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!