Clinical Internships at BPAR

What is the purpose of BPAR's clinical internship?

The internship experience as part of a graduate counseling or social work program is designed to provide students with practical training experience enabling them to apply their learned theoretical knowledge in real counseling experiences with clients. BPAR's internship experience is closely supervised by licensed professionals in order to ensure direct feedback and oversight of the clinical work being conducted by interns. For BPAR, having interns conduct their field training within our organization provides us a unique opportunity to educate future providers in working with members of the adoption constellation, an important part of our organization’s mission. For our client community, having interns facilitate counseling additionally allows us to offer lower-cost services, which helps to reduce the cost burden of receiving specialized services for some.

Why is there a need for a clinical internship?

Direct clinical experience in an internship setting is essential learning for counselors and social workers. Beyond theories that students read in textbooks, counseling skills require essential communication and interpersonal skills that are most effectively developed through practice in real-world settings. So much of the counseling experience is built on relationship development between the counselor and client; students need the opportunity to learn about themselves and how they show up when they sit with others.

What makes BPAR’s internship unique?

The community that we serve at BPAR offers a unique and important opportunity for learning for our interns. The adoption experience, in particular the post-adoption experience, is not often addressed in graduate training programs. Many new clinicians enter the field without ever having direct education or exposure to the complex and unique challenges that face members of the adoption constellation. This lack of awareness and education can at a minimum cause counselors to not ask important questions or minimize the adoption experience, and at worst potentially cause harm by misinterpreting or invalidating important adoption-related issues clients face.

What makes you most proud of our internship program?

Personally, the level of supervision and training that we provide interns is what I feel most proud of. While students have a direct supervisor responsible for their 1 hour weekly supervision, our team as a whole is dedicated to supporting, encouraging, and educating our clinical interns. We have a strong commitment to learning as an organization, and that prioritization is made really clear in the ways we organize our training from our thorough interview process, to onboarding, to case assignment and supervisor availability. I, as well as other team members, have had supervisory experiences elsewhere that were really excellent, and some that were really poor–we often hear unfortunate stories about lack of oversight, unavailable supervisors, disorganization, etc. from other internship placements. So, here at BPAR we strive to operate our program with the utmost care and respect to our educational responsibilities to students.

How do you partner with local universities to find intern candidates? What kind of connections do you have with each graduate program throughout an internship year?

1. Over the past few years, we’ve done some intentional networking with local university mental health counseling programs. In the past, interns were often from schools where our staff were alumni, so those relationships were already built. In an effort to diversify our reach, we’ve spoken to a number of Boston-area field training departments and built relationships with them so they better understand our mission and can send candidates our way. Throughout the year, we have ongoing communication with the graduate programs where we have active interns. With our other university affiliations, we generally are in contact annually to update contact information and criteria for future candidates.

What do you look for when you interview prospective interns?

Our internship program requires a lot of our students; they carry a significant amount of responsibility and we have high expectations around their initiation, independence, and discernment for when they might need additional support or education. We typically seek applicants who have had some experience in mental health or adjacent fields where they have developed introductory skills of being with and building relationships with others. Additionally, we are always open to applicants who have a personal connection to adoption, or a specific interest or motivation to learn about adoption specific therapy, as our clients benefit so greatly from clinicians who really understand their lived experiences.

How does the BPAR clinical staff support each intern?

The biggest way clinical staff support our interns is through their availability and generosity in sharing their knowledge and experiences in the field. Our clinical team is always open to provide consultation to our interns, which gives them a wide variety of clinical perspectives, learning about thoughtful and engaging interventions to try with clients, and ongoing access to new resources.

Can you describe an intern’s typical week?

Interns are typically onsite 3-4 days per week, accumulating about 22-24 hours weekly depending on their specific school requirements. During that time, interns are considered full members of our team, participating in individual supervision, peer supervision, clinical case consultations, and staff meetings. Our interns will generally carry a caseload of between 8 to 10 individual or family clients, to whom they provide direct counseling services and some case management including collaboration with outside providers, schools, and family members. Interns also participate in our group programming, often co-facilitating current groups or offering new group opportunities for our clients. Our interns are trained in our intake process, and often speak to potential clients about the services that we offer at BPAR. In their downtime, interns are responsible for maintaining up-to-date clinical documentation, treatment planning and engagement in training opportunities.

Has the internship evolved over the years, and if so how? Do you envision any changes in the future?

The two biggest evolutions I’ve seen in our internship program over the last few years is an increase in the number of interns we’ve been able to support, and the overall organization and structure of the program. As a small agency, we started off just taking one intern each academic year. In recent years as we’ve grown we’ve been able to support two interns through the academic year. While that’s not possible every year, I believe having a co-intern offers students an important element of shared experience and peer support. It has also enabled us as an agency to serve more clients. Valuable feedback we’ve received from past interns has additionally helped us to better structure our training. We’ve developed a comprehensive onboarding program for new interns that set them up for success as they begin seeing clients.

What kind of feedback have you had from past interns?

Here are some examples of feedback we've received at the conclusion of internships.

"I would highly recommend this internship. The supervision provided is exceptional, offering a wide range of learning opportunities that are invaluable for professional development. There was a large range of backgrounds, ages, severity levels of clients, and needs which helped me grow enormously. The people here are incredibly generous with their time, always willing to share their expertise and guidance. This is not the case in all internship environments, so I feel grateful. This supportive environment not only enhances skill set but also fosters a deep understanding of the field."

—Carolyn Brazil

"I can’t imagine a better first outpatient therapist experience. I was able to accomplish all that I wanted to accomplish (experience working with individuals, groups, and families), learn a great deal about the adoptee population, bond with and develop connections that I will never forget with the staff and clients."

—Rebecca Elowe

What kind of feedback have you had from graduate programs?

Feedback received from graduate programs have mostly come from conversations with student’s field training instructors (these instructors facilitate group supervision on-campus in conjunction with the student’s field training experience). In student evaluations and upon receiving request for internship placements, we’ve received positive feedback about the excellent supervision students report receiving at BPAR, as well as the contributions our interns have been able to make to their group supervision classes, by providing peer-mentorship and education to other students who might be counseling members of the adoption constellation at other placements.