Internships

A Note on Unpaid Internships

At Resilience, we believe that unpaid internships are exploitative and outdated, and reflect systemic oppression within the mental health field. While we are fully compliant with graduate program expectations, we also believe it’s essential to name the harm embedded in those systems. The expectation that students pay tuition to provide labor (to institutions generating millions in revenue) reinforces a broader pattern of extracting care work without compensation, particularly from working-class, BIPOC, first-generation, disabled, and other historically marginalized students.

While we believe deeply in disrupting this model, small private practices like ours are not reimbursed adequately by insurance companies to sustainably fund paid training positions. Until there is large-scale systemic change, we do what we can within our limitations. Although we are unable to provide stipends at this time, we are committed to offering high-quality, values-aligned training in a supportive, anti-oppressive environment, while continuing to advocate for a field that compensates all labor, including that of emerging therapists.

We fully support student-led movements such as Pay for Placement (P4P), which calls on social work schools to end the exploitative practice of unpaid internships. We believe that student organizing is a critical force for change, and we stand in solidarity with those demanding fair pay in mental health education and training.

A Note on Compensation

While we do not currently offer a direct stipend to interns, Resilience invests in your training in meaningful and tangible ways. We believe in being transparent about how we support our interns—not just through supervision and clinical experience, but through material resources that reflect our values of equity and care.

Our financial investment includes:

  • Paying your clinical supervisor a monthly sum for weekly individual supervision

  • Covering the administrative and licensing costs of credentialing you with insurance panels

  • Paying for online marketing, such as your listing on Psychology Today and other relevant directories

  • Providing a practice-issued phone and email to support clear boundaries between personal and professional time

  • Providing a fully furnished office space for in-person client sessions

These expenses are part of how we support your development as a therapist-in-training, while also ensuring your services are accessible to our community.

Qualifications

This is an advanced clinical internship open only to final-year master’s or doctoral students in counseling, social work, or clinical psychology programs. 

We are especially interested in applicants who are deeply committed to anti-oppressive therapy and willing to engage in this work with intentionality, humility, and care.

Ideal candidates will meet the following criteria:

  • Completion of all academic requirements necessary for clinical placement (as outlined by your graduate program)

  • Flexible availability, including:

    • Wednesday mornings (required team meetings)

    • First Fridays of the month (community events)

    • Some evening availability for client sessions

  • Strong communication skills (verbal and written)

  • Capacity for self-direction and accountability

  • Willingness to engage in ongoing self-reflection

  • Cultural responsiveness and the humility to work across lines of difference with curiosity and respect

  • Prior clinical experience

  • Relevant lived or professional experience aligned with our values

  • Openness to questioning and critically engaging with what you’re learning in your graduate program as part of the work of decolonizing therapy, recognizing that even the most progressive institutions remain embedded in white supremacy

Program Highlights

Resilience is a contracted training site with:

  • Adler University

  • DePaul University 

  • Northwestern University

  • University of Chicago

We have established relationships with these programs and are committed to supporting students in meeting their graduation requirements.

  • Time commitment: 15+ hours/week (direct and indirect hours)

  • Training year: August through June

  • Supervision & Consultation:

    • Weekly individual supervision (50 hours)

    • Biweekly team-wide group consultation (25 hours)

    • Monthly anti-racist consultation group (10 hours)

General Overview

Interns participate in a rigorous training experience designed to support the development of trauma-informed and anti-oppressive clinical skills. Our goal is to train therapists we’d be excited to welcome as paid team members after graduation.

Under the supervision of experienced fully-licensed therapists, interns will:

  • Complete 500+ hours of direct clinical work

  • Be on-site 15+ hours per week

  • Attend weekly individual supervision, biweekly team meetings, and monthly team events

Interns also benefit from:

  • Monthly community-building events centered on:

    • Trauma-informed care

    • Intersectional feminism

    • Anti-oppressive practices

  • Access to a diverse team of clinicians with a wide range of identities, lived experiences, and specializations

Responsibilities

  • Attend and participate in:

    • Weekly individual supervision

    • Biweekly group consultation

    • Monthly team-wide town halls

    • Monthly anti-racist consultation groups

    • Monthly community-building events

  • Manage a consistent clinical schedule

  • Maintain timely and complete clinical documentation

  • Collaborate and communicate regularly with the Resilience team

  • Conduct initial client consult calls as part of the intake coordination process

Additional Clinical Opportunities

Interns may also have the opportunity to support the practice through intake coordination, conducting initial consult calls with prospective clients seeking therapy services at Resilience.

Interns will be compensated with a percentage of revenue for each successful intake that results in a converted client match—offering both clinical and financial investment in Resilience’s broader mission of equity, sustainability, and accessibility.

Applications are accepted January 1 - April 1st. 

To apply, please email Join@ResilienceChicago.com with the following materials:

  • CV or résumé

  • Cover letter: Share why you’re interested in Resilience and describe how you integrate anti-oppressive practices into your work and/or daily life

  • Two letters of recommendation: Ideally from individuals who can speak to your clinical skill and commitment to anti-oppressive values

  • Clinical writing sample: This can be a de-identified treatment plan, progress note, or case conceptualization