We accept resumes/CVs and a cover letter during the month of December of each academic year for the upcoming Fall/Spring academic-year internship program. See details below to apply. 

Since 1995, Maria Droste Counseling Services has been a site for training of graduate-level students who are seeking a September to May internship doing outpatient mental health therapy in a clinical setting. Students from many different schools like Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern University, Wheelock College, Cambridge College, Suffolk University, University of Massachusetts, Lesley University, Bridgewater State University, and Eastern Nazarene College have trained at our agency. Each year, two or three graduate student Interns work 2-3 days per week (in accordance with their school’s requirements) to complete their field education.

At Maria Droste Counseling Services, we provide a rich learning experience where our interns can enhance their clinical skills and have the opportunity to be an important part of the day-to-day operations of a small community-based counseling agency. Interns interact with all of our clinical staff who welcome and invite them to sit in on their sessions so they can gain experience from observing multiple therapists’ skill-sets and styles. Interns receive weekly supervision, group supervision, and in-service-training. Interns are supervised in their clinical work by a licensed therapist who guides them throughout all phases of the treatment cycle, beginning with assessment and diagnosis, in-session interventions & treatment modalities, crisis intervention, treatment planning, and the termination process at the end of therapy. Interns have the opportunity to work with clients who present with a wide range of diagnoses, life stressors, and relationship issues. Interns interested in developing skills in couples and family therapy have this as an option as well.

Our internship program has three foci: The clinical interactions with and treatment of clients; the timely and professional completion of paperwork requirements, including the writing of Diagnostic Assessments, Treatment Plans, and Progress Notes with clarity, accuracy, and the right amount of information that is respectful of clients while also being helpful to other providers; and being part of a team in a non-profit environment which means being included in the ebb and flow of daily activities of the staff as part of the staff.

The goal of our internship program is to produce competent therapists who, by internship’s end, could be hired by us or any agency, working full time with a full caseload, and do so with professional-level competency and the ability to handle the paperwork requirements. Many interns maintain some level of involvement with Maria Droste Counseling Services after they end their internship. They stay on or contribute in other ways because they embrace our mission and have become competent therapists while receiving their training at our agency.