After years of slogging away, meeting all the requirements of my professional association, I have at last reached the pinnacle - I'm "clinical".
I work in an unregulated profession: anyone can hang up a sign saying "counsellor" or "psychotherapist" and start "treating" people. Scary thought, right?
So when you decide to see "a therapist", it might be worth your while checking that they belong to a professional association - in my case, the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia.
In order to become a member, I needed to hold a degree in the field, see a supervisor (the therapist's therapist) on a regular basis, do a certain number of hours of professional development every year and agree to work ethically.
You start off as a student member, become an intern, then provisional clinical, and at last, the highest level, a clinical member.
I think it's in the public's interest that my professional body has standards that its members have to uphold. And I find it's in my interest to have someone telling me what is "best practice" in my field.
Please feel free to congratulate me :)
I have invested time (years), money (lots) and my heart (all of it) into becoming the best therapist I can be - and I will continue to do so.