Whew....

I was getting worried about my next year's internship.  Everyone was getting theirs confirmed and I was still waiting.  Part of it was my choice--I really only wanted to go to one place.  When I interviewed with them, they told me that they won't be letting me know until the end of March.  My professor was willing to let me wait but I chose not to interview other places while I waited which was making me nervous.

However on the drive down to Mesa, I got an email extending me the internship at

THE CHILDREN'S CENTER

in Salt Lake City, UT.

I am so excited.  It is just what I wanted to do at the place I wanted to do it at.  And it does have a small stipend hopefully enough to cover the gas/train rides down there.  It is about 35 minutes away. I will work 20 hours a week--full-day Monday, half day Tuesday and one other full day not decided yet.

Some history:

For almost two years before I started graduate school at BYU, I worked as a teacher in their therapeutic pre-school in Kearns. I loved it there and had a great experience with the staff I worked with and with my supervisor Paul.  Even at that time The Children's Center had two locations--Salt Lake and Kearns.  It was started by Agi Plenk, a psychologist dedicated to young children experiences difficulties with emotions and behaviors.  It has grown to be a major non-profit in the treatment of children and families in the 0-8 year age range.  They provided private and family counseling, community programs for parenting and trauma reduction, the pre-schools and other groups for children with emotional or behavioral needs, and are involved in ongoing research and training programs throughout the inter-mountain area.

When I did my interview, I thought it went well.  However they had mentioned during the interview as well as prior to it that they normally take U of U interns.  They were willing to interview me as long as I understood that. (Side note:  I found out during the waiting phase that they had taken an Utah State intern about 9 years ago and there was some problems with that placement and the supervisor who ended up being fired at the time.  That made me even more worried as I waited.) I was interviewed by three social workers--one around my age and two in the early 30s.  During one of the questions, I referenced my supervisor at The Children's Center and something he had taught me.  At the end of the interview, as we were chatting, I asked how they had connected with the Center.  The two younger social workers shared their stories--one of them had also been a teacher like me.  Then the older one commented that she had worked at the Salt Lake office from 1980-1983 (overlapped me exactly) and then stopped to have her first child and was out until 20 years later when she returned.  Then she said "And Paul and his wife are my closest friends!" What a small world!  We probably attended trainings together in Salt Lake when we were both employed by The Children's Center.

It is an awesome experience and will be a great internship.  I will get training from one of the national leaders in trauma in children.  Many of their children are in foster care or have come from international adoptions so I will be able to build on those skills as well.

I will start at the end of August and it will go until the first part of May 2017.