My National Alliance on Mental Illness Intern Experience

Julia Sachan · 2022-12-07T21:00:05.577Z

This semester I interned at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Southern Nevada. I served as the Family Programs and Outreach Coordinator. This internship has given me hands-on experience working with individuals who have a mental illness and family members or loved ones who care for someone with a mental illness. Being given the opportunity to work at NAMI has confirmed for me that I want to work in the field of mental health. I am a psychology major, so many things I have learned throughout the internship involved trying to see something from someone else's perspective, understanding how someone might be feeling, and having a basic understanding of certain psychological disorders. To be able to function as an intern, with mostly remote work, communication was key. It was detrimental for me to progress my written communication skills to be able to succeed this semester. My hands-on experience was developed by working on the NAMI SNV helpline. Callers would speak with me about the resources they might need like housing assistance, therapy/counseling services in the area, support groups, and more. I would look through NAMI's official helpline resources or search for the resources myself and email them what they need. My helpline shifts lasted about two and a half hours, once a week and I would make between 3-8 calls and about 3-4 emails each shift. To prepare to work the helpline program directors from NAMI SNV, NAMI NV, and NAMI Western trained all the interns for 5 hours Saturday and Sunday for two weeks. The technologies I used throughout my internship have been primarily Google Suites, Slack, and Doodle for scheduling. Training for these technologies was also provided during the first few weeks of the internship beginning. One piece of advice I have for incoming interns is to practice self-care and make sure to take care of yourself, in general, but especially during this internship. Helping individuals via the helpline can be mentally taxing and having an internship on top of school can be a lot. Make sure to prioritize yourself and communicate with your supervisors and professors about your mental health and take mental health days if needed. This picture is of me and my fellow interns finally meeting in person at the End of Semester Celebration.

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