Mind On Mental Health · Penn Medicine - Princeton House Behavioral Health

Expectations for New Therapists: Imposter Syndrome

·24 min·1 clip

Andy names “imposter syndrome,” and Siani says, “How am I someone’s therapist?”

1. Mind On Mental Health focuses on expectations for new therapists and imposter syndrome. 2. Andy Dean hosts Siani Young and Rachel DeGrow, both Princeton House therapists, and he frames them as clinicians whose early-career experience matters. 3. The episode asks what therapy work looks like after school, internship, and licensing exams, especially in PHP/IOP settings. 4. Rachel says she has been at Princeton House about seven years, recently got her LCADC, and works in the dual diagnosis track. 5. Siani says she has been a primary therapist for about eight months and is working toward her LPC. 6. Andy adds that he has worked at Princeton House, done private practice work, and now focuses on OCD and anxiety disorders. 7. Siani says Liberty training did not match what therapists actually do behind the scenes. 8. She says the job involves much more paperwork, case management, and crisis response than she expected. 9. She notes that a full caseload of 12 can feel difficult even when the number sounds manageable. 10. Rachel says real-life clinical work requires meeting people where they are instead of following textbook sequences. 11. Both therapists describe licensing exams and school examples as different from work with actual patients in crisis. 12. Siani says the exam did not reflect real-world judgment, and Rachel says people often handle diversity and clinical situations better in practice than on tests. 13. Rachel says she used to think she would work with one population, but her career moved in another direction. 14. She describes success as sometimes being a depression inventory score and sometimes being a patient feeling safe enough to share something personal. 15. Siani says a successful day can mean a patient simply arrives at program. 16. Andy links that idea to imposter syndrome, and Siani says she once texted a friend asking how she could be someone’s therapist. 17. The tone is conversational, candid, and reflective, with the hosts speaking from direct clinical experience. 18. The format stays interview-based and discussion-driven, with the three clinicians building on each other’s examples. 19. New therapists, interns, and students deciding on clinical work. 20. Listeners wanting a broader mental-health or self-help show.

As heard by us

A practical look at early clinician challenges, the business of care, and the gap between theory and practice.

Andy Dean talks with Siani Young and Rachel DeGrow about the early grind of becoming mental health clinicians. The episode works best when it sets textbook expectations against the messier judgments that shape real care: staying flexible, meeting clients where they are, and…

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If you want a candid look at the first-year therapist scramble, start here.

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