Summer Internship

Last week was my first week of my summer internship. I am working at Southwest Center, with Youth Services, preparing to apply for the Bachelors in Social Work program. I am working with 2nd graders who have behavioral problems, or have been recommended by the state due to home conditions. With some of the children, its easy to see why they have been placed in the program, inability to follow directions, sit still, or act appropriately in social settings, while others make me wonder whats going on at home to justify their placement in the program. There are a few of the kids who are so well behaved that I can't imagine what could have led them to us.

I wont name any real names, or give any specific details, but I wanted to talk a little bit about the program and why it shows me that social work is the field I want to work in.

Every day, the kids participate in one hour of group therapy. Led by a licensed therapists, the kids discuss topics such as "appropriate touch" and "how to ask for help". This lesson led to one girl, "Jamie*" telling us about "Joe*", and how he hurt her, so she had to be taken away. The therapist told us that this girl had been abused by her step-father, and hurt her so bad the courts removed her from her home and she was adopted into a new family. She is now in our program to cope with the issues she has developed from this. I see this girl struggle daily with how to act, going back and forth from angry to well behaved, to silly little girl. She has told me a few times that she wants to learn karate so she can go "kick "Joe's butt", but she is still the sweetest girl, and hopefully coming to group will help her deal with this difficult time in her life.