Part 3: What Happens After the Cap and Gown

The Hour Grind: Quality Over Quantity

Accumulating Hours Without Losing Your Soul

Let’s be real: 2,000 to 4,000 hours sounds like an eternity when you’re just starting out. It’s easy to get caught up in the "grind" and forget why you started this journey in the first place.

The Perspective: We spend so much time advocating for our clients to have a work-life balance—now it's your turn.

• Make every hour count: Instead of just "checking the box," use your supervision time to discuss the cases that actually keep you up at night.
• Like, truly. Make every hour count: It is incredibly common for ASWs and AMFTs to undercount their hours, and it often happens because we aren't taught the difference between "Direct Clinical" and "Non-Clinical" work. If you were working 8 hours a day, you were likely doing a mountain of work that the BBS wants you to claim, but because it didn't feel like "therapy," you might have left it off your logs. Communicate with your supervisor on how to allocate all the hours you work in the right categories!
• Self-Care is Professionalism: You can't provide quality care if you’re burnt out in 6 months. Setting boundaries early in your "hour grind" is a clinical skill in itself.