Being An Internship Director: On Hiatus

It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me.

Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it.

It is interesting to me how we have moved from an apprenticeship model to an employee model in our internships, mainly through attitudes rather than requirements. My primary problem with the employee model is that interns are not employees - they cannot be left alone at my facility due to the requirements of my job. You cannot provide music therapy services in schools without board certification. Therefore, an intern cannot be hired as a music therapist in my facility. The only way we could get an intern a paycheck is if they are hired as a Behavioral Health Technician which means that they would not be part of the music therapy department. They would have duties that are not music therapy related and would be expected to cover other shifts when we get into mandatory overtime situations. I would not be able to guarantee that interns would get their 1020 hours of music therapy interaction in this type of model. It is easier for interns if interns are considered volunteers and are not expected to cover classrooms and morning ready times and overnight shifts.

Ugh. I do not like being on my soapbox this early in the week and in the morning, but I am frustrated by the fact that no one out there wants to be my intern. Oh well, I guess it is a sign of the times.

I am not actively recruiting. There is no financial benefit to me or to my facility to host interns. They actually cost me and my facility money, so there is no impetus to find people to fill my open intern positions. I am enjoying my role as therapist at the moment, so that is another reason I am not seeking someone to show up. I did have a visitor this summer, so that person might be a future intern, but that person is not eligible until June 2025, so I will have lots of time before an application even arrives.

I will only have time for about four more interns before I retire from my current position. I would love to fill all of the positions that I have between now and my retirement date in June 2026, but with things going the way they are, I don't think I will. Who knows.