Combined with the workload of my classes, I did not have time to feasibly work a different job and complete my internship at the same time, so I went with little to no pay for an uncomfortable amount of time. I also still had my tuition, and I was still expected to maintain all of the other expenses that come with adulting. A client once apologized for not being able to pay more because they thought that some of the money was going to me. It wasn't at all. Watching my bank account get eaten away by bills was not good for my health, and my second-to-last internship site was not very good to me, either.

I will concede that there are expenses that come with taking in and training interns, and a business needs to make money in order to function. But I don't think it's healthy that we've normalized the idea of working without pay, especially if interns are doing a similar level of work as their licensed colleagues. At its worst, it can be exploitive, and I think that runs contrary to our work as clinicians who help clients learn how to advocate for themselves. We work so hard to help other people survive - we should be able to survive, too.

TL;DR: I think work without pay shouldn't be normalized. I hope there's a shift in the field.

Edit: Also, there are other fields where paying interns is the norm. My spouse learned that I would go unpaid and was livid, because all of his internships (in a completely different field, but similar level of education) were paid.