My goal for the next year (or 11 months, at least) is to write weekly about my experiences on internship. Writing is partially for me and partially for those who are following this journey, and I think a weekly goal is a good one. It will be challenging, though. I have to be extremely cautious about how I talk about my schools and students, and will likely talk in generalities to keep things as private as possible. I also will have to, as always, think carefully about what I write if there is conflict or any other negativity. As I move into this process I will evaluate how best to journal this experience. If anyone else knows of other blogs addressing internship, please pass them along so I can get some ideas.
So clearly I messed up already, being that I am writing two weeks in. This is for two reasons- first, because the two weeks really went together, and I knew I'd be able to write a more solid reflection once it was over. Second, it was my birthday weekend and I was having fun :) Plus, I was exhausted!
The first two weeks here are the official orientation time for interns- most of the staff is still enjoying their summer, so we get time on our own to learn about our new roles. Part of the time was spent in meetings and trainings, learning everything from the basics of internship (supervision, evaluations, and our favorite topic, timesheets) to our roles in counseling, RTI, crisis intervention, reporting child abuse, and more. The other part of the orientation was a series of site visits to help us learn about the services offered to our students, both to have ideas of who to refer them to if they needed more interventions and to know about them if our students were already working with them. I made my first visits to a juvenile detention center and a homeless shelter; I also talked to counseling clinics, a psychiatric hospital, and facilities for runaways, foster children, and drug abusers. It was eye opening to see how serious the problems for many children in this area are, but it was also comforting to know that there were many people giving their time to help these children and turn their lives around.
The past two weeks have led me to three processes. First, I have begun to define myself within this new context. The nature of this internship is more specialized than I am used to, and at the beginning I spent a bit of time retraining my brain. There are many tasks that fall under the general definition of school psychologist, but some of those are not part of my job description here. This is neither a positive or a negative- in some ways I am excited about the time I will get to spend learning new skills that I haven't worked on before, but a part of me will miss other tasks (but also realizes that I could go back to them later). It's been a process, but by the second week I felt secure in my role. I think the site visits made a big impact- by seeing the high need of youth in this city, I see why my specialized role is valuable to the schools and how no one could do everything and meet the needs of the children.
The second process is identity. Now that I understand my global definition as an intern in this district, I am creating my identity. I have my school assignments and have studied them, as well as the neighborhoods. They are in a way what I asked for, but they are also a challenge. I have also, with the orientation and site visits over, chosen a secondary rotation, the place I want to devote my time that will focus on my interests and career goals. So now, when the school year begins in just over a week, I will be able to carve my niche within this internship. It is an exciting feeling.
Finally, with all of the traveling and meetings, I have spent a significant amount of time with my fellow interns and our supervisors. Everyone is very friendly, and I felt by the end of orientation that we had joined together into a team. I never felt like I was some inferior student, but have been treated like a new staff member, and I have appreciated that so much.
So the first two weeks have been great, but I have been prepared for a job that will be very challenging. There is still time to learn during this month, as we have next week when the staff returns to attend meetings and visit our schools, and the first week or two we will do some shadowing with our supervisor and make sure we are ready to be on our own. I am taking it all in and hoping I will be the best school psychologist for the children I will serve this year.
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