Clinical Work Experience vs Clinical Volunteer Experience

[skeptastic]

I am a 37-year-old, non-traditional student with three children, a wife, a mortgage, etc. I left my most recent job (on good terms) to go back to school due to inflexible work hours (60+ hours per week). My intent was to find a job that fit a school schedule, which it looks like I may have just accomplished. I'm trying to make sure that I maximize my time, given my very non-trad situation and the need to earn income, enjoy EC's, and take classes.

I just landed an interview for a residential counselor position. While this will offer clinical experience, I'm wondering if working 40 hours per week in a clinical setting while taking a full course load will be fine for the clinical portion of a medical school application, or will adcoms still want to see clinical volunteering? I have a volunteer position in the ED that I'm about to start soon but it isn't very involved (providing blankets, water, etc). I do understand that non-clinical volunteering is also important, which is why I feel as though working in a clinical setting and volunteering in a clinical setting might be redundant. I'd rather fit in some non-clinical volunteering where the ED volunteering would have been scheduled, if I am to work in a clinical setting.

I'm curious about whether adcoms prefer clinical volunteering in addition to clinical work exprience, or whether they'd rather see you spend additional volunteer time in different arenas. @Goro @gyngyn @LizzyM, any insight? Should I take the clinical work as a means of providing for my family and get some non-clinical volunteering in? Will the clinical volunteering still be of benefit as well, or does the clinical work experience make clinical volunteering redundant?

I feel like if I were to do clinical volunteering, hospice might be a better choice, as the ED volunteering I did during training didn't seem like something I'd gain a lot from as a person. I initially signed up for the ED volunteering because it was available and I needed an opportunity but with this clinical work being somewhat likely, it will offer me more relevant experience (or so I think).

Thank you in advance for any help.

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[LizzyM]

Not sure what "residential counselor" is. Are you working with patients? How often do the residents see a physician? Will you, as a counselor, have interactions with physicians?

this might not be a clinical position. Therefore, a clinical volunteer position in ED or hospice might be a very good idea.
With three kids, you might have opportunities, too, to do a little bit of community service through your kids: coaching or leading kids' activities, for example, or being involved in your children's school.

 

[persistenceofmemory]

I was in the same position! I was in a "competitive" volunteer program at UCSD, and I dropped out the first 20 hours. They make you do "busy work", like guiding lost people to the elevator/bathroom, running labs, and mostly a lot of sitting. It was not rewarding, especially as a non-trad. Plus, they are mostly undergrad/ high school students so it's more of a big deal to them.

I am therefore going to pursue hospice or unique humanitarian work, which I believe will be much more rewarding. 🙂

 

[skeptastic]

Not sure what "residential counselor" is. Are you working with patients? How often do the residents see a physician? Will you, as a counselor, have interactions with physicians?

this might not be a clinical position. Therefore, a clinical volunteer position in ED or hospice might be a very good idea.
With three kids, you might have opportunities, too, to do a little bit of community service through your kids: coaching or leading kids' activities, for example, or being involved in your children's school.

I apologize for not detailing more about the position. My role as a residential counselor would be to provide clinical treatment and management for residential services clients in a mental health facility. This includes coordinating and monitoring their daily activities, implementing treatment plans set by clinical management staff, and so forth. This includes life skills development, transportation of residents when needed, admissions and discharges, monitoring client whereabouts, holding group meetings, helping residents transition from inpatient to outpatient living, observing changes in the mental state of clients, etc.

Basically, you're a pretty low-level employee at a mental health facility, dealing exclusively with the inpatient residents. The position is also known as psychiatric aide, mental health aide, and some other titles.

Here is a link that explains the position pretty well:

31-1013.00 - Psychiatric Aides

 

[skeptastic]

I was in the same position! I was in a "competitive" volunteer program at UCSD, and I dropped out the first 20 hours. They make you do "busy work", like guiding lost people to the elevator/bathroom, running labs, and mostly a lot of sitting. It was not rewarding, especially as a non-trad. Plus, they are mostly undergrad/ high school students so it's more of a big deal to them.

I am therefore going to pursue hospice or unique humanitarian work, which I believe will be much more rewarding. 🙂

I hear you. I do think that you can learn a lot by observing the environment in an ED. Also, communicating with patients in any form us a great way to build comfortability with those interactions. I was really just thinking that if I found a job that offered clinical experience, ED volunteering, in particular, might not make the best use of the limited time I will have between work, family, classes, and volunteering.

We're all going to be busy in one way or another. I just want to make sure I'm not doubling up on things when I could be broadening my horizons, you know?

 

[persistenceofmemory]

Yes, exactly! It was great to observe the hospital environment-- but I figured finding a more interactive shadowing program/clinical work would make better use of the crunched time as a post-bacc. Good luck to you!

 

[skeptastic]

Yes, exactly! It was great to observe the hospital environment-- but I figured finding a more interactive shadowing program/clinical work would make better use of the crunched time as a post-bacc. Good luck to you!

Indeed! Thank you and best of fortune to you as well!

 

[LizzyM]

It might have been better to describe this to us as a psychiatric aide. Residential counselor can also mean you are working in a boarding school or with kids within the criminal justice system, etc. That's a good job and it does give you some exposure to seriously ill patients under the care of a psychiatrist but it might be a good idea to have a volunteer gig that puts you in the proximity of physically ill people... ED is popular for that because it can be short-staffed and it is open 24/7. As with any volunteer activity, you need to be proactive and look/ask for things to do. As a more mature volunteer compared with teenagers and one who is more physically agile than older adult volunteers, you may be tapped for more responsibility than stocking shelves.

 

[Goro]

It might have been better to describe this to us as a psychiatric aide. Residential counselor can also mean you are working in a boarding school or with kids within the criminal justice system, etc. That's a good job and it does give you some exposure to seriously ill patients under the care of a psychiatrist but it might be a good idea to have a volunteer gig that puts you in the proximity of physically ill people... ED is popular for that because it can be short-staffed and it is open 24/7. As with any volunteer activity, you need to be proactive and look/ask for things to do. As a more mature volunteer compared with teenagers and one who is more physically agile than older adult volunteers, you may be tapped for more responsibility than stocking shelves.

Agree 100%

 

[skeptastic]

It might have been better to describe this to us as a psychiatric aide. Residential counselor can also mean you are working in a boarding school or with kids within the criminal justice system, etc. That's a good job and it does give you some exposure to seriously ill patients under the care of a psychiatrist but it might be a good idea to have a volunteer gig that puts you in the proximity of physically ill people... ED is popular for that because it can be short-staffed and it is open 24/7. As with any volunteer activity, you need to be proactive and look/ask for things to do. As a more mature volunteer compared with teenagers and one who is more physically agile than older adult volunteers, you may be tapped for more responsibility than stocking shelves.

Thank you for your reply. I’d never heard of that title being held by anyone other than a mental health aide. Pardon my confusion.

I agree with you that some time spent helping with physically sick patients would be of additional benefit and will try to keep the ED volunteering hours scheduled, no matter how busy my schedule is. It really all depends on whether I get the job or not.

Thank you again for your time.

 

[skeptastic]

Checking into this thread with an update, now that seven months have come and gone.

I did end up landing the residential counselor (psychiatric aide) position and put in 770 hours before leaving the job and moving out-of-state. I counseled mental health clients, administered medication, engaged in a ton of de-escalating conversations, was on suicide watch more than a few times, called 911 a few times due to strong threats of suicide by residents of the facility, and there were a ton of smells. Much, much more pungent smells than anything I'd witnessed during my ED volunteering. There was not a physician in our unit, but a few on campus who regularly saw our residents, changed their medication/dosages/treatment plans, etc. I'd like to think that this was a clinical experience, especially as it relates to psychiatry.

I also did go ahead and volunteer in ED of a local hospital, completing 125.5 hours before moving out-of-state. Lots of amazing conversations with patients and guests in the waiting area, providing blankets, food, assisting with transportation of patients during discharge, cleaning rooms, and so forth.

Does my time as a residential counselor/psychiatric aide sound like clinical experience to the adcoms on the forum? @Goro @LizzyM @gyngyn

Thanks for any insight you can offer. I'm absolutely going to keep volunteering in a clinical capacity, though at different locations since we've moved out of state. My job will not be clinical, as I wanted something easy and flexible, allowing for a lot of time to volunteer, study, and spend time with my family. I really just wanted to see if you all thought I could count the work I did as a counselor/psych aide as clinical experience.