CMHC Clinical Training

Hey everyone, I’m Dr. Esther McCartney in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Northwest University.

I am at our internship fair, where our first-semester students get the opportunity to talk and interact with site supervisors and our second-year interns at different site placements that we have as options for them for practicum at the beginning of your first summer term in our program.

And so this is a great way to learn about the placements that we have contracts with—what kind of agencies they are, the populations they serve: adolescents, children, adult populations, couples, families, substance use—and really be able to pick and choose what sites you would like to apply for when you come to do your own practicum.

And so this is just a great experience to meet professional supervisors and also interact with our second-year interns and see what their experiences have been thus far.

So we’re here at our annual internship fair, and I’m talking to Catherine.

Catherine is a first-year student, and you’ve just had the chance to visit with some site supervisors and connect with second-year students who are doing the clinical training.

How has your experience been so far?

Oh, it’s been great. I mean, just having representatives from the different sites, but also the current interns come in and being able to talk to a mix of both of them has been so amazing.

And you know, I was just telling you before this—and I’ll say it again—that it’s been great how Northwest connects us to different internship sites and helps really support us in applying.

And, you know, we work with our clinical director here to figure out what our interests are, and she helps us in connecting us to the different sites.

So just—I love having that extra layer of support there because coming in, you know, academics I’m pretty confident in, and then internships and placements—that was really kind of the stressor that I had coming in.

So it’s just great having that support.

Well, thanks for sharing.

Yeah, of course.

“What makes an NU graduate unique to our program is their heart.”

“Open and eager to learn and really engage with the community.”

“Their willingness and their desire to learn.”

“They went to NU.”

“Their heart for women and children, and that’s really who we serve, is families.”

“NU produces the best clinicians, the best leaders, the best pastors—just people willing to serve really well in the community.”

“One of the things that I think NU does really well is prepare them outside of the normal foundation, but actually make them well prepared for entering into the fields—being able to diagnose and being able to meet the community where their needs are at.”

“The Christian heritage and the allowance for acknowledging that we are mind, body, soul, and spirit—and to really have true health and wellness, you need to take care of all those elements. And so it’s been great having NU interns.”

“It’s just been a blast watching all of them grow and the work that they do, and gain confidence, and come back to tell the stories about the successes they’ve had in the work that they’ve done.”