Passing your National Licensing Exam
Getting licensed can open up incredible opportunities, but the exam can seem daunting. Our podcasts make passing more achievable and even fun. Dr Hutchinson and Stacy’s energy and passion for this content will get you motivated and confident.
We break things down in understandable ways - no stuffiness or complexity and focus on the critical parts you need so your valuable study time counts. You’ll come away feeling like, “I can do this!” Whether it’s nailing down diagnoses, theoretical approaches, or applying ethics in challenging situations, we help you get into a licensed mindset. Knowledge domains we cover in these podcasts include:
Professional Practice and Ethics
Intake, Assessment, & Diagnosis
Areas of Clinical Focus
Treatment Planning
Counseling Skills and Interventions
Core Counseling Attributes
And, of course, the DSM-5-TR.
If you listen, you might surprise yourself at how much you absorb and enjoy it along the way. Take that first step – you’ll gain confidence and valuable skills and feel confident getting ready for your licensing exam!
Passing your National Licensing Exam
Finding the Balance: Study Without Burnout
A ceiling fan that rattles and wobbles shouldn’t be fixed with more power—it needs balance. We take that same idea to focus and studying, showing how attention breaks down when life pulls unevenly on your time, energy, and commitments. Instead of forcing willpower, we walk through a kinder reset: recognizing what your current schedule protects, carving intentional time for learning, and using a short journaling practice to uncover the real reasons you resist prioritizing study.
We share practical moves that calm the mental “clank.” Start by mapping priorities without judgment, then note the invisible bargains you’ve made—late nights, open-ended messages, overstuffed evenings—that throw your days off balance. With that awareness, you can rebalance the “blades” of your life: consolidate communication windows, anchor a 60–90 minute deep-work block, and adjust one recurring commitment to reclaim quiet. You’ll hear how protecting energy—sleep, food, movement—stabilizes attention better than any hack, and how small friction fixes, like a starting ritual and a next-step note, make it easier to return to the work.
By the end, you’ll see focus not as a moral test but as a design outcome. When your commitments fit the season you’re in, studying stops feeling like a fight and starts moving with a smooth hum. If you’re ready to trade strain for steady progress, tune in and rebuild balance with intention. Subscribe for more practical mindset tools, share this with a friend who’s stuck in “try harder” mode, and leave a review telling us which small change you’ll make this week.
If you need to study for your national licensing exam, try the free samplers at: LicensureExams
This podcast is not associated with the NBCC, AMFTRB, ASW, ANCC, NASP, NAADAC, CCMC, NCPG, CRCC, or any state or governmental agency responsible for licensure.
Several years ago, a friend of mine put up a new ceiling fan. When he turned it on, though, instead of whirring quietly moving the air about as he expected, it began to wobble and clank. The longer it went on, the clearer it became that all was not well. It turned out he had failed to make sure that the blades were balanced so that it would spin the way it was made to do. Once he made sure all the blades weighed the same amount, the fan worked perfectly. It turns out that our lives work in a similar way. Oftentimes when a person finds that they have great difficulty focusing on their studies, it is because there are other things competing for their attention. This could be a sign that the situation is calling for balance. Our lives work best when all aspects work together. When we add a substantial commitment, like studying, we must be intentional about carving out adequate time. Difficulty in maintaining focus can be a sign that a reset is in order. One way we can express that mindfulness is through journaling. Writing down your priorities and the reasons for your resistance to prioritizing them. At this stage, it is key to recognize that there is no right or wrong in this process. The schedule you now follow is in place because it works for you. Seeking to introduce a new block of activity in the form of studying will send things off balance until you take the time to apportion things so that your life can continue in a way that works for you. Once you are intentionally aware of your needs and wants, you can begin to make the choices that put them in order to accomplish what is important to you, and in the process, you are more likely to maintain focus as you go. Remember, it's in there.
