Week 6: C4FVP Culture
Week 6 at the internship has been the busiest week yet! My days were very long, learning experiences! On Monday, I ventured to Martin County, almost forty minutes away from Greenville. The Martin County courthouse was an experience, as they only have one court room for the entire county! On Tuesday, I was back in the Greenville court house for civil cases and a protective order in the afternoon. On Wednesday, I completed my first DVPO on my own (—of course it was supervised being it was the first!) This was really neat because I felt like a professional when the client was relying on me for answers, information, and support. (Now, I just need to get the hang of quickly typing up/completing the court documents!) On Thursday, we traveled to Goldsboro to hear a child custody case, in which the children were removed due to events following domestic violence incidents. On top of that, my supervisor and I helped another client with a DVPO when we got to Greenville as well as accompanied her to the magistrate’s office to press charges. Finally on Friday, I went to civil court with my “first” DVPO case, in the morning. In the afternoon, we accompanied a client requesting an ex parte for a DVPO to court. That being said, my week consisted of early mornings and late evenings!
As far as the culture, I would once again stress that the C4FVP is truly a client-need based organized. Each day is shaped by what clients’ need. Everyone on the staff works independently when helping clients however, each relies on the other when there is something they do not know, or do not do. For example, the three court services/victim’s advocates, usually refer clients in house, to the counselors. At the C4FVP, everyone is expected to be on the same page, even though work is mainly independent. In addition, the workplace is a place where learning never ends. Each month, and sometimes twice a month, all employees are required to go to trainings on different topics and hear from speakers in the community. From my perspective, I think that the staff enjoys this, as it is a time to see everyone, take a break from work, and learn something new! The program manager usually makes these sessions very interesting. As before, the first session I attended was on abortion. I’ve also heard they’ve even hosted a session on “how to tell when a person is lying”! The consistent trainings go along with another element I’ve noticed. Many of the staff are fairly new and fairly young. As my supervisor said, people tend to come and go… and come back again. The C4FVP has many volunteers and a large number of new interns each semester—making it very transient. With new grants, new laws, and new employees change is constant. However, with each aspect of the organization, I have gained new ideas about what it is like to work with and around other professional individuals.
