Catalyst Counseling Training Program
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At Catalyst Counseling, we're passionate about providing excellent training, nurturing talent, and empowering our associates to become future leaders in mental health care. We are very excited about our training program. We create an active collaborative culture by offering weekly opportunities for us to continue to grow as therapists and humans. We are a community of learners, and we believe in engaging through humility and curiosity.
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Our All-Staff Training Rotation (Tuesdays at 1pm):
Week 1 - All staff consult
Week 2 - Clinical training - we bring in a subject matter expert to teach us about clinical issues
Week 3 - We offer the choice of attending one of our specialty case consult groups - neurodiversity, trauma, or couples counseling
Week 4 - We split these sessions. Half the sessions focus on building insight on a topic related to systemic oppression, and half the sessions are a book club cultivating a space to deepen learning.
Clinical Supervision
The primary function of our agency is to train clinicians in the craft of therapy. Our training program is for both associates and fully licensed clinicians. Licensed clinicians participate in the first year of cohort supervision under the associate contract then practice independently; associates participate until they accrue hours for licensure.
First Year:
For the first year of supervision, we have created a robust training program. Two experienced clinical supervisors, Jennifer Kennett and Katherine Walter, share the role of supervising first year associates. Once a week, first year associates gather at the office and we do a combination of one-on-one and dyadic supervision.
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Each cohort has three clinicians. We usually try to have a mix of disciplines (LSWAIC, LMFTA, LMHCA).
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The August Cohort: Start date is the third week of August, with seeing clients starting the first week of September.
The February Cohort: Start date is the first week of February, with seeing clients starting the third week of February. (We do not always run a February cohort).
Because of our cohort model, these start dates are not flexible.*
*the only exception being associates on OPT with EAD cards that necessitate an earlier start.
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The first year follows the following pattern:
Two weeks of onboarding
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How to use SimplePractice
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Intro to the office
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Etc!
Then as we start to fill your caseload, we provide a more intensive training experience. Throughout the first year, we alternate between case consult and more didactic conversations on clinical issues. We discuss things like:
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Neurobiology of Safety and Survival Planning
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The Interpersonal Theory of Suicidality - how to address thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and acquired capacity.
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Intersections of identity and trauma geneology
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Assessing for SUD, OCD, and ED
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Pathological vs. Healthy Distress
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Etc!
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Katherine Walter
Katherine Walter, MSW, LICSW, CSW-G, is the owner and clinical director for Catalyst Counseling. For the first eight years of my career, I worked in medical social work, primarily oncology, home health, and hospice. I transitioned to private practice in 2013 and opened Catalyst Counseling as a group practice in 2017. It is an extraordinary privilege to mentor and cultivate clinicians to help you reach your fullest professional potential.
My focus is on the self of the therapist. It’s my job to help you own your strengths and notice when you are feeling activated in session. I can help you articulate your boundaries and scope of practice. I can help you start to build your professional identity.
Because I am trained as a social worker, my lens is systemic - I will help you look at a case from micro, mezzo, and macro lenses. I will help you identify messages and systems that are impacting both the client’s experience in the world, and the experience for both of you inside the session.
Dr. Jennifer Kennett
Jennifer S. Kennett, PhD, MA, MBA, LMHC, is the owner of a successful private practice (Eastside Couples Therapy) serving couples since 2013. I have over 20 years of experience as a therapist. I view the therapeutic relationship as central to effective change and I draw on strengths-based approaches, narrative theory, attachment-oriented perspectives, existential theory, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence in my clinical work.
I received my PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision program at Antioch University Seattle. I have forged a reputation as a compassionate, caring, and collaborative counselor and supervisor, helping clients and emerging counselors achieve the growth and change they crave.
As an educator, I view learning as an intellectual playground; I believe that learning starts from a place of curiosity. I want learners to feel encouraged to explore ideas by engaging their prior knowledge and their lived intellectual and emotional experiences.
Advanced Year:
We are acutely aware that two middle-aged white ladies are not capable of providing all of the clinical education an associate needs. Our job is to help you grow to your full potential, and to do that we cultivate the expertise of our entire professional community. We ask our advanced year associates to identify an area of growth to deepen their practice, and we help them find an external supervisor who is a leader in their subject area.
This is a good opportunity to be mentored by a supervisor with similar intersections of identities or to be mentored by a supervisor with expertise in a clinical topic or modality. Supervisor and supervisee meet one-on-one twice a month, usually on video. Catalyst (not the associate) pays the external supervisor. The advanced year associates continue to participate in the rest of the Catalyst training program.