“…our science and practice will be enhanced by helping our students learn how scholarly work can be done in the context of practice and practice settings' ' (p. 135). Over the years, leaders in the field have echoed this call by asserting that further integration of science and practice is needed to strengthen counselling psychology (e.g., Heppner, et al, 1992;Heppner, Casas, Carter, & Stone, 2000;Kahn & Gelso, 1997). The primary purpose of this contribution is to outline how I -as an early career counselling psychologist -am managing to find a sense of professional balance by embracing the scientist-practitioner identity.…”