Interning at Catholic Charities is not what I expected at all; it has turned out to be more than I could have ever imagined. As an MSW (Masters of Social Work) student at ECU, we do not get to choose our place of internship, we are assigned a location. When I started working in August, I was not completely sure what I was going to be doing. I was told in my first semester I would help with Family Support and Emergency Assistance programs, and in my second semester I would work with the Clinical Counseling program.
My first thought was, “I am able to do counseling on my own?!” The thought of this made me nervous, but excited all at the same time. As the first semester continued I mastered the skill of working with the Emergency Assistance program, helped develop a completed application, and worked weekly with Emergency Assistance clients. Mid-way through the semester, the Clinical Family Support Specialist was out of the office for a couple of months and I was able to work with her counseling and family support clients. This was an eye opening experience! Through the guidance of my supervisor, Monica, I was able to fill in and learned so much. This built my own confidence while helping each of these clients. This experience is one that I will remember because of how it challenged me and made me nervous at the same time.
Before starting at Catholic Charities, I never imagined that I would want to do one-on-one counseling with clients. Now that I have had this experience, I am so thankful that Catholic Charities allowed me to grow and work towards reaching my full potential. I am now looking into counseling jobs that work one-on-one with clients. This type of work has shown me how much of a difference one person can make and I am so thankful that Catholic Charities and Monica have led me in a direction I never thought I would go.
– Whitney