I've loved being able to provide a much-needed service to my local community. I had two positions:
as a pantry co-coordinator, I worked at the management level helping to oversee volunteers, assist the Executive Director, sort/organize donations, staffing, etc. and had to fill any vacant positions if one arose. I was able to craft and implement a survey gauging satisfaction and necessity to include additional items which were a great experience.
As a Nutritional Options to Wellness (NOW) program coordinator, I worked one-on-one with clients who had chronic diseases. I helped disseminate information pertaining to the health benefits and disease management through nutrition, I bought and stocked healthy foods that facilitated that, and researched recipes and incentives to motivate them to try new products that would be more nutritious for them. All the while, I had to adhere to Acess West Michigan's paperwork requirements; and gave feedback that will help them reshape the new program that will be implemented in April 2020.
What I wish was different
I wish the basic block of classes had credits to keep me eligible for the wonderful grants I received. One semester was 10 credits and the other was 11. Just taking those required block classes was insufficient so I signed up for additional classes to keep a couple of thousand dollars; and taking an additional class to keep those benefits made it difficult to keep up on my workload, competency goal-tasks, reading, and classwork. I feel I would have made more of an impact in my dual internship role, learned more from the class texts, and applied myself more to the coursework. The sheer amount of work to keep the money, combined with still needed to work to support myself means I regularly put in anywhere from 10-14 hour days before then having to do basic housework. Self-care is emphasized as important for social work, yet this social work program had me choosing between maintaining myself and wasting my time and money; I chose my time and money because as a transfer student I've always lost credits between institutions. Wherein they fail to recognize the legitimacy or the depth of knowledge from another institution's course. At my internship I wish that they had longer hours, the sheer amount of work required to run a non-profit made it incredibly difficult to accumulate supervision hours. The required amount of these hours was also never defined in the program. But more than that, the field supervisor was really busy, and when she wasn't I was. If the block counted as 12 credits I would have had more time to get more from the experience overall, class, homework, reading, AND internship.
Advice
Do not be afraid to say no. Especially when you think 'well, I might be able to also take on this if..', this is a sure-fire way that you will become burnt out. Also, if you have any concerns talk to the supervisor and usually they will be willing to compromise. You are an intern, so you are free labor for them which means they will be more than willing to listen and compromise, provided your honest, proactive, dedicated, and hard-working.
First, you need to honestly assess your own situation and availability and other commitments; and then discuss these with your supervisor when factoring in the competency goals, or additional tasks. If they are anything like my internship, they want you to stay and help and are willing to find a way to make things work. Just don't bite off more than you can chew, and don't say yes until you're certain you can take on anything new, and talk about your concerns. All of my problems arose from the school, not my placement.
