The Master's in Counseling! It is the terminal degree for counseling, so obviously it involves more intense training which deems that it takes a lengthier amount of time to complete. While most other non-counseling students are finishing up their respective master's programs in a regular 2-year span (if they are fulltime, that is), we counseling students are patiently and painstakingly just trying to make it out of our own 3-year program unscathed. All the students in my particular graduating class, including myself, have taken and passed the Comprehensive Counselor Examination (CCE), which is a requirement in order to graduate with a master's degree in counseling. We are currently finishing up our practicum semester, which includes counseling clients in the University student counseling center under strict scrutiny and watch by respective LPC supervisors and keeping confidential records and such. So, as we struggle through PRAC – while still making sure all our ACA / CACREP mandated paperwork and 100 clinical hours are met and properly recorded, we are also faced with vying with several other counseling students in the area/state to obtain internships. Internships that have in previous years been reserved for students enrolled at our University, but for some reason, was not done for our group/class. We are all running around like "chickens with their heads cut off" because no one, and I mean NO ONE, is watching out for us. We are all alone in our venture to find a place that we can intern at. I am the only student in this class thus far who has managed to get an internship placement, but our direct supervisor, who also serves as both counseling program advisor and department chair, has not approved that arrangement for me nor has she discussed with any of us whether we are going to be allowed to move into internship or repeat practicum. So, this is where my dilemma of late therein lies: I do not know where the next few months will take me. I am so stressed, and my anxiety level is so high that the puck has broken through the sledgehammer-high-striker game. My cortisol levels are probably going to make my endocrinologist lecture me about relaxing and watching out for possible health issues brought on by that nagging stress hormone. Something's gotta give – and soon. Well, that is that regarding what I am hoping is my third and final year of grad school. This gal's not getting any younger – but I am also not giving up any time soon. I have worked much too hard and long for the grand prize: to be "hooded" sometime in the near future. Knock wood, y'all.
