My internship with NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness) has been an amazing experience! It has benefited me in many ways, such as learning new skills and growing into leadership skills I didn’t know I had. I was assigned the Outreach and Advocacy Coordinator Intern, I mainly focused on the Spanish Speaking Latinx communities and this required me to go out into the community and have open discussions on what the Latinx community barriers are in regards to accessing mental health resources. These were very real life conversations on the stigma for mental health, the culture, language barriors and stigma mental illness faces especially when it comes to undocumented individuals. Being able to help establish Spanish speaking focus groups, COCO and GEM events with NAMI really taught me how to communicate, plan effectively, be understanding and how to be effective in outreach. These are all skills I need in my future career and leadership skills I can continue to take with me wherever I go.
I am currently a Psychology major at UNLV and my internship is with NAMI (The National Alliance of Mental Illness) which focuses on my major psychology. NAMI provides advocacy, education, support and public awareness so that all individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better lives. My major focuses on all these major areas in our communities and whether I want to go into Clinical Psychology or Law all these come into place.
With my internship I mainly focused on Spanish Speaking communities, which did require research so I am grateful some of my classes required me to look for articles, websites and research because it taught me how to look for information and research on the Latinx community barriers when it comes to mental health. I believe some research based educational requirements would be essential for a role like this because psychology is constantly evolving.
Before completing this internship I was set on becoming a Clinical Psychologist, my interest and experiences have always been around psychology and advocacy. After completing my internship I realized that there are many grants, laws and regulations one has to follow in order to receive funding for resourceful programs like these that really help our communities. This internship made me realize I love mixing in the outreach, law and psychology together which sparked my interest in law school because I am able to help our communities be fruitful with programs like this and they would not exist without having a voice.
My position was Outreach and Advocacy Coordinator, if I wanted to secure a position in lobbying for these type of programs to continue which includes funding that comes with it I would need a bachelors degree and a law degree so that I can be knowledgeable with the laws and regulations it takes but also advocate to the legislature on why these are essential, especially funding wise for those who are low income or can’t afford these services. I would need skills in research, interpersonal, initiative, communication, analytical and passion!
One piece of advice I would give to incoming interns is to take the opportunity to Network with others because you will meet a lot of amazing people along the way you can ask questions to, learn from and even learn of opportunities you didn't know existed. Through my internship I met the directive professor of Public Health at UNLV and I learned about the Public Health masters and law degree UNLV offers. Being a first generation college student I have to search for these resources myself and I am constantly learning. I would also advise you to communicate with your supervisor on any questions, or challenges you might have during your internship, they are very helpful! This might also give you the opportunity to take on more responsibility if you feel you can take it on which helps you grow and develop as an overall individual. This will not only help your skills but also show you where your passions are.
