Week Five: It’s Back to Boring

Hi everyone,

Things have been going really well at the internship, for example I have been handling more cases and have been given more responsibilities, but I am not enjoying what I am doing. Last week things were finally looking up, and I thought I was going to start really learning and enjoying my time, but I’m just waiting for this to be over. This internship is not what I thought it would be, maybe it is because everything feels so corporate or the constant bombardment of having to hear emotional traumatic stories. I used to think that I wanted to be a psychiatrist that sees trauma patients, but I just cannot see that in my future, I just do not think that I can handle that type of responsibility emotionally. I am learning a lot about psychology and the medical field, but it is not worth the toll that it is taking on my mind. Before I even started the internship I was warned about the stories that I would hear, and basically told to develop a shield so I do not bring my work home with my, but that is much easier said than done. What has surprised me most about this internship is that my co-workers can just speak so nonchalantly about some of the very intense and dramatic stories that they are told by our clients, but then I have to step back and realize that they are grad students who have probably gone through some training to deal with situations that my internship requires. Even though I am very shocked about how the internship is turning out, I would not say that I am disappointed just because I am really learning so much about my future career because I am getting hands on experience in a medical practice. I just have to try to build my shield and try to not let the stories affect me.