What Kind of Training do Counselors and Art Therapists Get?
In graduate training for Counseling and Art Therapy, you take a number of courses related to the theory and practice of Counseling or Art Therapy. Makes sense. In these classes, you learn fairly directly about “doing therapy.” And at Southwestern College, we strongly encourage the instructor of every class to tie the material back to 1) our mission, and 2) doing therapy. Many graduate programs do not have such an emphasis, but we do. That is quite intentional, and our adjunct instructors are active practitioners out in the world and probably saw clients last night. We think the students will learn from people in the trenches. That is the best kind of teaching…Or second best, perhaps—best is doing it yourself…That’s coming next…
Every graduate program in Counseling, Art Therapy, or Psychology also has what is called “Practicum” (I had never heard that word before I got to graduate school, and I still have never heard it anywhere outside of graduate school.) It is your first chance to “see clients”, that is, to do therapy (with YOU as the therapist!) That’s what you came to graduate school for, isn’t it? At least, most of you.
Practicum and Internship in Counseling and Art Therapy
In “Prac”, you “practice” seeing your first clients, who are assigned to you by clinic directors and/or supervisors, generally, who have a sense what you are ready for and what you are probably not yet ready for. (Good thing to know…) So typically, you start off seeing 2 or 3 clients, and study your own work intensively (probably obsessively, though that is not required…) Often you audio tape the sessions and re-listen to them, or video tape them and get to watch yourself work. Yes, of course that makes you nervous, and probably even more so when your supervisor watches it. Don’t worry. Every single grad student since the beginning of time has been nervous about being taped and watched. Most of us take the nervousness in the direction of excitement and a desire to get better rather than in the direction of anxiety and harsh self-criticism. I would strongly recommend the former, although this is not a dichotomous situation. Even the most confident of grad students and counselors have their days when they wonder whether they know what they are doing with a particular client. It is part of the profession. It is actually a good thing to be humble…
The first quarter is strictly individual counseling at Southwestern Counseling Center (one of the most gorgeous training facilities I have ever seen to do Practicum). In the second quarter, you expand to couples and families, and to group work (often somewhere in the Santa Fe Community—it is easy to find out about all the options from Counseling Center staff.) You widen your scope of exposure and experience…
By the way, our Southwestern Counseling Center has art therapy rooms available with art supplies, tables, sinks, as well as sand tray rooms and a play therapy room. Art Therapy students LOVE this, of course…
Internship follows Practicum. Internship at Southwestern College is often split between or among two or three settings, which is great, as it offers great variety and diverse training opportunities. Southwestern Counseling Center, Teambuilders, Artstreet, Ride to Pride, Santa Fe Recovery Center, Santa Fe Guidance Center, Sky Center, Casa Milagra, OffCenter, and many more settings are available in Santa Fe, and many more in Albuquerque, Espanola, Taos and so on. Where you choose to do internship depends largely on your professional and training interests. A number of students also choose to go out of state, back to their home state, or where they hope/plan to move after graduation.
During Practicum and Internship, you receive a great deal of clinical supervision, which is very comforting. It also just makes a lot of sense, since you are still learning the art and science of Counseling and Art Therapy. Many practitioners who have been licensed for years still participate in supervision, either individual or group, just to have a sounding board and to feel the support and camaraderie of other professional.
Most students finish internship in two quarters, though it is not terribly unusual to go a little over that. By the end of the internship, you are ready to get an “LMHC” license, which allows you to see clients out in the world, under supervision. There is so much to learn, so feeling like “I am not quite sure I am ready” is almost inevitable. That is also why you keep getting supervision for two thousand hours of work, and why you are required to take “Continuing Education Credits” your whole career. We all keep on learning…
Even those of us who have been in the field for decades still have many experiences of uncertainty. We are probably a little better at inviting those experiences in for coffee in order to learn what we can learn from them and become better therapists
Some of the most valuable skill sets or personal attributes that a Counselor or Art Therapist can have are 1) a tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity, 2) a highly reduced need to be a know-it-all, a savior, a guru, a person-fixer, or a problem-solver, 3) an appreciation for the inherent growth opportunities in the difficult processes of life, 4) an unwavering belief in the goodness of all beings, and in their capacity to discover/create for themselves, perhaps with your help, the healing path they most need in order to live the life they want to live.
My own experience, quite honestly, is that many graduate programs and clinical supervisors emphasize becoming a “know-it-all, an expert who need only consult “the literature” or “the research” or “the evidence” to know how to handle a situation. I happen to believe strongly that that is an awful way to go. I am all for familiarizing students with our professional literature, but I am MUCH more interested in students developing the skills listed above, and learning to listen to their own inner knowing and wisdom rather than imagine that a smattering of pretty random research results will be your internal GPS for navigating the field. That is just crazy, in my mind. But prevalent in the field.
Unlike the car mechanic, the furnace guy, the acupuncturist, all of whom you kind of expect to diagnose and “fix” the problem, perhaps without your even knowing what exactly they are doing, the therapist does NOT “fix” anything, and is ethically bound to have some variation of informed consent for any “treatment (awful word, but you know what I mean) that he or she provides.
That makes this a funny business. The client is always more of an expert on her or his life (and art) than we can ever be. We learn to see signs, point directions, ask good questions, guide explorations, give feedback, be sounding boards, offer support, challenge when necessary or desirable, and witness the process and, ideally, growth of the person with whom we are workingIt is a noble and holy calling. No wonder it takes such intentional and reflective training. That is what we believe at Southwestern College, anyway…
Jim Nolan, President
Southwestern College, Santa Fe
About the Moderator
Jim Nolan is in his 6th year as president of Southwestern College. He has worked for a dozen universities or colleges, both online and on the ground. He holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, and attended graduate school in English/Irish Literature. He reads a lot of books, takes a lot of photos, plays guitar, got married in India in 2010, and has a wire haired fox terrier named Barney. He is the opposite of a guru, whatever that is called.
