I want to do that. There is nothing currently open at my university as far as I can see but I will keep looking. When I check postings, it seems like I would need to move across or out of state. Which I am more than willing to do for the duration of a degree, but have not considered (until now) to do just for a year or two in preparation for school.
I knew it would be an issue. The best suggestion that my professor gave me was to use a recently graduated PhD who was my lab manager for a year. Which is still not ideal. Again, it seems the best route would be to just pick up more psych-focused research job and get experienced references. So I will be seriously looking into this.
As far as the admissions essays: Yes, I ensured that I picked professors/universities with research that I could realistically spin my current work as being similar. e.g. all my POIs were doing research with similar populations, using similar instruments, a couple of them were specifically community/social justice focused which I had really hoped would align closer with social work.
That is a discussion I have had with my professor. My main hang-up with not doing psych is that there is no equivalent in social work PhDs/DSWs. I find the work great and I think I would be ok with pursuing it. But when I find research that I am excited about, it is almost uniformly being done by psychologists. It is an on-going conversation that would take too long to discuss here but I am glad that someone other than my professor (and every graduate guide book) is suggesting it, because I know I tend to overlook the possibilities of what I currently have.
Thank you all for the feedback. I was really down in the dumps (still am) because I spent the last year and a half trying to do everything to follow that Insider's Guide to Clinical/Counseling programs book. I do understand a lot of people probably spend a good 5 years following the guide and prepping themselves. It is good to know that all of the advice in it is pretty much exactly what everyone on the forums is saying. I just have to bring it up another couple of notches. One specific question: With the psych research assistant positions, how crucial is it that the research be aligned with whatever I am looking for in a future program? I see a lot of positions open across the US, almost all for projects that I would never want to pursue for life (though I do love being involved with research in-general).