I feel like this internship has benefited in what I would like to do for my future career. I am psychology major in hopes to pursue a MA degree in Couple and Family Therapy or a M.S. in Clinical Psychology. The internship has helped me decide if I feel I want to take on this career path or not through shadowing opportunities. I was able to shadow a Couple and Family Therapist with one of her clients and I enjoyed learning from the experience on the methods they provide to help the client. I also was able to learn the behind the scenes on what the therapist does when speaking with the client and updating their information. I feel that if I want to continue this career path than I would like to be more involved in research, take on more volunteer opporuninites relating to my interests, and build my networking skills. I also believe taking on another internship at a similar clinic can help not only with experience on your resume/CV but to give you other options on this career path.
I was even given the opportunity to do my own pateint research in the clinic specifically from ages 7-19. I did research on what are the most common diagnosis in this age group, the external factors, and the steps they are doing to minimize the negative effects of their mental wellbeing. I took on this project because I would like to work with children and adolescents in the future and I felt this really helped me on paper and through shadowing to decide what specifically I would like to do for my future career. I was also given a project to design my own way how I would conduct an 8-week group therapy session and I did my topics on PTSD and depression. I also had a chance to speak with some of the providers and their field of work and thought it was really fascinating. I thought providers at Calm Clinic were respectful and willing to guide you in what you are looking to get out of this internship.
This experience, of course, definitely reflected on my major because it tied into mental health disorders, research, communication, and critical thinking. I was given projects as explained before that really tied into my major. I do not believe you need to do anything beforehand to take on this internship position. However, it would help taking at least one research class or been involved in research before if you are interested. My advice to taking on a position at calm clinic is to have great communication skills, be open minded, learning how to be independent, and good time management skills. It is pretty much flexible work tasks but I think one of my biggest takeaways from this position is to not be afraid to present yourself to people and do not be afraid to ask for guidance.
Hello Vivianna, it is so good to hear that your internship benefitted your future career. I really like how you found out that you would like to do more research based work. What did you learn from doing your research on the most common diagnosis of the particular age group you provided? What are some examples of the external factors that affected their mental health? Did you find that similar age groups struggled with the same issues? Do you think the external factors affecting mental health here in Nevada would be the same if faced elsewhere? I really hope you get to future your research beyond this internship and I am really looking forward to learning more from you!