Hey you, don't struggle alone.
Intern Counsellor Resources
This resource is for students of College of Allied Educators (CAE) who we are already in partnership with. Please go through CAE if you wish to intern with us - we will not be able to accept direct requests.
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For those who already qualify as a counsellor and wish to volunteer / work on a part-time free-lance basis, please see our resident counsellor program instead :)
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1. Onboarding
Before joining us as a volunteer counsellor, we require you to have your own clinical supervisor arranged. When you have that done, please complete and submit the IASH intake form to our email itallstartshearsg@gmail.com.
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Once you’ve sent us the form, we will add you into our WhatsApp referral group.
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The Intern Counsellor team at IASH consists of:
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Hernping - Founder, Executive Director (Psychologist)
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Site placement supervisor to sign off on any documents needed
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Nicole - Head of Operations
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Administrative staff to help with enquiries and referrals. Monday to Friday 10 - 5pm and Saturdays before 1pm
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Joining us as a Counsellor
First off, thanks for volunteering your time for the welfare of Singaporeans in need of support.
Please take some time to familiarise yourself with our guidelines for practice and work processes.
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There are 5 main steps in your Intern Counsellors journey with IASH.
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Onboarding
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New Client
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Scheduling sessions and Collecting Payment
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End of Sessions/Early Termination OR Extensio
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End of Practicum (less than 10 hours left)
2. New Client
WhatsApp group chat
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Case descriptions (anonymised) will be shared in the WhatsApp referral group
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You may claim a case by replying in group chat. Take only the ones you’re comfortable with.
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Cases are awarded on first-come-first-serve basis
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Receive the Client's personal details
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After you have claimed a case, we will share the client’s personal details with you privately
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3. Scheduling Sessions and Requesting Payment
We hope that through your practicum with us, you get the experience of running your own little "private practice", with referrals coming through us of course :) This means that you will not only be honing your counselling skills, but also other important skills counsellors need like administration, and out-of-session client communication.
Schedule a session​
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Contact the client through your preferred mode (email / phone)
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Find a common time between you both and share the link to the zoom / heyhi / google meet sessions. You can also arrange to run in-person sessions with CAE.
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Please send your own Informed Consent Form to the client (more on Forms in the section below)
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DO NOT use the CAE Intake Form form
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Request payment on behalf of IASH
We charge a $20 admin-fee to clients which gives them access to 5 sessions with you, valid up to 3 months from the first session
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Request payment from the client BEFORE the first session. You may send your client this link https://www.iash.sg/payment-guide
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This mimics reality where we do need clients to pay prior to the session too - otherwise, we as counsellors will have time wasted on no-shows or clients messing up our practice schedules.
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We hope that you get a feel for the private practice vibe through this okay?
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Update Admin when payment has been made
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Once client has paid (e.g. send you proof of payment / inform you that they've paid) do update our admin team that you've arranged for the first session and have received payment
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Our admin team will follow up with you if we haven't heard from you after one week.
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But we do hope that you take initiative in updating us to save us this time on following-up!
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FYI we have had to remove intern counsellors from the program who are slow at reporting / coordinating with client / did not confirm payment etc. We try to be forgiving but on repeated reminder we will have to ask the inter counsellor to leave the program okay?
4. End of Sessions/Early Termination OR Extension
End of Sessions or Early Termination
Please update us when your client has finished their 5 sessions with you, or has requested to stop sessions.
This will prompt our admin team to send the client a feedback form though email. And of course, any relevant feedback collected about you will be shared with you!
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Extension
If your client has finished 5 sessions with you and would like to extend, please collect payment (by sending client the IASH payment link) before the 6th session, and update us when payment has been made
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Do communicate with the client if you have less than 3 months remaining to have these 5 sessions with them. ​If client wishes to extend but you're nearing the end of practicum, do let them know we can also refer them to another counsellor okay?
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Our admin team will follow up with you if we haven't heard from you after 2-2.5 months. But we do hope that you take intiative in updating us to save us this time on following-up!
5. End of Practicum (less than 10 hours left)
Please update our admin team when you have less than 10 hours left so that they can brief you on exit matters :)
Internship Forms
Yes, we know there seems to be one thousand forms you need to manage. We hope this makes it easy for you.
1. Informed consent (important)
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This is your confidentiality contract between you and the client. You don't need to send this to us nor to CAE - but it's an important mutual agreement between the counsellor and counsellee.
As counselling is done online, you can use a digital informed consent too (example below - create your own please). Some people will include an indemnity clause in their informed consent if you choose to include too.
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Example Digital Informed Consent here (DO NOT use this link for your own consent)
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You can view more of the workflows below:
2. CAE intake form (PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS)
In the CAE practicum pack, there is an option to use the client intake form.
We do not recommend using this form as it is invasive for clients. We have experienced complaints / drop-outs when students have sent such forms.
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If you insist on using this form, we advise you to seek practicum elsewhere.
3. Practicum log
There are two recommended ways of record-keeping and getting sign-off for your hours through our referrals:
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Send the client your practicum sheet to sign off directly. This is the simplest and most hassle-free way.
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Get our site placement supervisors to sign off on your practice sheet. Note that this requires proof of number of sessions / hours. BCC therapy.itallstartshear@gmail.com in your communications with the client.
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4. Lastly, end of practicum documents.
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When you are completing your practicum, please contact us on our whatsapp admin account. We will update you on the documents you need our sign off to finish up okay!
Additional: Planning follow-up sessions
​After accepting a referral, we leave it in your trusty hands to arrange the next 4 follow-up sessions (5 sessions in total) with the client directly. Below are some basic guidelines on how to do so.
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Can check with client at end of intake session on the expected frequency (weekly, monthly etc).
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If client wishes to set a time at that point in time, then do so :)
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Otherwise, ask client to inform you directly when they want a follow-up session.
Reminder: Practice Ethically!
Enough said!
At this stage you have a pretty good understanding of ethical codes of practice. Some things worth repeating:
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Know the limits of confidentiality - harm to self, others, crime, law.
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Don't abandon a client - if you have difficult with a case, let our placement supervisors know and they can refer.
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Crisis Management: do check in early with your clinical supervisor on their preferred mitigation / crisis procedures should you find yourself with a client at risk.
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If ever in doubt, do feel free to bring up client concerns in the group, or to your own clinical supervisors, or to the placement supervisors privately if you wish.
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We also have a Resident Counselling Consultant - Varian from The Relational - who can take queries or discuss challenging scenarios.
Good to know: Our Partner: Mindside.sg
Also, just sharing a useful resource from our partners.
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Mindside.sg is a non-profit funded by Ministry of Health Transformation (MOHT). They are also affiliated with North East Medical Group.
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If you have a client who requires medications, diagnosis or referral letters, they can assist.
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Subsidised in-person counselling (1st session free, follow-up $25 - 50)
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Subsidised psychiatric medication with GP clinics from North East Medical Group (NEMG)
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Links to Changi General Hospital Psychiatric Department
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If you'd like to explore these options for your client, do let our Site Placement Supervisors know.
Feel free to join other parts of IASH :)
There are various ongoing activities we welcome you to join if you're interested in:
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1. Monthly catchups at the IASH resident counselling clinic - just to get to know each other and talk about cases, etc. It's a friendly catchup!
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2. Our CAE intern counsellors are also involved in a Singapore-wide government project with mindline.sg. It's called "Ask a Therapist". There, they help to tackle mental health questions from youths. You'll get access to latest evidence based guides and get to build a public profile of yourself as a counsellor too.
Just let our admins know if you're interested ok!