Hey! I did my first placement last academic year, and will start my full time placement in January. We will start interviews in November for the placement. We went to orientation this last week though. Everyone is very upset and nervous because they want a paid internship, so now everyone wants to interview at the VA. There is much analyzing and surmising of who will go where hahaha. Then to add to the anxiety, the placement director stated she will send no more than 2 applicants per opening to interview for the positions. So now all of the people who wanted to interview at the VA are even more anxious because they may not even get the opportunity to interview at the VA. There are 3 slots for the VA and something like 20 people who want to interview there. We had a tiny cohort for the 2 year program, but the advanced standing classes are much bigger. Which equals more competition.
My last placement was some small crisis intervention and mostly case management. A lot of phone work. My goal is to make sure this second practicum is more about therapy rather than case management. To be fair, I asked specifically for a health practicum my foundation year, and told them at the time I'd like a mental health practicum for my second year. I specifically did that so I'd get good training in both health and mental health. I really want to work on a PACT team or in primary care.
I love living vicariously through all of you who are already in practicum!!
