The accident happened on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

I was driving home from my internship site, where I had seen clients that morning, when I stopped at a red light. As I changed the radio station on my car’s stereo, I heard screeching tires and crunching metal.

Then, as if I were in a Steven Spielberg movie, a maroon-colored car launched over the back of my car. It landed on its side and skidded down the asphalt against oncoming traffic.

As I stared at the unfolding scene, something big plowed into the back of my car, pushing it into the car in front of me. Glass shards and taillight debris rained down inside of my car.

I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw green liquid spewing from the van that was now embedded in my car. I feared that my car would explode and that I would be burned inside. As quickly as I could, I opened the door on my car and stepped on to the slick pavement. I glanced around to make sure I wouldn’t be hit by an oncoming car and heard a woman screaming from behind the maroon car. I immediately dialed 911.

“There’s been a bad accident,” I said to the 911 operator. “I think people are hurt. Please send help quickly.”

Minutes later, several police cars arrived and began directing traffic. A firetruck and an ambulance arrived next. A first responder said the woman driving the maroon car was shaken up but was otherwise OK. Just to be safe, they were taking her to the hospital.

I sat down on the sidewalk, grateful that nobody was seriously hurt. But when I looked at my car, I knew it was totaled. I also knew I would have to find a new internship site because my site was 60 miles from my home and the majority of clients I saw were in-person.

A few days later, I emailed my internship coordinator at the graduate school I attended and told him what had happened. We met on a video call, and he said it might be three months before I was placed at a new site. “If that happens,” he said, “you may not graduate on time.”

My pulse quickened. I had been in graduate school for nearly two years, and I was six months away from graduating. I needed 150 additional direct client hours to walk with my peers, and there was no way I was going to wait three months to find a new internship site.

So, I put on my marketing hat with one goal in mind: to find a new internship site. I never imagined what would happen, but I am grateful to say that I received five internship offers in 48 hours.

I would like to share what I did so that others looking for an internship site can find one they are excited about. Or you might tweak my campaign to connect with potential supervisors and land a new job.

I can’t guarantee the results if you follow this campaign, of course. But I can say it will help you connect with counselors in your area. It will also strengthen your sense of confidence and freedom by giving you more control over your future.

Google search

The first thing you need to do is find clinical supervisors for whom you want to work.

I played around with keyword searches in Google until these searches brought me to a webpage containing nearly a hundred clinical supervisors in my area. The webpage had a picture of each supervisor, a paragraph about the supervisor, and the supervisor’s email address and phone number.

I carefully read each supervisor’s bio until I found 25 whom I wanted to contact. I then researched the various supervisors using Google to find out more about each person. I went to each supervisor’s website, if they had one, and read their “About Me” page. I wanted to make sure that I genuinely connected with each supervisor before reaching out to them in an email.

I recommend that you complete this step too. Research the clinical supervisors in your area until you have a list of folks you want to work for. Really get to know these people. What clinical theories do they practice? Have they published any studies? If so, what are the results of those studies? How did they get into counseling? Have they written any blog posts or been a guest on a podcast? If so, what did you learn from their post or podcast? Do a deep dive into these people so you can honestly say to yourself whether you would want to work with them or not.

Next, I encourage you to create an Excel or Google Sheets file to help you keep track of your campaign. I created a new Google Sheets file using these headings:

• Full Name
• Email
• Phone
• Specialty
• When Contacted
• Response
• Result

I filled my Google Sheets file with the 25 clinical supervisors I liked and connected with the most. I then sent a sincere and personal email to each of these supervisors.

Email marketing

Here is what I wrote in the email:

 

Subject Line: Clinical Supervision?

Hi (First Name of Supervisor),

 

My name is Wes.

I found your contact information online, and I connected with you because ________. I am reaching out with a question about clinical supervision.

I am completing my master’s degree in clinical mental health from Northwestern University. I am supposed to graduate in March 2022.

Last January, I started my clinical hours at an internship site in Salem, Oregon. I live in Portland, and in August I was involved in a car accident that totaled my car. I am unable to drive to Salem to complete my clinical hours and am looking for a new internship site closer to my home.

Do you know of a licensed mental health clinician in Portland who may be interested in letting me finish my clinical hours underneath their supervision?

If not, do you know someone I can contact who may know someone?

I appreciate you for taking time out of your schedule to read my email.

 

Very respectfully,

Wes

 

Notice how the first paragraph has a blank line. This is where you put the information you gathered from your research. The more specific you are, the better connection you are likely to make.

The third paragraph contains my story. It grabs my reader’s attention because it’s heart-wrenching. You may not have a story like mine. But that’s OK. You can tell your contact another powerful reason why you would like to work with them.

The results

I emailed 25 potential supervisors on a Thursday. I received 18 responses and scheduled video interviews with five of them. I interviewed with one supervisor that Thursday night, three on Friday and another one the following Monday. All five of these amazing supervisors graciously offered to take me on as their intern. Working for any of them would have been delightful, but I chose the one that aligned best with my goals.

I relayed this information to the placement team at my graduate school. A day later, the site at which I wanted to intern was approved.

I also responded to each supervisor who got back to me. I told them I was thankful that they took time out of their schedule to try to help me and that I hoped we would bump into each other at a professional conference in the future.

I made sure to sincerely thank the four sites that offered me an internship but which I politely declined. This is respectful and maintains the relationships I established with each of these generous supervisors.

I was amazed at the outpouring of support from the counseling community in my city. The counseling community in your area is likely just as supportive. All it takes is a sincere and genuine email to open a conversation with someone you admire and want to work for. Who knows what will happen? But this process gives you some control over your future instead of simply hoping that fate is on your side.

 

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Before he began a master’s degree program in mental health counseling, Wesley Murph owned two small businesses, including one that was featured on The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan. He currently helps couples communicate more effectively so that each person feels valued, heard and appreciated. He also works with men to resolve anger issues and relationship conflicts that are lowering their quality of life. You can find him at BuildingBetterMenPDX.com.

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