why you should start counseling with an intern

It’s really common to be unsure about starting therapy with an intern.

We get your concerns.

You may wonder if interns have the experience to address the challenges you’re facing, or if their youth (if they’re younger!) limits their understanding of what you might be going through.

You might also be concerned about starting counseling with someone who may not stay at the practice long-term, potentially interrupting your healing journey and requiring you to find a new counselor partway through.

These are all valid thoughts and feelings.

And/but/also, we would be remiss if you left you at that. Here are some really good reasons why working with an intern isn’t as risky as it may seem at first glance:

1) At The Counseling Hub, we pride ourselves on selecting only the best.

Our team of clinical experts and practitioners is carefully curated, ensuring that each member meets our high standards. You can trust that our interns possess:

• Strong references  

• A proven track record of professional experience  

• An impressive academic background  

• Essential qualities such as integrity, maturity, compassion, and thoughtfulness–traits that are vital for effective counseling

Rest assured, you’re in capable hands with our dedicated team.

2) The vast majority of our interns stay with us after their intern experience is over via employment (and we encourage this!).

When we bring interns into the practice, we have and communicate the intention for them to transition into employees once their internship is over. We are not in the business of bringing an intern on for a semester or two and then seeing them out.

The culture of our internship process and employment process is all about longevity and retention. We want quality people who are seeking to become even more excellent than they are when starting with us. As such, it typically results in interns staying with us for a long while, which ends up working out very well for their clients.

3) Research suggests that experience alone is not the primary determinant of a counselor’s effectiveness.

While more seasoned counselors may have accumulated a greater wealth of practical experience and skill, newer counselors often bring fresh perspectives, enthusiasm, and current theoretical knowledge that directly impacts the therapeutic work being done.

Several factors come into play:

• Client-Counselor Relationship
  The “therapeutic alliance,” or the quality of the relationship between the counselor and client, is one of the strongest predictors of positive outcomes in therapy, regardless of the counselor's level of experience. Research consistently supports the idea that the effectiveness of therapy hinges on the strength of the relationship, rather than solely the years of experience. The therapeutic alliance accounts for a substantial portion of the variance in outcomes across different therapists, irrespective of their experience level (Martin, Garske & Davis, 2011).

• Characteristics
  Some studies indicate that certain counselor qualities, such as empathy, warmth, and the ability to create a safe, collaborative environment, play a crucial role in effective therapy. These characteristics can be present in both beginning and seasoned counselors. Therapist empathy significantly predicted better treatment outcomes across different experience levels (Elliott, Bohart, Watson & Murphy, 2018).

• Research Outcomes
  As wild as it sounds, there is no significant relationship between therapist experience and client outcomes (Wampold & Brown, 2006). This indicates that while experience may help refine certain technical skills, it does not necessarily lead to better therapy results on its own.

• Training and Supervision
  Counselors often receive intense supervision and engage in continuous professional development, which can help bridge the gap between experience and skill. This can make them highly effective, especially if they are closely monitored and receive feedback on their work.

• The Dodo Bird Verdict
  The “Dodo Bird Verdict” refers to a phenomenon in psychotherapy research where different therapeutic approaches tend to have similar outcomes. This concept suggests that many of the factors contributing to success in therapy are common across therapists of varying experience levels, such as building trust and rapport, and using evidence-based techniques.

While seasoned counselors may have more clinical experience, research suggests that new counselors can be just as effective due to factors like supervision, the quality of the therapeutic alliance, and the use of current techniques.

The relationship between the counselor and client often outweighs experience in determining therapeutic success.

We hope that this extra bit of information will help assuage any concerns you have a bout working with an intern and, more importantly, help you make an informed decision about moving forward.

We love our interns and are happy to help facilitate quality therapy for our clients.