My Experience with Residency

Authored by Kelly Culpepper

The first long conversation I ever had with the guy who would eventually become my spouse, the subject of career and private practice counseling came up. We were first semester students at a small graduate school for counseling in Chattanooga. The question I asked those first months of meeting fellow future counselors was “What kind of work do you want to do at the end of this?”

His answer, so honest and braver than most had the guts to say, “Don’t we all want to do private practice? Isn’t that everyone really wants?” I think he was right!

I have met very few in the mental health field that don’t dream of the cozy office, coffee mug in hand, one on one with clients, pursuing your licensure and to make a good living doing it. But the reality of achieving that dream straight out of school is really difficult to do and can take a long time to accomplish. It requires marketing and client retention, gaining the right qualifications, insurance, and supervisors, accomplishing licensure including supervision and testing, staying connected to resources and community, policy development and fee structuring, maintaining an office and online presence, developing a self-care rhythm of rest and recharging, and finally, navigating the legal and ethical requirements of providing clinically excellent care.

I feel lucky to have found Scout Counseling at the end of my graduate school experience.

Along with providing great care to our clients, Scout’s second mission is the training of excellent counselors and creating a program to provide all the resources needed develop a private practice business and achieve licensure within the minimum timeframe after a master’s program.

By joining Scout as a Resident Counselor in May 2020, I was able to

  • build a full-time caseload by April 2021.

  • achieve an average of 28 clients a week consistently by December 2021.

  • apply for my first license by June 2022.

  • complete my supervision requirements for my second license by December 2022.

At Scout, I work alongside a team of my peers, receive discounted supervision and weekly professional development, and am provided mentorship and financial support in navigating all the postmaster processes that are required to do this job. Other practices may have been able to offer me an office and a website to put my photo on. But there is so much more that’s needed to make a private practice career successful, sustainable, and functional.

Ultimately, providing excellent clinical care for my clients is my number one priority. But to do that for the long term, I need to be able to care for myself and meet all the requirements of the state to practice in this field. Working for Scout, I can say that the support I have received has made it not only possible but possible in an efficient and incredibly rewarding way.

If you are interested in the Residency Program at Scout, reach out to us about hiring opportunities. We want the best on our team and would love to make room for you if that’s you!