Being an Internship Director: Some Practical Things to Think About

This is going to be a quick post because I am late to start my morning. I spent a bit too much time luxuriating in clean, warm sheets this morning and am now trying to catch up a bit. I am going to leave my house later than usual so I can take advantage of some more time here at home before heading out into this week of holiday festivities...

So, in a former iteration of my life as a music therapist, I spent lots of time talking to music therapy professionals about being internship directors. I led trainings and encouraged many therapists to be internship supervisors, and it has always amazed me at how little coursework is out there for intern supervisors and even less is out there for internship directors.

As a practical person, I like to think about the practical elements and things that happen when you take an intern into your clinical setting. If that is something that you are interested in learning about, then keep reading! This post is for you.

Being an internship director is different from being an internship supervisor, and we are going to focus on the director role today.

Now, many of us do both roles in our programs. I am the only music therapist on staff, so I am both director and supervisor. Other places have the luxury of having more than one music therapist, so there is a delineation of the two roles. There is one person who is designated as director and others that are designated as supervisors. Supervisors supervise clinical skill development and directors do more of the administrative work.

In my role as internship director, I field all contacts and requests for information. I design and share the fact sheet, application, and decision process. Since I am a sole therapist, I get to make all decisions for my program. I spend time sending emails and links to all who ask for them. Depending on the time of year, that can take between 15 and 60 minutes per week. I can always tell when contacting internship directors comes up in various educational programs - I get a whole lot of requests without much follow-up. I cheerfully send out fact sheets and application links to all who inquire. Most of these folks do not return their applications.

When prospective interns send in their applications, I keep track of when I get their letters of eligibility and recommendation so I know when their application is complete. I then review the application and make decisions about whether I will invite each applicant to the next step. I design my application to help me identify applicants that will not really be a good match. 

(Has anyone else found that applicants are unwilling to take "no, thank you" as an answer lately? I get so many, "then please consider me for the next opening" responses these days when "no, thank you" used to be enough.)

I change elements of my fact sheet and my application often. I try to remember to update the fact sheet at the end of every intern's time with me to help me represent what is happening at my facility in a way that is accurate. I also indicate, on the application itself, which dates I am accepting applications for so applicants know what sessions I have available. 

As a director, it is my responsibility to ensure that we all (the Clinical Training Team for each intern) are doing our jobs for each intern. I spend time reviewing assignments, corresponding with academic directors, designing assignments for my interns, and providing feedback for my interns. In addition to all of my director and supervisor roles, I also have to be a clinician first and foremost. My role with and for my clients is more important than being an internship anything.

In addition to clinical things to do with interns, there are administrative things as well. We used to have to complete an annual report on our internships, but I haven't received any indication from AMTA or the AIAC about doing this in about four years. I wonder if it is still something that we are supposed to do...

So, if you are thinking about being an internship director, here are some things that you need to know before you start the process.

• Being an internship director means that you will do less direct service with clients as your interns take over parts of your caseload.
• You will be responsible for scheduling, supervision of interns, and oversight of all music therapists in your program (that's pretty easy when you are the only one!).
• AMTA will randomly ask for information from you at various times. You will never know when they will contact you. 
• You need to know the AMTA National Roster Internship Guidelines forward and backward. You need to know the elements of applications and letters. You need to design a competency-based evaluation (I have one, if you are interested in it...contact me). You need to be able to provide interns with developmentally appropriate training. You have to be able to spend time with your intern without sacrificing clinical effectiveness.
• You have to be ready to allow someone else into your clinical space and routine. This is sometimes the most difficult part for me, but I make decisions about my interns based on whether I can see myself spending time with that person for seven months.

I know that there are other things that are important to know, but I am getting my "You're Going to Be Late" anxiety, so I am going to wrap this up and get going out into the world where I have to mask up again and go through an interrupted schedule for the next four days.

If you are thinking about starting an internship program, I would love to talk to you about it. I enjoy this aspect of my clinical life. I am always happy to talk to others about the entire process- from application to become a National Roster Internship Program through navigating intern situation. Let me know on social media if you are interested in talking...