Internship Narrative: I Have Had the Pleasure

Internship Narrative:

I have had the pleasure to work undergo a counseling internship at Catholic Charities, a mental health counseling agency. The internship has been quite helpful in my process to become a counselor through the educational, challenging, and rewarding practicum experience I obtained from the agency. During this period, I was assigned some tasks that were relatively new in my learning experience and provided significant challenges at first. However, the process ended up being one of the most beneficial learning experiences I have had because of its rewarding nature. As a result, the entire counseling internship at the mental health agency has been an avenue and opportunity for learning and growth in my journey to become a counselor.

Catholic Charities is one of the largest mental health agencies in the country with a long standing history. As a private organization, this agency works to support individuals, families, and communities with mental health problems in order to promote holistic growth and development. My selection for the internship was relatively a difficult process since I had to undergo two interviews within a week. This was followed by an orientation process where I attended a staff meeting for all counselors in the organization. My supervisor introduced me to as an intern to the organization's administrators, office staff, support service personnel, and caretakers.

My primary role at the mental health agency involved observing the counselors to determine the characteristics of effective counselors and the characteristics of less effective counselors. I examined the services provided across advocacy, individual counseling, and group counseling sessions. The process also involved making contacts with clients who received these services and check in with them regarding the quality of services they received and who they considered to be the most effective counselor. I realized that the characteristics of an effective counselor include good listening, patience, being observant, personal integrity, having empathy, maintaining a therapeutic relationship with the patient, confidentiality, and providing warmth. On the contrary, the characteristics of a less effective counselor include lack of enough and specific training for handling clients' issues, inability to demonstrate empathy, poor listening skills, and poor interpersonal relation skills. These characteristics were not only identified through my personal observations but through questions and concerns I raised with the supervisor about the observations.

My role in the internship process also involved reviewing data on services offered to clients of minority and low SES background. Based on the review of agency data and discussions of its implications with the supervisor, I realized that the treatment journey for clients of minority is usually hindered by several factors. These factors include cultural views about the illness and therapy, difficulties in accessing suitable care, and lack of insurance. On the contrary, clients of low SES background face treatment obstacles since mental health services seem unaffordable to them.