During MFT practicum, I learned to pay close attention to power: who holds it, who depends on whom, and what can make honest speech feel unsafe.
That lens is essential in the therapy room. But I began to notice how easily it could disappear when the subject was the practicum system itself.
Trainees can depend on placement agencies for clinical hours, evaluations, references, supervision, and progress toward licensure. That dependence can make it difficult to ask whether expectations are fair, whether support is actually available, or whether the language of “professional growth” is covering conditions that leave trainees depleted and afraid to speak.
We should not be taught to identify power imbalances with clients, then be expected to ignore the power imbalances shaping our own training.
I am intentionally not naming an agency or a person here. The problem I want to address is larger than one workplace or one supervisor. It is the absence of reliable, structured information before a trainee makes a decision that can affect their finances, wellbeing, education, and path to licensure.
Placement Compass is my attempt to close that gap. Not through a callout board. Not through anonymous accusations. Through consistent agency-level questions, relationship verification, visible review counts, and enough privacy protection for patterns to become visible without turning individuals into targets.
The goal is simple: trainees should be able to make informed choices, and training systems should be able to learn from patterns they might otherwise never see.