A clinical internship is often the beginning of a career. For some, it's more akin to a step forward, whether in training or in pay or both. No matter the goals that brought you to a clinical internship, chances are good that it is some version of growth along your way.
In a field that focuses so heavily on systems, it's impossible to ignore the changes in the world lately. People are struggling right now. People are hurt and angry and scared. Support structures, family systems, and program funding are all changing rapidly, becoming harder and harder to hold on to.
Because we're human, we're experiencing this two-fold: via our connection with our clients and via the direct impacts on our own lives. For me--trans, queer, neurodivergent, and disabled--it often feels as if the entire world is burning itself down. The world is on fire and I'm supposed to continue to go to work and learn and grow like everything is normal, despite fearing for my own personal safety and liberties, while watching clients lose family to an immigration system whose cruelty has increased exponentially.
I know I'm not alone, either. I watch fellow clinical interns struggle with the same balance. We have to be able to connect with our clients, who are as human as we are, without letting our boundaries become too blurry to remain professional. We have to keep going but without letting ourselves become burnt out before we even finish our internship. All the while, with our training and education, we know that healthy growth and learning are all but impossible when our systems are activated.
How do we deal with this? How do we avoid spending these formative years creating trauma? How do we make sure that we're safe and sane people for our clients?
While I have practices I use for processing and reaffirming appropriate boundaries--and I do mean boundaries, not impermeable walls--what has helped most is connection with other interns and clinicians, followed closely by connections with advocacy groups.
Other things that have helped:
Naming mutual activation with a client and teaching and modeling regulation.
Being firm with time between clients for any needed processing and regulation.
Taking a moment in my car before driving home; I tell myself I'm in my space, and I can breathe, and nobody expects anything of me right this second, and I don't start driving until I can feel it, at least a little bit, if only for a moment.
Sometimes I cry or I yell or I hold a comfort item much too close.
The biggest piece, though, always comes back to connection and healthy or healing social interactions. I think part of that is the innate need most of us have, even us introverts, for human connection, but I think in times like this, it's almost as important to have spaces where you can name what's going on. We need spaces where people can validate our struggles and help lessen that burden, because whether it's our own suffering or the suffering of our clients or both, we can't hold onto it all. The collective suffering of the world is too much for any one of us to handle.
It's way, way too much.
But the point of this website, this blog, of most places for support and connection, is that we don't have to handle anything alone, not forever. Do what you need to get through your day ethically and intact, and then find someone or something to help lessen your burden.
The weight of the world doesn't belong to you. You're allowed to find ways to experience growth and joy despite everything.
I also think it's important to remember that virtually everything we do as clinical social workers has at least some degree of positive impact, even on the days everything feels useless or hopeless. Clients remember the people who want to help them, who give them space, who listen, no matter the outcome. Even when it's not as drastic as we'd like, we do make a difference for the people we work with.
In the interest of continuing to create communities so that our burden is shared and so that we can all grow, comment below, if you're comfortable and have the spoons:
What has helped you, even the tiniest bit, deal with everything going on in the world right now as you navigate your clinical internship?
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