What is Practicum REALLY Like? Coming From a First-Year CMHC Student
The beginning
“In the beginning there was light.” Or, well, for me there were clients staring at me, some with tears in their eyes, some recounting the worst days of their lives, and others looking to me for help for an immediate stressful life experience. When I first started my practicum as a Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) student, I thought I had a grasp of what counseling looks like and how to operate as the counselor in the room. It should be straightforward, right? Just be empathic, operate with unconditional positive regard, hold space, use silence, etc. After countless hours of coursework, role-plays, readings, and case conceptualization, I felt like I was going to be the best, most prepared counseling student in the entire world. Until I faced my first client.
Suddenly everything I had learned, prepared, and rehearsed went out the window. Nothing in the classroom could have fully prepared me for the enlightening, vulnerable, and challenging experience that is sitting across from another human being who is trusting you enough to share and recount their life’s story.
Expectations vs Reality
Before practicum, I was fortunate to participate in pre-practicum, a highly supervised clinical experience where each student was responsible for one client over the course of twelve weeks. Sessions were conducted in a "fishbowl" format, with professors observing live and using iPads to communicate suggestions and reflections throughout the session. Afterward, our small groups would debrief each case together, discussing interventions, challenges, and growth opportunities. Participating in pre-practicum gave me something I didn't realize I needed: confidence. It showed me that I could actually sit still in a room for sixty minutes, hold emotional space, and be present with another person. More importantly, it gave me confidence that I could become an effective counselor.
I will forever be grateful for the client I had during those twelve weeks. Unbeknownst to her, she taught me more about myself in twelve weeks than I had learned in the previous twenty-six years. She challenged me to become more reflective, more present, and more comfortable with the uncomfortable. Because of that experience, I entered practicum with incredibly high expectations.
Before practicum officially began, both Dr. Jessica Morello and Dr. Justina Floyd approached me. They said they believed they had found the perfect practicum site for me, one that matched my personality and the type of counselor they believed I could become. Before that conversation, I had already met with Dr. Morello and signed up for Atrium Health's interview day, where I interviewed with five different behavioral health departments: Community Health, Outpatient Behavioral Health, the Queens University Counseling Center, EAGLE, and the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). To my surprise, several of those departments expressed strong interest in having me join their teams. While it was an incredibly rewarding experience, I suddenly found myself faced with what felt like an impossible decision. Having so many wonderful opportunities was a blessing, but if you know me, you also know that too many choices make me anxious. After about an hour of making pros and cons lists, talking myself in circles, and trying to imagine every possible future, I decided to accept a practicum position at Grey Embraced under the supervision of Juliet McGee.
When I accepted the position, I imagined entering a warm and inviting environment that would gently introduce me to the counseling profession. I hoped it would be a place where I could discover the type of counselor I wanted to become while working toward the admittedly lofty goals I tend to set for myself. I envisioned an honest, collaborative relationship with my supervisor, one where I could ask questions, admit when I didn't know something, celebrate successes, and openly discuss the moments that challenged me. I expected to learn about counseling, private practice, and myself.
The reality of practicum has exceeded every expectation I had. Juliet didn't simply meet the bar I had set for myself; she raised it tenfold.
She has created a space where I feel genuinely safe to learn, make mistakes, ask difficult questions, and discover who I am both personally and professionally. She encourages me to bring my own ideas to the table while also challenging me to think more deeply about my clinical decisions. Rather than simply giving me answers, she equips me with tools that help me develop into the counselor I aspire to be. Beyond supervision, she has opened doors I never expected. Whether it's inviting me to community events like tabling at the Knights game, brainstorming clinical ideas together, or simply listening when I'm trying to understand why I feel "off" after returning from vacation, she models what authentic support and mentorship look like.
As I reflect on my experience so far, I find myself becoming emotional. When I think back to June 2, 2026, the day I walked into Grey Embraced, and compare that version of myself to who I am today, July 28, 2026, I realize they are not the same person. This profession and this educational journey have challenged me in ways I never could have imagined. They have stretched me emotionally, intellectually, and personally. There have been days when I questioned myself, sessions that left me mentally exhausted, and moments where I wondered whether I was doing enough. But through all of it, I've learned something incredibly important: I am capable of doing hard things. I've learned how to care for myself even when the work feels heavy. I've learned how to trust myself in the counseling room. I've learned that I don't have to be perfect to be effective. I still stumble. I still leave sessions thinking about what I could have done differently. But each time I fall, I stand back up with a little more confidence and a little more wisdom than before.
The reality is that practicum is hard. Most evenings I go home emotionally exhausted, eat a cheese stick for dinner, and crawl into bed before I have the energy to do much else. Yet somehow, despite the long days and emotional fatigue, I wake up excited to do it all again. Because every single day, I am becoming the counselor I have always hoped to be. And to me, there is nothing more rewarding than that.
Skill Development
One thing this profession has taught me very quickly is that skill development is never complete. Even counselors who have been practicing for ten, twenty, or even thirty years continue learning, seeking supervision, attending trainings, and refining their craft. Counseling is one of those professions where there will always be another perspective to consider, another intervention to learn, or another opportunity for personal growth. As a student counselor, I find that realization incredibly comforting. It reminds me that I don't have to know everything right now. Instead, my responsibility is to remain curious, humble, and committed to becoming a lifelong learner.
Throughout graduate school, I have had the opportunity to take courses in counseling skills, group counseling, assessment, career counseling, counseling theories, ethics, and many others. Each course has added another layer to my understanding of what it means to be an effective counselor. While I know there is still so much left to learn, I am incredibly grateful for the foundation these experiences have provided. When I reflect on how much I've grown over the past year, I can confidently say that these are some of the skills I've developed so far:
Building therapeutic rapport and creating a space where clients feel seen, heard, and accepted.
Becoming more comfortable with silence and recognizing that meaningful moments often happen in the pauses.
Asking more intentional questions that deepen exploration instead of rushing toward solutions.
Trusting the counseling process rather than feeling responsible for "fixing" every problem.
Receiving supervision with openness and applying feedback to strengthen my clinical work.
Managing my own anxiety during sessions so I can remain fully present with my clients.
Staying curious instead of assuming I know a client's experience or where the conversation should go.
Developing greater confidence in my clinical judgment while remaining aware of my limitations.
Embracing the reality that not knowing can sometimes be the most honest and therapeutic place to begin.
Perhaps the greatest skill I've developed isn't a counseling technique at all; it's learning to trust myself. Not because I believe I have all the answers, but because I've learned that being an effective counselor has far less to do with perfection and far more to do with authenticity, intentionality, and a genuine willingness to keep learning.
What My Clients Have Taught Me
Perhaps the greatest surprise has been how much my clients have taught me throughout this process. They have continually reminded me that healing isn't linear, progress isn't always obvious, and every person's story deserves to be heard without judgment. Every session reinforces why I chose this profession.
One of the greatest gifts my clients have given me is their willingness to trust the process even when I'm still learning. They have allowed me to thoughtfully introduce new interventions, explore different approaches, and discover alongside them what resonates and what doesn't. Not every intervention has landed the way I hoped, and that's okay. Those moments have taught me that counseling is not about finding one perfect technique that works for everyone. Instead, it's about remaining flexible, collaborative, and responsive to the unique person sitting across from me. Some interventions have sparked meaningful conversations and breakthroughs, while others have simply become opportunities to learn and pivot. Each experience has reinforced that counseling is not a one-size-fits-all profession. Every client brings a unique history, personality, culture, and worldview into the room, and my role is to adapt my approach to meet them where they are.
Perhaps one of the most meaningful lessons my clients have taught me is the value of simply showing up. There have been weeks when progress felt slow, setbacks occurred, or life seemed to pull them backward instead of forward. Yet, week after week, they continue walking through the door, choosing to engage in the work even when it feels difficult. Their perseverance has become a quiet reminder for me to do the same.
When sessions don't go exactly as I imagined, when I leave supervision with more questions than answers, or when I feel the weight of learning an entirely new profession, I remind myself that growth looks remarkably similar for both clients and counselors. It isn't linear. It isn't perfect. It requires patience, humility, and the willingness to keep showing up. Thankfully, every week my clients do just that. So will I.
Looking Ahead
I have always been someone who takes life one day at a time. Envisioning my future has never come naturally or easily, not because I am slacking, but because there has always been a level of uncertainty in my life. Through my own therapeutic work, I have learned to metabolise that uncertainty into acceptance, curiosity, and trust. Rather than viewing the unknown as something to fear, I’ve begun to see this uncertain space as a room where growth takes place and blossoms.
As I start to think about what internship holds for me and what my future as a counselor might look like, the truth is, I don't know. Which, surprisingly, I am totally okay with.
Uncertainty often carries emotions like fear, doubt, and apprehension. It invites us to question ourselves and wonder whether we're capable of what's ahead. But I'm choosing to look at the brighter side of that uncertainty. To me, uncertainty means possibility. It means I have the freedom to shape this experience into whatever I choose to make of it. It reminds me that I don't have to have every answer to every question. Instead, I can pause, take a breath, and remind myself: Don't rush. Smell the roses. Do the hard work. Trust the process. Keep moving forward.
While so much of the future remains unknown, I do have one certainty that brings me immense gratitude: I will be staying at Grey Embraced for my internship! I will continue seeing clients, co-counseling alongside Juliet, and stepping into opportunities that I know will challenge me, stretch me, and undoubtedly leave me emotional on the drive home. Not because they are hard, but because they represent something I dreamed about long before I knew how to make it a reality. There is something incredibly surreal about realizing that the life I'm beginning to live is the one twelve-year-old me could only imagine. The little girl with a bedroom covered in pink walls and One Direction posters would be absolutely beside herself knowing that one day she would become a counselor. The one person who understood her at 12 years old and gave her a space to be weird, wild, and her authentic self.
As I step into my internship, I don't hope to have everything figured out. I hope to remain curious, humble, present, and willing to learn. If this past year has taught me anything, it's that growth rarely comes from certainty. It comes from having the courage to move forward anyway.
Melanie is a counselor trainee earning her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Wingate University, while completing her clinical rotation in Charlotte, NC at Grey Embraced PLLC.
