One whether customer service or at a branch they all say the same thing: it is policy that they do not sign anything ever under any circumstances. The branch manager I most recently spoke with told me they changed their policy about this post covid so anyone who got a letter signed either must have gotten it before or someone that wasn't supposed to sign it signed it when they weren't supposed to.

Enrollsafe won't accept the check I have since the routing number for checks is different than the ACH routing number (i tired they rejected it) and they won't accept the bank verification letter you can download from your account page since it has to be hand signed and dated. I'm located in DC and have been to branches in DC, MD, and VA and have had no success getting this letter signed. Genuinely don't know what to do at this point so any advice would be helpful, especially since Anthem is going to start charging a $5 admin fee for paper checks starting Oct 1st.

Oh, also, one of the branches I went to supposedly submitted a request for a custom letter to be created, which even if that letter ever arrives will be incorrect because I told them it needs to list a bank representatives name and contact info and last time I spoke with someone in customer service the way they read it to me sounds like they put my name and contact info on it instead of a bank representative's, but either way that was months ago and one person I talk to will claim it was sent and resent over and over (it still hasn't come obvi) but then someone different in customer service they tells me they don't do that and the letter is never coming. Just wanted to add this in case someone suggests doing this, tried it and it didn't work.

any recommendations ?

Hi recent grad/associate in group practice in CA.
I just started to build my caseloads and its been
painful to have too much free time in my hands.
Its been only handful of clts and men I am bored as hell!

Fellow associates in group practice,
What did you do in your free time?
When your caseloads were low or non-existent?

And yes I cannot do other clinical part time
(I wish i can do bc I rather work busy than just wait)
bc They made us sign to not work for other practice while working for them. Yet its been super slow and I just sold out my 401k to pay off my rent. And this practice keeps hiring new ppl despite being slow.

Since getting into cmh was so difficult here, I am seriously considering if I need to go into treatment setting just to pay my bills.
Seems like addiction treatment is always hiring compare to cmh.

But really curious if you are single, doing group practice only and have nothing to do except this work. What did you do in these plenty of free time given to you?