Affordable Counseling, Thoughtful Supervision
GATE’s graduate clinical interns provide reduced-fee counseling for clients whose needs fit the intern’s training, experience, and available supervision. Each client is matched according to their needs and the intern’s training—not simply the next available appointment.
Intern counseling is available for children, teens, adults, and families seeking a reduced-fee option.
What Is a Graduate Clinical Intern?
A graduate clinical intern is a counselor-in-training who provides services as part of a supervised graduate education placement at GATE. Graduate clinical interns:
- Are enrolled in an approved graduate training program
- Are completing supervised clinical experience as part of their education
- Bring their own training, interests, and developing areas of expertise
- Work within the limits of their education, placement, and supervision
- Are not yet independently licensed clinicians
Before services begin, clients receive informed consent that explains the intern’s status, their supervisor, how supervision works, and the limits of the placement.
Matching Clients Carefully
Interns are matched with clients based on clinical fit, developmental needs, the intern’s training and areas of experience, scheduling, and the level of supervision available.
Some clients may be better served by a licensed clinician or a higher level of care. When reviewing an inquiry, GATE considers questions such as:
- Whether the client’s current needs fit the intern’s training and experience
- Whether the level of support needed can be provided within a weekly outpatient, supervised training setting
- Whether safety concerns or the intensity of current symptoms call for a licensed clinician or a higher level of care
- Whether the client’s scheduling needs and preferred format can be met during the intern’s placement
GATE may recommend another provider when an intern placement would not be clinically appropriate.
Supervision and Clinical Support
Each graduate clinical intern receives at least one hour of one-to-one supervision and one hour of group supervision as part of their placement at GATE. Supervision is provided through the intern’s approved placement supervisor and GATE clinicians according to the intern’s role, university requirements, and services provided. Supervision includes ongoing attention to clinical fit, treatment planning, documentation, ethical practice, and the thoughtful use of play-, narrative-, and game-informed approaches.
What Supervision Means for Clients
The intern remains the client’s direct counselor while supervisors provide guidance, review relevant clinical information, and support treatment planning and continuity of care. When additional supervisor involvement would be helpful, that role is discussed with the client or caregiver.
Three Payment Pathways
Intern counseling offers three ways to pay. GATE will review which pathway fits your situation during the inquiry process.
Standard Self-Pay
$55
per 50-minute session
Reduced-fee counseling without using insurance. Payment is made to GATE rather than directly to the intern.
Limited Hardship Rate
$35
per 50-minute session
GATE currently maintains two hardship placements across the entire intern program. Availability depends on financial need, clinical fit, scheduling, and current placement capacity.
Insurance When Eligible
Coverage varies
based on your insurance plan
Some insurance plans may cover counseling provided within a supervised graduate-training placement. Before services begin, GATE will check whether your plan permits this arrangement and explain the expected costs.
Insurance verification is an estimate, not a guarantee of payment. Deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, authorization requirements, or denied claims may still affect what you owe.
Intern Availability Follows the Academic Calendar
Graduate interns can provide services only while they remain enrolled, approved by their academic program, and active in their GATE placement. Depending on the intern and their school, winter, spring, or summer breaks may affect scheduling or temporarily pause sessions.
- Clients will be informed of known breaks as early as possible.
- Each intern’s placement has an anticipated end date, which is shared at the start of services.
- GATE will discuss continuity options with you well before a placement ends.
- Options may include transfer to another appropriate intern or clinician, a planned pause, or an outside referral.
- Continued placement with the same intern after graduation cannot be promised.
Transitions are planned together, so the end of a semester or placement is an opportunity to review progress and next steps rather than a sudden stop.
Meet the Interns
Each intern provides counseling as part of a supervised graduate placement and does not practice independently. Areas of training describe each intern’s graduate education and placement focus—not certifications or independent specialties.
Marissa Fortunato
Graduate Social Work Intern
- Graduate program: Master of Social Work, Montclair State University
- Available through: May 2027
- Populations served: Children, teens, and adult women
- Service format: Hybrid (in person and virtual)
- Primary supervisor: Siobhan Quinones, LMSW
- GATE task manager and group supervisor: Brian Quinones, EdD, LPC, RPT-S
- Current availability: Mondays and Wednesdays; Thursday mornings until 2:00 PM; weekends upon request
Areas of training
- Grief and bereavement support
- Group facilitation
- Child, adolescent, and family social work
Approaches used under supervision
- Person-centered therapy
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Eclectic approaches integrating CBT and psychodynamic perspectives
- Interpersonal therapy
Nicole Cannon
Clinical Mental Health Counseling Intern
- Graduate program: Master of Science in Counseling, University of Louisiana Monroe
- Available through: May 2027
- Populations served: Women of all ages, teens, and children
- Service format: Hybrid (in person and virtual)
- Primary supervisor: Brian Quinones, EdD, LPC, RPT-S
- Current availability: Monday and Wednesday daytimes, in person or virtual; limited virtual availability Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday
Areas of training
- Perinatal mental health and infant mental health, with a particular interest in women and motherhood
Approaches used under supervision
- Person-centered therapy
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
- Feminist/multicultural therapy
Listed availability reflects each intern’s current placement schedule and may change, including during academic breaks. Clients are matched according to their needs, developmental needs, scheduling, the intern’s training, and clinical fit, so an inquiry about a specific intern does not guarantee placement with that intern.
How to Start
- Submit an inquiry.
- GATE reviews clinical fit, scheduling, payment pathway, and available interns.
- An appropriate match is proposed when available.
- You review informed consent, supervision, fees, and academic-calendar expectations before beginning.
An inquiry does not guarantee placement. If intern counseling is not the appropriate fit, GATE may recommend a licensed clinician, another service, or an outside referral.