How to get hired as a trainer with Amy Marschall
My interview guest this week is Dr. Amy Marschall, Psy.D. A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Marschall is certified in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Telemental Health.
Dr. Marschall works in the Child and Adolescent Therapy Clinic at Sioux Falls Psychological Services in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she provides individual and family therapy and psychological assessment to children, adolescents, and college students.
She is also a trainer for PESI, the largest CE provider in the country. I asked Dr. Marschall how she got into training, how much she gets paid, and what tools she uses to present online. Enjoy!
When was the first time you got paid to teach?
I presented a few times at conferences as a graduate student, but those weren’t paid as they were part of my research fellowship. In 2020, I was hired by PESI for the first time to do a two-day virtual kids telehealth certification training. I love teaching because it breaks up my clinical work.
What advice do you have for therapists who want to get hired as a trainer?
The most important thing is finding your niche. Mine is telehealth for kids. With that said, it’s hard to break in. When I first started asking around about training, I was told, “You don’t have enough experience to be a speaker with us.” You have to have at least five years of experience doing something before you can teach it for PESI.
What’s the process to get hired by PESI?
Anyone can apply to offer training through PESI here. I had to pitch a formal proposal and then come up with slides and a post-test (~35 questions per day). I decided to partner with PESI because they register their CEs nationally and they have a large audience, so they can reach way more people than I could on my own.
Full disclosure, they get a dozen speaking proposals a week, so very few get accepted. But they’re always looking for therapists with a passion for training who have exciting new CE workshop ideas.
How much do you get paid?
I get paid $700 per day each time I do the training ($1,400 total for two days). It also gets recorded and I get 5% of all sales, which is nice passive income. You can buy the recording of the training here.
What’s your tech setup to speak virtually?
Make sure you have a good microphone. This is a good option on Amazon for a reasonable price. If you’re doing slide voice-over, the camera is less important, but this is a good affordable webcam. I also have this green screen which has come in handy, especially with kids.
Any final advice?
It never hurts to ask! Bring your idea to whoever you can think of and pitch them. The worst they can say is “No.”
Thank you to Dr. Marschall for sharing with us! Be sure to follow her on Twitter and check out the free resources on her website. Also subscribe to the Weekly Mews with Armani, a newsletter written from the perspective of her cat. Highly recommend.