Graduate Intern Program

Applications for the 2025 clinical internship year are closed as of November 18th, 2024.

We are not accepting any additional applicants for 2025. Our application will reopen in October 2026.

Sakura Counseling aims to be diverse both in modalities and also in culture. We aim to hire clinicians that represent our clients in culture, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Sakura counseling is trauma informed and is working towards removing harmful practices related to client care. We accept clinicians from all cultures and backgrounds. We hope to provide a safe space for clinicians of color and clinicians within the LGBTQIA+ community. We hope our clinicians and supervisors represent the clients we meet. Sakura Counseling is an inclusive environment that provides equal rights and opportunities for all workers, regardless of gender, color, age, ethnicity, physical ability, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs. Sakura Counseling strives to be a group practice focused uplifting marginalized communities. Our clinicians aim to continue learning and diversifying skills through training, consultation, and supervision.

Sakura welcomes all populations in the Portland area. We specialize in working with marginalized communities: BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), LGBTQIA+, and Disabled communities. The therapeutic process is to facilitate personal growth and change through collaboration, bringing about resilience, self-empowerment, and independence.

We are looking for applicants that are trauma informed, willing to receive feedback, open to LGBTQIA+, BIPoC, disabled, low-income, poly-amorous, immigrant, and marginalized clients. We are looking for students that are open to grow with the company and being flexible. We hope for a natural ability to work with others through a genuine strengths-based approach, appreciating unique qualities and assets of clients. Applicants should demonstrate success in working with historically underrepresented and marginalized persons and communities through a culturally humble approach to client care.

We are looking for staff that strive for authenticity. We are open for reaching out. We hope our staff enjoy community full of humor and meals. We value consent & authenticity within the workplace. Consultations, group supervision, and self-care support groups are what we strive for so that clinicians may receive collective care. We hope to share experiences as a collective staff including admin, interns, qualified mental health professionals, associates, and licensed professionals. We hope that you also advocate for and create the community that you crave.

The counseling intern or practicum student at Sakura Counseling performs duties and responsibilities under the general direction of the Clinical Supervisor. The student intern will provide excellent trauma-informed, culturally-specific therapeutic mental health services. To qualify, student counseling interns must be currently enrolled in a CACREP- or COAMFTE- accredited Masters program which requires the accumulation of a set number of clinical supervision hours as a condition for graduation. Depending on the intern’s program, practicum and internship students may have varying duties within their roles. Furthermore, client contact hours will vary between practicum and intern students, as well as between students from different programs. On average practicum students will average about 3 clients while internship students will average about 12-15 clients at a time. Interns and practicum students should check with their faculty advisor(s) and student handbooks for more information about the specific requirements for their program.
All student interns are expected to commit to a minimum of 10 months for their internship in order to build and sustain a trauma-informed case load.