My time as an intern for The Love Yourself Foundation this semester has been an incredible and fulfilling journey. The first time I met with the Love Yourself Foundation team is where one of my UNLV student organization that I am a part of called 1st Generation Club collaborated with this wonderful team last spring semester. Meeting with LYF that day inspired me to work as one of their interns this semester! During my first few weeks at The Love Yourself Foundation, I felt welcomed, loved, and supported. Everyone on the team are so kind, loving, and genuine. My internship taught me to be vulnerable and I was able to have an opportunity to share my personal story behind anxiety, fear, depression, and letting go of being a perfectionist. My time at the Love Yourself Foundation not only benefited my career in going into the mental health and research field, but it also benefited me personally. One thing my internship taught me personally is that I learned that loving yourself means also learning to forgive yourself. Often times, we tend to be hard on ourselves, but as we learn to love and forgive ourselves, we begin to feel the love we need and let that self compassion fill our hearts again. I'm grateful I got to share my story on The Love Yourself Foundation blog page where I wrote about learning to forgive yourself allows us to begin again and let that love and self compassion fills our hearts.
As a Psychology major and a Family Studies minor, my time as an intern fits into my areas of study. I am passionate about people and have a deep desire to help others. The Love Yourself Foundation creates a safe and loving environment where they promote self- love through arts, literature, and writing. I learned how much I loved to write and able to be vulnerable and share my struggles with mental health. My time as an intern also taught me to never neglect yourself and learn to be gentle with our well being. These experiences benefited my own personal being and also teach others the importance of learning to love and forgive yourself.
I believe anyone can be an intern for The Love Yourself Foundation. There is no specific requirements in order to be successful in this internship; however, a good skill in time management and communication would be beneficial because we are team - focused oriented and every task and roles we do, we do it as a team :)
I will always cherish my time and experiences here at LYF. I especially want to thank the best supervisor Monica Garcia for helping me grow as a person and for being patient, kind, and loving to all. She inspired me to continue to love others and especially learning to love and be gentle with ourselves too.
After this semester, I am most likely going to stay with LYF as I plan to continue to write blog posts because writing benefited me personally and sharing my stories about my mental health journey allows me to be real and vulnerable. As Brené Brown once said, "Vulnerability is not weakness; it's our most accurate measure of courage." Sharing our stories can also impact others and knowing that they are never alone.
If there is one piece of advice I want to give for our incoming interns, I would say that they are loved and to never forget to enjoy their time here at LYF. Being an intern for this amazing organization is more than taking care of tasks or roles, it is also a learning and growing experience. I learned how much I loved to write and being around with many great supportive and loving people. The Love Yourself Foundation to me is a safe place where we can grow and express our unique selves.
I agree with your classmates Charlene- it was an honor to teach you. You grew so much from this experience and it shows! Best of luck with graduate school applications and I can't wait to see you in the Spring!
Hi Charlene!
I really enjoyed reading your post! I’m glad that your internship experience benefited you both professionally and personally. I love how you stated that it is important to learn to love and forgive ourselves, so true! I used to push hard on myself as well, and that did cause me a lot of stress. Overall I just wanted to say you’ve always been so inspiring and warming! It is such a great pleasure to know you from both DSAC and being in the same class. I wish you the best of luck and everything later on. I’m sure you’ll be a success whatever it is!😊
Hi Charlene!
Being able to be your classmate this semester has been an amazing experience. I can tell that you have learned a lot from your time at the Love Yourself foundation and the classroom. Reading your post I can tell that you have learned a lot personally and professionally from your internship sight. I am glad that you were able to share your story and be able to grow as an individual. I think that my internship sight has taught me that too and I think that it is a great skill to learn how to be vulnerable in a safe space. You really spoke to me personally when you wrote about the importance of being able to forgive yourself because I think that is something in my life that needs lots of improvement. I am glad to know that I am not the only one that struggles with that and it is important to learn to love and forgive yourself. I loved how you included it because it is really powerful and I can apply it to my life right now. Thank you for being honest with your journey and giving good advice that I think many people can apply to their life. It is important for people to remember they are loved. Good luck to you on your journey! I know from being in class with you and reading your post you are bound for big things!