Training at Depth Counseling

Depth Counseling offers intensive tracks for both graduate student interns and post-graduate clinicians looking to continue their training experience in a supportive environment. See below for program descriptions and requirements.

Advanced Internship / Practicum

Depth Counseling offers a one-year (unpaid) advanced internship / practicum opportunity for doctoral and master’s-level counseling, social work, and psychology students interested in deepening their clinical and theoretical knowledge of psychoanalytic practice.

Students are required to build to and maintain a caseload of 10-12 adult patients they see 1-2 times per week for 12 months. They will also have the option of co-leading a weekly two-hour DBT group. Students are required to manage their own scheduling, collection of fees, and management of records. Opportunities to work with children or couples may become available on a case-by-case basis.

Additional requirements include: weekly one-hour case conference (2pm Tuesdays), weekly one-hour individual supervision, and monthly didactics with Depth clinicians around their areas of expertise. Total time requirement is approximately 15-20 hours weekly.

Preference is given to students with clinical experience and exposure to psychoanalytic theory. BIPOC students are especially encouraged to apply. Current or recent clients of Depth Counseling are unfortunately ineligible.

Applications are accepted after January 1, 2023 with rolling admissions. The deadline to apply is 5/1/2023. Priority is given to earlier applications.

How to apply

To apply, please email the Co-Directors of the Clinical Training Program, Jenna White LCPC and Leah Nuetzel Happ LCSW at training@depthcounseling.org with the following, or click the button below to fill out a form:

Your resume/CV
TWO letters of recommendation
Answer TWO of the following questions:

Depth Counseling is a psychoanalytic group practice. While many therapists pride themselves on being well-rounded, we pride ourselves on being heavily lopsided (if you will). Although many of us draw on techniques found in other approaches (CBT, DBT, Rogerian therapy, etc.), we integrate it all within a firmly psychoanalytic framework. Please tell us what you consider to be the unique features of a psychoanalytic approach and why you think it is important to offer this form of therapy in today’s mental health climate. (3-5 paragraphs)
Our strongest applicants are self-educators who read independently and pursue education in psychoanalysis beyond the classroom. Please choose a “favorite” writer or thinker in psychoanalysis and tell us why his or her work matters to you. One caveat: it can’t be Freud. Please show us that you have read beyond Freud by choosing someone later (e.g., Klein, Bion, Winnicott, Fairbairn, Kohut, Stephen Mitchell, Donnel Stern, or Jessica Benjamin.) (3-5 paragraphs)
If you do not have specific exposure to psychoanalytic theory/practice, what in your life led you to this work and our practice? How do you imagine your background will inform your clinical practice?

Openings: Depth Counseling's Clinic for Psychosis & Extreme States

Depth Counseling seeks students to work in our new psychoanalytic clinic for psychosis and extreme states

We are also seeking student applicants to staff and to help launch a new clinical project, alongside several current staff clinicians. Existing as a separate clinical project within Depth, a new center will be geared toward subjects who experience psychosis, who hear voices, or who undergo extreme states. Consequently, in addition to one-on-one psychoanalytic services, this clinic will begin to build a milieu to support the individual attendee in work with and on their unconscious and it will require the close collaboration of clinicians in a treatment team. In addition to a student, we aim to hire clinicians who will do clinical work in individual and group settings, as well as an arts coordinator (license-eligible, with training as an art therapist) who will work one-on-one with clinic attendees to support them in the development of their artistic projects and to organize arts-based programming.

Given the need to create a stable treatment team for this project, successful student applicants should have an interest in applying to join the treatment team as a staff clinician after the successful completion of the internship year.

Each member of the treatment team will be required to develop a personalized plan to pursue training, study, and formation along the lines of psychoanalysis and psychotic structure, according to their desire. Depth Counseling will facilitate a weekly case conference to help support this goal.

A grant from the American Psychoanalytic Foundation has allowed us to offer a modest stipend to an intern who will help us to develop certain aspects of our programming.

Submit an Application

Post-Graduate Fellowships

Do you want to complement your employment with ongoing education? We offer well-compensated, full-time fellowship opportunities for pre-license and licensed early career professionals who want to learn the art and science of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Benefits

Depth offers a competitive compensation package tailored to meet your individual needs. Benefits (health, retirement, etc) are available as well as opportunities for in-person office space.
Support for billing and insurance.
Steady stream of client referrals.
Earn hours towards licensure.
Trainees can practice via telehealth, in-person, or create a hybrid that works with their individual needs.
Room for two low-fee client sessions per week (once caseload reaches 25 patients).
Opportunity to join ZocDoc and rapidly build a caseload with PPO patients.
Ability to accept patient’s insurance (BCBS PPO and BCBS Community Medicaid)
Ability to apply for Depth’s BIPOC Continuing Education Scholarship.
No non-compete.

Introduction to the Practice of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

With Leah Nuetzel Happ LCSW and Tegan Cassin, LCSW

This one-year paid clinical fellowship provides an entry point for anyone with a genuine curiosity about psychodynamic / psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The program offers foundational knowledge for those who would like to work and train in this orientation. Fellows will deepen their work alongside peers at a similar stage of learning. Each month the group will explore one aspect of this approach, helping newer clinicians gain confidence in their clinical understanding and identity as they establish their caseloads and work towards licensure. Guest lecturers from around the world will join us periodically throughout the year. After year one, fellows can decide if they would like to apply for the advanced fellowship or go in another direction.

WHAT MAKES TRAINING AT DEPTH COUNSELING DIFFERENT?

Psychoanalytic coursework is largely absent from most masters programs, making this program a truly unique opportunity to explore this way of working with patients.
The emphasis of this training is on relationality and the difficulties of sitting with real patients, rather than a historical review of psychoanalytic theory.
We will be at the vanguard, exploring not just intrapsychic and interpersonal struggles, but also the dynamics of critical social phenomenon including: systemic racism / white supremacy, gender / gender identity / working with trans patients, sexuality (kink, polyamory, LGBTQIA+, etc), social justice emergencies (like climate change, colonization, capitalism, ultranationalism / fascism, racial violence, fatphobia / eating disorders, ablism, abolition, gendered violence / misogyny / patriarchy, etc.)
This training is a pipeline to permanent employment, higher income, and supervision training opportunities at Depth Counseling.
Curriculum is tailored towards the level and interests of the unique cohort.
Learn the ins and outs of the business of psychotherapy (billing, insurance, Medicaid’s IM+CANS, setting realistic salary goals, etc).
Depth Counseling has an external consultant (RGW) working with us on issues of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and overseeing our program design and execution with an anti-racist lens.
Accessible texts from Michael Basch, Nancy McWilliams, Karen Maroda, Neville Symington, and Irvin Yalom, among others.

APPLY

Advanced Clinical Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

With Jenna White LCPC and Danielle Trudeau LPC

For those with a significant understanding of psychoanalytic theory and practice, this two-year paid clinical fellowship immerses trainees in the clinical dilemmas of the early years of direct patient work. Explore common conundrums and theoretical edges with a group of like-minded peers who share a passion for depth in the psychotherapeutic encounter. Clinicians will gain confidence in their clinical voice as they establish their caseloads and work towards licensure. Expert guest lecturers from around the world will join us periodically throughout the year.

WHAT MAKES DEPTH COUNSELING’S FELLOWSHIP DIFFERENT?

The emphasis of this training is on relationality and the difficulties of sitting with real patients, rather than a historical review of psychoanalytic theory.
We will be at the vanguard, exploring not just intrapsychic and interpersonal struggles, but also the dynamics of critical social phenomenon including: systemic racism / white supremacy, gender / gender identity / working with trans patients, sexuality (kink, polyamory, LGBTQIA+, etc), social justice emergencies (like climate change, colonization, capitalism, ultranationalism / fascism, racial violence, fatphobia / eating disorders, ablism, abolition, gendered violence / misogyny / patriarchy, etc.)
This training is a pipeline to permanent employment, higher income, and supervision training opportunities at Depth Counseling.
Curriculum is tailored towards the level and interests of the unique cohort.
Learn the ins and outs of the business of psychotherapy (billing, insurance, Medicaid’s IM+CANS, setting realistic salary goals, etc).
Depth Counseling has an external consultant (RGW) working with us on issues of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and overseeing our program design and execution with an anti-racist lens.

How to apply

Please click the button below to fill out a short application form. We will follow up with you.

I’ve benefited so greatly from the quality and intentionality of the training and supervision as a graduate student intern with Depth—this experience has been deeply rewarding, intellectually stimulating, and challenging in all the right ways. Interns are supported in growing their knowledge of psychoanalytic theory, exploring how to integrate theory into practice in their clinical work, and developing their unique voices as clinicians. The opportunity to engage with more experienced clinicians in case conferences, discuss papers with other fellows and interns in didactics, and benefit from such thoughtful, psychoanalytically rooted supervision has fueled my development as an early-career clinician.

JESSIE CHASAN-TABER ‘23

The amount of knowledge and insights I have gained from interning at Depth Counseling has been indescribable. From receiving different perspectives from supervisors, leaders, and fellow interns, my time here has been rewarding in expanding my knowledge within this field. I am confident in my abilities to do this work with clients with all the assistance from the great team at Depth. There is a sense of community here. Whether we meet in case conferences or reading groups, building relationships with those with the same passion for the field has been pleasant. I am excited to continue growing and learning at Depth Counseling.

AMANDA AGUILERA, ‘23

The breadth of exposure to a group practice is difficult to overstate in my experience. I’ve learned so much in the course of my internship experience in both clinical work as well as the inner workings of a growing practice. I cannot recommend this internship enough.

SCOTT GARLINGER, ‘23

My internship at Depth has been thoroughly immersive and rewarding, enabling me to build a strong foundation of clinical experience and confidence in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Along with thoughtful supervision, the case conferences, didactic groups, and supportive communal milieu at Depth have facilitated a holding environment in which I have been able to stretch, grow, and explore my burgeoning identity and capacities.

ALLISON JONES, ‘22

In addition to my current master’s program, I have pursued clinical training at a number of different institutes, clinics, and other venues. Of these many experiences, my internship at Depth has been one of the most valuable. Depth has drawn together a rigorous, theoretically broad-based, and super thoughtful community of psychoanalytically-oriented clinicians to work with a constant stream of diverse patients looking to do deep and transformative work. Perhaps rare among internship placements, Depth’s prioritization of training is reflected in its flexibility and provision of resources to its clinicians in a way that supports our work with current and potential future patients.

RICHARD REINHARDT, ‘22

Interning at Depth has been an incredibly valuable learning experience — while rigorous, the internship allows for a much-appreciated level of autonomy in management of scheduling and intake of new patients while also providing a supportive structure in which I feel as though I have multiple access points for consultation to help inform my treatment approaches. There has been opportunity to engage in extended treatments and to cultivate deeper relationships with patients, which feels unique to an internship structure. Additionally, the extra attention that Depth gives to embracing a psychoanalytic approach to my cases in consultation, supervision, and discussion of theory has allowed me to integrate useful concepts and techniques as I shape my clinical identity.

AUTUMN SPENSIERI, ‘22

Interning at Depth Counseling has been a tremendously rewarding experience. Supervision is empathic, honest, cooperative, and encouraging. The weekly case conferences are always stimulating; both theory and technique are put at the front and center of our discussions. Weekly readings speak directly to the case being presented for that week, and they are drawn from a wide variety of psychoanalytic schools and approaches. Administrative matters are addressed smoothly and efficiently. DEI, anti-racist psychotherapy, and matters of socio-economic justice and accessibility are a centerpiece of Depth’s approach to clinical practice. Monthly didactics are intellectually stimulating and their “live-supervision” seminars — in which I have had the privilege and honor to participate — are a truly radical initiative. Whether one is wishing to build a pathway to formal psychoanalytic training while a student or, as it was in my case, seeking a group practice to support and facilitate one’s current psychoanalytic training, there is no better place to do so in Chicago and the greater Midwest than Depth Counseling.

SEAN DOWDY, ‘22