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WHEN IN DOUBT: STRATEGIC THINKING ABOUT CAREER

SUSTAINABILITY AS A TRAINING DIRECTOR

Jennifer Petro, PsyD, University of ConnecticutCindy Bruns, PhD, Central Washington University

Brigid Cahill, PhD, University of RochesterMaureen Lafferty, EdD, University of Notre DameJenny Lybeck-Brown, PhD, University of MissouriLaura Wright, PhD, Florida Gulf Coast University

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ALTERNATE TITLES:“WHY I DAY DRINK WHILE ON CONFERENCE CALLS”

“WHEN INTERNAL SWEARING JUST ISN’T ENOUGH”

“101 REASONS WHY I’M JEALOUS OF MY COLLEAGUES WHO HAVE MOVED ON”

“HOW DID JOYCE/KAREN/INSERT NAME OF LONG-TIME TD HERE DO THIS FOR 30+ YEARS?”

“HOW TO HAVE A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR JOB AND LIVE TO TELL ABOUT IT”

“I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING!”

Our Origin Story & Backgrounds

• Status update – overwhelmed!

• Range of experiences – 7-22 years as TD, several have held interim director

status while serving as TD, all part of leadership of center

• Acknowledgement of privilege/shared identities

Learning Objectives & Outline

• Describe the stage of Doubt as a training director

• List influencing factors that contribute to the stage of Doubt as a training director

• Discuss strategies that can be used to assess, explore, and resolve stage of Doubt

• Create a plan of at least one new strategy participants can use to resolve stage of Doubt for themselves

CWHAT IS DOUBT & HOW

DID I GET HERE?

Spoiler alert: Go to the Passages session for more in depth info on all the developmental stages!

Passages through ACCTA

• Entry

• Identity/Immersion

• Doubt

• Increasing boredom, skepticism, frustration with training

• Growing sense of re-evaluation with personal/professional goals

• Contemplating career change, moving up or moving down

• Concern for salary/status issues

• Lacking support or appreciation as TD

• Developing less patience or tolerance with training problems

• Reimmersion

• Continuously Evolving

• Exit

Kahoot Question

• Open your Kahoot app or go to Kahoot.it on your device

• Enter 4280094 where it asks for a game pin

• Pick a nickname

• Once we start, you will see a question up on the screen with 4 choices. Pick the symbol

that matches your choice

• Keep your app/website open during the presentation so you don’t have to log in each

time

Many Roads Can Lead to Doubt

• There are MANY contextual issues to consider!• Service demands

• Need to balance multiple work roles

• Changes in national training landscape

• Personal/professional concerns

Changing Service Demands (A small sampling of our reality. . . )

• The average level of Counseling Center utilization grew by 30% in the last 5 years. *

• Lifetime prevalence rates for “threat to self” (self-injury and serious suicidal ideation) have increased for the 6th consecutive year.*

• Counseling Centers are, on average, providing 28% more “rapid access” service hours per client over the last 6 years.*

*Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMD) 2016 Annual Report

Role Specific Demands

• Managing TD yearly schedule/demands at a UCC vs. other staff pacing and schedule

• We are juggling roles as administrators, supervisors, trainers, clinicians, crisis workers, etc. on top of personal priorities and relationships

• Is Balance even Possible?

Work Environment Factors

• Institutional/director support for

training

• Reporting structure (e.g., not

having evaluative power over

supervisors)

• Difficult intern or cohort dynamics

• Insurance stressors

• Staff turnover

Changes in National Training Landscape/ From Abundance to Scarcity

• Match imbalance has shifted in

favor of applicants

• Phase II, PMVS – wearing in the midst

of other work

• Push for new programs, but slots are

unfilled

• What’s wrong with my program?

• Pressure to be better, shinier, more

attractive

Year Applicants submitted

ranks

Positions Positions Unfilled

2018 3661 3940 380 (10%)

2017 3729 3881 161 (11%)

2016 3814 3812 147 (4%)

2015 4005 3701 83 (2%)

2014 4041 3534 39 (1%)

2013 4114 3397 19 (1%)

Changes in National Training Landscape• University pressures

• Move toward clinic model

• Less value on training, more on productivity

• Justifying training programs

• Programs closing

•Generational Impacts • Bridging generational differences

• Training Director expectations and intern expectations

• P.S. Only about 4 years until Gen Zs start internship

• Current landscape impinges on the basic needs of all generations in different ways• Gen Y – I want to make an impact

• Gen X – I did it my way • Boomers – I want my work to have meaning and be valued

Changes in National Training Landscape/Trends in Education & Service Delivery

• Proximal, Distal, Outcomes, oh my!

• More assessment, measurement,

tracking, and “proving” is expected

• Both for training and service

provision

• Some is good, too much is a burden

• Outcome versus process

• Competencies movement

• Good things about this – focus,

intention, more objectivity

• Focus on outcome over process

Changes in National Training Landscape/Ever Shifting Sands-Eternal Expectations

• An important part of Reimmersion is feeling some sense of competence at navigating the demands of training

• Many significant changes in the last several years• Health Service Psychology

• G&P to SoA

• APPIC Match Participation Changes

• APPIC Postdoctoral Match Process

• EPPP2

Panic Moments• CoA non-compliance letter

• APPIC “You’re not up to date” email

Personal/Professional Demands –Identity Pressures

• Pressure/expectation/desire to represent and support group(s)

with similar identities (e.g., through outreach responsibilities,

clinical referrals)

• Political climate - e.g., for international TDs

• Microaggressions from trainees, others

• Experiences of being tokenized

• intersection of oppressed identities

Personal/Professional Demands

• Parenthood and flexibility allowed in schedule

• Caring for aging parents

• “Sandwich” issues

• Financial stressors

• Dual career issues

Kahoot Question

• Open your Kahoot app or go to Kahoot.it on your device

• Enter 4280094 where it asks for a game pin

CWHAT CAN I DO?

Strategies/ideas to help you manage, resolve, traverse,

or just deal more effectively with ALL this stuff

Do I stay or do I go?

• Ask yourself what has you contemplating the sustainability of the Training Director role?

• Some reasons people leave jobs because of:

• Leadership

• Dissatisfied with the work

• Burnout

• Wanting opportunities to use talents/skills

• Looking for more meaning in their job

• Culture of the workplace

• Financial

• Need to have more flexibility to balance work/life demands

• Getting clearer with yourself about what you are looking to get away from/change will help you clarify which strategies may be helpful to you to resolve or improve your circumstances

Work intentionally to get some more insight into what is fueling your Doubt• Journaling

• Inventory the areas of your life where you feel doubt/dissatisfaction.

• Take stock of both areas that are easily identifiable as problematic in some way and areas that

are going well or look just as you would like them to be. Expand your focus areas to both the

good and the challenging

• Assess what things are non-negotiable and what areas there may be opportunities to

think flexibly

• Values clarification exercises

• These can help you clarify what needs most attention/negotiation as you are working on

management of work responsibilities

Skills Development: Negotiation

• May or may not have developed or

used negation skills for many reasons

• Negotiation intersects with multiple

identities that culturally influence how,

when, why, and if people have been

traditionally allowed or encouraged to

negotiate in the work place

Skills Development: Delegation

• Barriers to delegation

• Internal

• Systemic

• Proactive delegation vs

reactive delegation

Assessing internal barriers: Self-talk

• Defeating self-talk: “I am not good

enough to do all of this,” “Other

people seem to do it all, why can’t I,”

etc.

• Unhelpful stories about yourself: how

does how you feel now about your

situation mirror places you have been

in the past. How can you start to

reshape your story?

Assessing internal barriers: Guilt

• Guilt…

• That you aren’t doing enough

• That you are doing too much

• That things sound better for you than

for your colleague but you are still

unhappy

• That prevents you from sharing your

successes because you don’t want

to be perceived negatively

Check yourself on this kind of self talk.

It keeps you stuck and unable to look

up and assess your options.

Time boundaries • When do I leave/get to the office?

• How much work do I do at home or not?

• Do I take a lunch break?

• Exploring flex scheduling options

• Variable contract options (12 month, 11 month, 10 month contracts, etc. )

• How do you manage the therapy hour? Are you leaving time for breaks?

• Are you willing to shut your door to work on projects?

• Assess your time boundaries and how they align with your values and/or self-care goals

Structural strategies for managing the Training Director role• How can you shift or alter your Training Director responsibilities to provide you

relief

• Relief may be temporary or a longer-term shift in the program management

• Examples:

• Release time in schedule for training administration responsibilities

• Selection process—re-evaluate your and others roles within this

• Being a supervisor/not being a supervisor

• Take a break from or permanently step off certain things

• Advocate for a good administrative assistant with dedicated time for YOUR projects

Dealing with Leadership Challenges

• Look at what is changeable and

what is not within the leadership

challenge you may be facing

• Assess if there are issues that higher

administration is or is not aware of

and is there room to act

• Assess how the leadership style

within the center is affecting you

Stay connected to a growth mindset for yourself• Find ways within you job to continue to

grow

• Look for new clinical opportunities or

administrative opportunities

• Join committees through ACCTA, get

involved in something larger than your

work in your center

• Look for ways outside of work to be

growing. Growing in one area can

support and sustain other areas that

may be temporarily struggling.

Support people

• At work:

• Create a training team you trust and can lean on

• Find a buddy (or 3) at work who can ground you in process/check in with to see if what you’re thinking makes sense

• Build your ACCTA colleague network & get honest with each other about the struggles

• At home:

• Let friends and family know when you are struggling and lean on them

• Make time for the people who restore you

Self-care: It comes in all forms…

Self-care strategies: At Work

• Find things you can do in 5 min, 10 min,

1 hour, annually (ex. ACCTA), etc.

• Examples:

• Stretch

• Hydrate

• Walk

• Take a break and laugh with your

colleague

• Do non-confidential tasks away from the

office (e.g., outside, at Starbucks, etc.)

• Eat lunch somewhere other than your

desk

• Conference call with ACCTA colleagues

and troubleshoot/commiserate together

Self-care strategies: Care for the long haul• Be proactive not just reactive in

your self-care.

• Don’t wait until you are depleted

before you take a little care of

you

• Set an intention. Make a plan for

self-care. Start small and build from

there.

Self-care strategies: Immediate relief when you are overwhelmed

• Sometimes you just need to make it

through a storm

• Be kind with yourself if you cannot

perfect self-care. You may be in it

right now and unable to do all that you want. It is ok to be imperfect at

your self-care.

• Eat a donut (or don’t). Take a walk

(or don’t). Listen to music (or don’t).

Do however take a moment to check in about what you need and honor

that as best you can.

Alternative or “Shadow” strategies:

• Side eye

• Shade throwing

• Passive aggressiveness

• Swearing

• Writing the angry email that you

never send

• Day drinking (Note: this is generally

frowned upon and may be seen as

an HR issue)

Discussion

References• Dunford, B. B., Shipp, A. J., Boss, R. W., Angermeier, I., & Boss, A. D. (2012). Is burnout static or dynamic? A career

transition perspective of employee burnout trajectories. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 97(3), 637-650.

• Kopelman, S., Feldman, E. R., McDaniel, D. M., & Hall, D. (. (2012). Mindfully negotiating a career with a heart. Organizational Dynamics, 41(2), 163-171.

• Lamb, D. H., Roehlke, H. J., & Butler, A. C. (1986). Passages of psychologists: Career stages of internship directors. Professional Psychology: Research And Practice, 17(2), 158-160.

• Littman-Ovadia, H., Oren, L., & Lavy, S. (2013). Attachment and autonomy in the workplace: New insights. Journal Of Career Assessment, 21(4), 502-518.

• Livingston, B. A. (2014). Bargaining behind the scenes: Spousal negotiation, labor, and work–family burnout. Journal Of Management, 40(4), 949-977.

• McCormack, L., Abou-Hamdan, S., & Joseph, S. (2017). Career derailment: Burnout and bullying at the executive level. International Coaching Psychology Review, 12(1), 24-36.

• Pines, A. M. (2000). Treating career burnout: A psychodynamic existential perspective. Journal Of Clinical Psychology, 56(5), 633-642.

• Rupert, P. A., & Kent, J. S. (2007). Gender and work setting differences in career-sustaining behaviors and burnout among professional psychologists. Professional Psychology: Research And Practice, 38(1), 88-96.