Majors: Psychology, Religion
What was the name of the organization you worked for over the summer?
Open Sky Community Services: The PLACE for Empowerment
What was your role and what did you work on?
I interned with Open Sky’s The PLACE for Empowerment, a young adult drop-in and access center which provides young adults a number of free services, including assistance with education and job preparation, washer/dryer and shower facilities, and mental health support with staff and the on-site clinician. As a summer intern, I worked closely with our five-person team as well as another intern to provide these services to young adults. However, the most important aspect was building close relationships with the individuals we serve. I spent countless hours playing pool and board games, leading and helping with daily workshops and activities, and having conversations with our young adults, building rapport with them and making them truly feel safe and heard. The PLACE offers daily workshops and activities, some recreational and some educational, and I helped facilitate and even ran my own activities. I had weekly supervisions with our team clinician to learn clinical skills, discuss how to engage in certain situations, learn social work and psychological models/theories relevant to our young adults, and learn more about social work as a profession and prepare for grad school applications. I went to a handful of community outreach events to make the PLACE known to the Worcester community. All of these responsibilities culminated in a wonderful, transformative, and incredibly fulfilling summer.
What was a highlight of your experience?
One major highlight of my experience was seeing the multiple weeks of rapport-building come to fruition. I created a special, deep bond with one of our young adults who came 3-5 days a week for the entire duration of my 10-week internship. After weeks of playing pool, Connect Four, and basketball; working on various arts and crafts; and going on occasional outings into the community, they began to open up about several circumstances in their life and about their past that they had not shared with anyone on our team. As they shared more information, I served as a point person on the team, coordinating with others to help craft the best intervention we could for their situation. It was incredibly rewarding to see the weeks of rapport-building pay off, and it proved to me that relationship building is the most integral part to work in this field.
How did your summer experience impact you?
My summer experience has been, as mentioned above, transformative. I came in wanting to pursue counseling and left wanting to pursue clinical social work. I walked away with several new perspectives on the world through my work. My team encouraged me to think outside of the box and I am so grateful to them for pushing me in such profound ways.
