You are on page 1of 3

Internship Responsibilities Internship Site: The ASPIRE Clinic Location: ASPIRE Clinic at McPhaul Center 210 Carlton Street

Athens, GA 30602 Contact Information: ASPIRE Office (706) 542-4486 Aspire@uga.edu Supervisor: Megan Ford (706) 542-6795 Ford.megan@live.com Responsibilities: ASPIRE Assistant Coordinator Position Requirements: - At least 1 semester as an intern at the ASPIRE Clinic (2 is preferred) - Demonstrates leadership, responsibility, and extensive clinical knowledge - 20/hr week required Duties: - Acting assistant to the Clinic Director - Responsible for helping to manage the work of interns and senior interns - Scheduling meetings and events for the ASPIRE Clinic & its staff - Attending AAG Meetings as acting Secretary - Scheduling for Clinic Director (intern meetings, student trainings, other meetings) - Contact for the Prepare Premarital Program

- Social media and website upkeep - Case closure responsibilities

I think my placement at ASPIRE has been very beneficial to me, in addition, I feel like Ive been beneficial to the clinic. Ive learned a lot from my human development courses as well as from Megan Ford over the past few semesters. I feel like my interpersonal skills and professional conduct has definitely grown in every way. Working with clients in an administrative role, as well as, observing therapists interactions with clients within a session has taught me a lot about professional behavior in a clinic environment. Ive realized that I have taken a liking to the administrative side of running a clinic. This became more evident in practicum a few weeks ago. One of the PhD students was asking Dr. Gonyea about an ethical issue she was having. Dr. Gonyea asked for all the interns suggestions, and she pointed out afterwards that I took an administrative view of the situation vs a clinical perspective. I think working so closely with Megan Ford, I have definitely picked up on her administrative views of situations within the clinic. I have also learned a lot about different areas of Human Development by observing sessions which involve couples with questions about raising children, individuals with sexual challenges in their relationships, couples dealing with intertwining their different families and beliefs, amongst many other situations. Seeing how different therapists use different approaches to similar problems has been enlightening. Networking Possibilities: Working at the ASPIRE Clinic has allowed me to make countless connections with individuals in my field, as well as, other fields. The professors that provide supervision to MFT PhD students are great individuals to learn from and Ive gotten the chance to get to know them extremely well through partaking in practicum over the last three semesters and just by

interacting with them as they come in and out of the clinic. The service providers have also been a great source of networking. They are all from different Masters programs and walks of life, and they are all so willing to sit down and talk with an intern about graduate school or just life in general. As they are all PhD students, they will soon be the professors and therapists that I can keep my connection with and refer to in the future for information. Most Memorable Experience: It is hard to choose just one memorable experience at ASPIRE. If I had to pin point one though it would be observing my first EMDR session. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. One of the very first clients I observed at ASPIRE was a young woman who had some trauma that she came in to deal with. Her story really spoke to me and I immediately became fascinated with her progress. When I first observed Megan Ford using EMDR in one of her sessions I was amazed by how well it was working. You could visually see the patients reactions, progress, and eventual growth. It seemed almost like magic. EMDR really helped this client overcome her trauma in an amount of time that was significantly shorter than normal talk therapy. It was an unforgettable and eye opening experience to see her struggle with a problem and overcome it to a point where she was a more confident and happy individual.

You might also like