Are you starting your school psychology internship this upcoming school year? Your internships might be one of the hardest parts of your school psychology career. Applying theory with actual students and staff is challenging. You’ll do things that are part of the real job that have real consequences. You may feel nervous going into the unknown, but you’re learning. You’re not expected to get everything 100% correct or perfect.
My mistake: Not Seeking Out Opportunities to Expand My Skill Set
During my internship, I didn’t seek out enough opportunities to expand my skill set. The grad school program I took didn’t put a huge emphasis on counseling. I still don’t always feel confident when I’m asked to do counseling. I should have been proactive in this skill because I didn’t get that experience in grad school. I had the opportunity to become the preschool mental health consultant, but I didn’t seek this out. I don’t know if I would have sought out more opportunities to do other things. There’s a difference between waiting for opportunities and creating the opportunity for yourself. Sometimes you have to break out of your comfort zone. My comfort zone was definitely elementary school, but you never know where life will take you. I had to take an opportunity at the middle school with no middle school experience. I avoid middle school like the plague because I didn’t want to work there. I spent 70% of my career in middle schools. I spent 50% of my career exclusively at a middle school.
What should you do: Create opportunities to work on the things you didn’t get in school.
If you’re starting your internship, the best thing you can do is reflect on what you want to know more about. If you want to know more about self contained classrooms, ask your supervisor to get involved. If you want to do more evaluations, ask for more. The only thing you can do is ask and the worse thing they can say is no. Seek out opportunities to get involved, don’t wait for them to happen. I was lucky that opportunities popped up, but I wasn’t going out of my way to create anything for myself. My suggestion for you is to anticipate what you would want your future role as a school psychologist to be. Ask opportunities to fill in gaps or expand your existing skill set. Even if you have to shadow someone, try to observe and do as much as you can while you can.
My mistake: Working an intense job during my internship.
I put a fair amount of effort into looking for paid intern opportunities. I could have moved home to save money. Many people do this and this is a good option. For me, there were no opportunities for paid internships in my hometown. I also considered doing my internship part time, but the grad school advisor convinced me not to. I don’t regret that decision, however, I got so burnt out trying to do it all. I didn’t even go into the field until 2 years later, so as far as the career timeline, it would have been the same.
I should have quit my job and done something less intense. It didn’t help that my job at the time was a toxic and hostile workplace. My supervisor was an unethical jerk who made my job unnecessarily difficult. I put up with it because of the pay, but at the end of the day the strain on my mental health wasn’t worth it? My mom says it was my training ground. The skills I gained navigating that toxic workplace were valuable. That part wasn’t worth the hassle.
Trust me, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to navigate workplace politics.
What should you do: Do what you can to make your internship your primary focus.
Times are different now and there are more paid intern opportunities. Districts are desperate and looking for strong candidates. You may even graduate into your first position if you do well. While they may not always pay full salary, this is something that you should pursue if you can. Treat your school psych internship as a full-time job, even if it’s not.
If you can’t get a paid internship and/or still need to support yourself, try to find ways of saving money. You might have to move back home for the year, or get roommates. You might even have to do a two year part time internship. I didn’t doggedly pursue these as options, even though I wish I had. Part of it was pride and part of it was circumstance. If you have no choice but to work during your internship, you do what you have to do.
You can do something that doesn’t drain your energy and/or consume your time. It might be retail or Doordash or something less strenuous. These weren’t necessarily options during my internship. If you find yourself getting maxed out, don’t be afraid to let that job go and focus on your internship. I didn’t have kids or a partner at the time. All I had was my anxious escape artist German Shepard, Leilani. I had the time and energy to hustle like crazy. Hustle was all I knew, but it wasn’t worth it in the grand scheme of things.
If I could have done this over again, I would have gone back to tutoring or something less taxing on my brain and energy. Juggling the two different roles on top of working in a toxic workplace was hard. It did give me the skills to advocate, manage my time wisely, and handle case management like a boss. But you don’t need to go through the career Hunger Games to learn those lessons.
My mistake: Not setting boundaries.
Setting boundaries is an ongoing process for me. There are times I do well and other times where I let things go. My burnout was due to a lack of solid boundaries and also failing to enforce what little boundaries I did have. My boundaries were always flexible and I was passive aggressive about enforcing them. I had a toxic need to please people. I didn’t get clear on my boundaries until my second year at the middle school, 4 years into my career. I had no choice because I would have end up with too much on my plate. Having clear boundaries is what helped survive a toxic workplace in 2023.
When BIPOC set boundaries in predominantly white spaces, they’re often seen as difficult. This can be especially true for Black women. I’ve been called out for “not being a team player” on multiple jobs. They might use that as a justification for them mistreating and disrespecting us. For me, that was code for “Do more outside of your contracted hours.” For a while, I wanted to do everything possible to get people to like me.
I had to learn that setting boundaries wasn’t about being combative or confrontational. I was afraid of being the mad Black woman. If you believe that and you don’t speak up, that’s how people keep you silent. It’s about prioritizing your needs over others discomfort. You can be gentle, but direct. You can push back without being combative. It’s not always about confronting people verbally. I know I still struggle with this, but I’m not afraid to send a strongly worded email. In fact, even if I do speak to someone verbally, I follow up with an email. It pays to keep the receipts. I learned this lesson the hard way. Boundaries are one of the most important things you can establish early on in your career.
What should you do: Set boundaries
This is a lot easier said than done, but “No” is a complete sentence. Now, most people have some sort of reaction when they are told “No” so I often offer a “No, but…” You can still be clear, concise, and direct without offending other people. You also don’t always have to justify why a “no” is a “no”, but you’ll come off nicer if you do.
To set boundaries, you need to write down your non-negotiables. This means you need to set boundaries for yourself before you set them for other people. Don’t get into the habit of writing reports after school and at night if you don’t want to do that in your actual career. Don’t take on more than you can handle and speak up when things get to be too much. When someone violates your boundary, guide them back to the line. You don’t need to be rude or “mean”, but you do need to be concise and direct. You will have to remind people of the boundary, but it’s better than saying nothing. If you say nothing, they will continue to overstep. You don’t want to let your feelings fester into resentment. It’s hard to work with people you feel resentment towards, trust me.
Making mistakes during the internship is more like an opportunity for learning. During your internship, make as many mistakes as you can. Don’t see it as a failure, see it as a chance to grow and learn. See your internship as a chance to take risks that you can’t always take once you’re on your own. There will be very few times in your life where you can have someone mentoring you and guiding you. Plus, I made all the mistakes so you wouldn’t have to!