If you can’t afford
therapy, one option is to work with a student therapist. There are pros and
cons, so here’s a short list of things to take into account when you make your
choices.
Pros
Students tend to be open
to exploring options. That can be good if standard therapy approaches haven’t
worked for you.
Students need hours, so
they tend to favour long sessions. That’s good if you have issues that need
lots of time to address.
It’s free. As students
aren’t qualified, they can’t charge. At least, that’s the rule of thumb in
Malaysia. I am hearing of other countries where students charge money; I find
that very difficult in terms of ethics. See my next points.
Cons
Your student therapist
is still learning, and that has implications. It’s just like asking a student
doctor to give you an injection or medical exam; sometimes they’re terrific and
sometimes they’re a bit clumsy.
As you’re not dealing
with a fully qualified person, your sessions are not private. Your student therapist will be talking about your case with her
supervisor, her tutor back at school, and then the examiner will see the notes
as well. In my school, we were
also asked to present cases we were working on in class. In addition, your case may be
evaluated by a licensing board.
All this checking and double checking is to make sure everything is being done
right.
Should you be worried?
Some student therapists are pretty good about anonymising information and
destroying notes after. Others are not. To be certain, ask for details.
When students do their
practice hours, everything needs to be documented and checked. This is to
prevent fraud. This means contact hours are face-to-face sessions held in the
supervisor’s place of work. This has implications
for you because when the student therapist has completed her hours, she leaves.
To prevent your sessions from halting abruptly, ask your student therapist how
she will plan for this.
If you want online
therapy, this may be difficult: students typically don’t work online or across
borders because of the way hours need to be supervised and documented.
I knew when I was
studying that I wanted to work online so I planned specially for it. I took an
extra course in online therapy. On top of that, I also did an extra project,
working online with overseas clients.
Throughout, I leveraged my Masters Degree supervisors to make sure I was on the
right track and I had an overseas teacher as well. If you want to work online with a student,
just ask how she’s getting her supervisors to work with her.
Note: I’m in Malaysia
and I write from a local perspective. As countries have their own laws governing
licensing and practice, you may have different or additional issues to deal
with.
My advice: if you’re in
doubt about a mental health provider or service, ask your family doctor to
direct you to the proper organisations in your country. Mental
health practitioners know it’s a minefield for the general public to find good
quality help, and they tend to be generous about helping you find someone
proper.
