Diary of an ACS Intern

Written By: Kate Polk, Trainee at ACS, On-Campus Counseling Program

I’m a first-year master’s student

at Palo Alto University and a therapist with the On-Campus Counseling Program at Woodside High School. I have learned through my experience working with adolescents that they are my favorite population to work with. They are fun, spunky, lively and stubborn, making every day with them a roller-coaster that keeps me on my toes. When I learned that there was an agency that specialized in this population, I was excited to see what counseling would look like in a field that I have experienced in other settings.

As my first placement as a counselor, I can honestly say that I lucked out with ACS. It has been such a growing experience of applying countless hours of learning into a practical act of counseling individuals each week. Having the one-on-one supervision and support via didactic training and group supervision each week, I am better able to learn from my experiences and apply hours of expertise to better my skills as a clinician.

Training & Experience

I come from a background of working with children and adolescents in numerous settings. From teaching therapeutic horseback riding lessons, to working as an on-the-floor staff member at a residential treatment center for adolescents with eating disorders, each position I’ve had has taught me a new skill to add to the never-ending “toolbox,” which is what we counselors like to refer to as a guide for how we conceptualize and treat our clients. Throughout my time as an intern with Adolescent Counseling Services, I have maintained a client caseload of around 10-15 clients throughout the school year. I provided individual psychotherapy out of a person-centered/Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approach incorporating evidence-based interventions through CBT, Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and other treatment modalities. I have co-facilitated a weekly anxiety-based coping skills psychotherapy group with 4-5 teen students at my school site. I have worked with a wide variety of diagnoses throughout my time at Woodside High School. Ranging from post-traumatic stress disorders, major depressive disorders, generalized anxiety disorders, to adjustment disorders, I find I am now better able to establish myself as a clinician in understanding what different diagnoses look like in therapeutic settings.

Lessons Learned

At ACS, I am learning a lot about myself as a therapist.

I’ve learned that everyone gets nervous when they step into a new and developing field of work, and I’ve also learned to channel that nervous energy into productivity with each new client that I see.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned through the help of my individual supervisor is that my presence changes people. Being in a room with a depressed or anxious client can be exhausting, especially when you feel like you do not know what to do or are scared that you are going to make a mistake, but ultimately, you as the therapist are enough. Coming to this realization has lightened my primary need for perfectionism and need to know about every technique or intervention that there is in the field to help or assist my clients.

Although I firmly believe in continuing education, I also think that trusting in yourself and your innate abilities are beneficial in the therapeutic space. Have there been many times that I have come into a room and thought I have no idea what to do? Yes, but that is a part of the learning process.

I know I have a long way to go in terms of skills and experiences, but it is encouraging to know that the work that we do is a gift to this population of young people that we serve. Through the support of ACS and my Masters program at Palo Alto University, I am grateful for the opportunity to work along such a supportive and caring staff and develop myself as a mental health clinician.