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Rachel Turner

 

Journal Entry #1                                                                                                                                                                      8/24 2:00-6:00 PM                                                                     Hours: 3                                                  Cumulative Hours: 3.0

Today I evaluated my potential leads for a mentor. I had two really strong ones. One of them was from Oma. Last year in Independent Research, she gave me the contact information of a woman who was looking for a representative who had done research on mental illness who would talk to her group of kids about their illnesses. The second lead was also from Independent Research. This is from my product that year, volunteering for the National Family Resiliency Race and raising money during lunch to spread the word about the race as well as contribute money to the organization. At NFRC they offer counseling to families going through changes such as divorce and separation. If I had an internship there, maybe I could observe the therapeutic group sessions and see how psychology was used, especially with children, to help counsel them about their family’s situation and make them feel better about it. After thinking about these two leads, I came to the conclusion that NFRC was my strongest lead and would be an excellent placement for me because I was already familiar with the workers there and what that organization does from Independent Research.

 

Journal Entry #2                                                                                                                                                                      8/26 11:30-12:30 PM                                                                Hours: 1                                                  Cumulative Hours: 4.0

Today I had my start-up meeting at the National Family Resiliency Center’s office. During the meeting my mentor and I talked about what hours I would be interning. We agreed on 2:00-6:00 PM every Tuesday to start then 3:00-7:00 PM the same day once the group therapy started. She outlined the types of jobs I could potentially be doing such as preparing activities for the kids, helping organize the toy room, and possibly creating fliers for the Spanish-speaking family meetings. After the meeting, my mentor showed me around the office and showed me the toy room where I would be organizing some things and the storage room. When we were in the storage room my mentor gave me 4 books that they sell at the office and 1 article my mentor’s boss wrote.  These are very helpful and tell me everything about NFRC and what they do and why they do it. I plan to use them as resources for my annotated works.

 

Journal Entry #3                                                                                                                                                                      9/15 2:00-6:00 PM                                                                     Hours: 4                                                  Cumulative Hours: 8.0

Today was the first day of my internship at the National Family Resiliency Center. I arrived 20 minutes early, intending to be prompt, but not that prompt. When I walked into the office, I noticed the water cooler was empty. I mentioned this to my mentor and she showed me how to replace it. The first thing I did was go on a tour with my mentor. She showed me the supply room, the play room, the small conference room, the big conference room, and the kitchen. In the kitchen there is a refrigerator where my mentor said I could put any snacks that I bring and can drink any open sodas that they have. In the cabinets, there are snack items that I may take and set out during the group sessions.  She also said that I can eat from the snacks if I want. Also, I was introduced to a couple people. For instance, I met Elaine; she is a therapist that works with individuals and the adult therapy group. I also met Sarah; she is a senior at AHS that works at NFRC. In addition, I was shown three videos. The first was about NFRC, the second an adult panel (therapy session), and a children’s panel. The whole time I was thinking about what great non-print primary resources these videos would be and how unfortunate it was that I had left my research notebook in my locker otherwise I would be taking notes. Nevertheless, in the near future I will ask my mentor if I can watch them again so that I can take notes and use them as resources for my research. Afterwards, Sarah showed me how to enter court orders into the database. I did this job for about an hour or more; however, I did not dread the task, but completed it with all deliberate speed having been accustomed to such work from volunteering at the District Attorney’s office. I went through stacks and stacks of court orders and finally finished them at exactly 6:00. In conclusion, my mentor told me that each week she will give me resources relevant to my research, which is very nice of her and I know that I am very fortunate to have a mentor who has my program’s agenda in mind as she mentors me.