Introduction

My name is Emma Dexter, and I am senior Public Health major at Georgia College. I

have been interning at The Bright House this semester and have thoroughly enjoyed my time

here. The Bright House is a division of Southern Crescent Sexual Assault and Child Advocacy

Center. There are three locations that The Bright House is currently operating out of. One is in

Milledgeville on Central State’s campus, one is in Newnan, and the main office is in Hampton.

The Milledgeville branch opened in 2019 with JoAnna Smith being the director. There are three

other women who work at The Bright House in Milledgeville: Shelly, Ashleigh, and Antionette.

Shelly is the victim advocate here and does a lot of paperwork pertaining to intake and makes

sure everything is filed into the system properly. Ashleigh is the forensic interviewer here and

conducts the interviews with the children or clients to understand what happened and why they

are at The Bright House for assistance. Ashleigh works with DFCS (and sometimes APS) and

detectives very often to be able to ask the questions they need to hear the answers to for their

own cases. Antionette is a therapist and offers counseling services here. She has around three to

four appointments on average every day. Antionette was an intern here a couple of years ago and

got offered a job at The Bright House, which I found to be interesting. I am also interning with

two other women, Avery Kerstine and Autumn Tucker. The clients served here are victims of

sexual assault or child abuse. The Bright House’s radius typically extends to Baldwin County,

Jones County, Hancock County, and Wilkinson County. The Bright House offers a safe space to

these clients to be able to share their experiences and seek free counseling services if necessary.

The Bright House is a children’s sexual assault center, but they do offer services for adults too if

necessary.
Description of Experiences

My role as an intern was to answer the phones, scan, and file paperwork into the system,

and sit with children while they were either taking a break during their interviews or if their

parent or guardian left the lobby to do paperwork so that they would not be sitting there alone. I

would also be given random tasks to be done around the office such as organizing computer

wires to look presentable or putting together hygiene bags to give to clients. The most rewarding

part of my internship was when I could tell the kids connected with me, it can be difficult to form

connections with the children at The Bright House because they are there for traumatizing

reasons. I did my best to distract them for a few moments and take their mind off whatever they

were struggling with by playing with them or watching a movie with them. It was also very

rewarding to make the flyers that I have made because I know that once they are posted on The

Bright House’s social media, people will see my hard work and be more aware of certain

statistics surrounding child abuse along with many other topics. There were a few difficult

aspects to doing my internship at The Bright House. It is hard to watch young children go

through what these kids that come in are going through, but it is good preparation for my future

career as a nurse. What I found most difficult though was finding ways to be productive when

there were no interviews or not much was going on during the week. There is not much that can

be done throughout the week besides typical maintenance cleaning and tasks along those lines,

so most of the time I would do extra trainings if there was nothing for me to do or just find

random things to clean/organize. One thing that I wish was different is that I could watch the

interviews in the broadcast room as they were happening. This room has a large TV that plays

what is going on in the interview room. DFCS and police will sit in there to take their notes and

talk to the advocate or whichever Bright House employee they need to about the case. It would
have been interesting for me to sit in there, but I suppose it gets too crowded and that may be

why we are not allowed to which is understandable.

Perception and Evaluation of the Internship

It did not meet my expectations to be honest, but not in a bad way. I was expecting to be

on my feet all day and figured it would be a very professional setting. My first day I realized I

was wrong, because The Bright House has a very relaxed environment and there is not much

moving around since it is an office-based position and is by appointment only. I am working on

my laptop for most of the day if there are no interviews. I answer the phone whenever it rings

along with letting clients into the house if they have counseling or interview appointments. I

clean daily, typically before I leave for the day, but if we are having a slow day, I am sitting at

the conference table for most of the day which I do not mind. My co-workers at The Bright

House were always open to hearing my ideas, even if they were not practical or applicable, they

always listened to what I had to say and never made me feel stupid for coming up with

something. Although, since forensic interviewing specifically is a very meticulous process there

is not much input or creativity I could really add in that aspect but I never felt like I was being

judged when I would speak to them. Supervision from my internship site supervisor (JoAnna

Smith) was great! She would let us know if she needed us to do anything, but besides that she let

us be creative with project ideas or organization in the office. She was a very relaxed supervisor

which made her less intimidating to me, making me more comfortable in the office, which I

appreciated. I think the main thing that could have improved my experience is if The Bright

House took two interns instead of three. While I am so grateful for meeting the other two interns,

the office is not busy enough to justify having three interns which leaves us bored many times

because most jobs around the office are often one or two-person jobs, and we all want to help, so
we finish tasks very quickly. It honestly just feels a bit unnecessary. I would recommend

interning at The Bright House to future interns, I have loved interning here and would do it again

in a heartbeat. It is a good internship site for someone who is looking for a more laid-back

internship and to learn more by watching. I have learned the technique that goes behind forensic

interviewing by watching many interviews. I am currently considering a career in this kind of

setting. I am considering it more in a part-time job sense. I want to work in an emergency room

as a nurse, but I believe I would love to be a sexual assault nurse as a side job. I am very

passionate for this field, so if I could actively help victims, I believe I would be fulfilled in the

job.

Internship Preparedness

In my opinion, it is difficult to academically prepare someone for the type of internship I

was doing. I believe that the Community Health course probably was the most applicable to my

internship, along with the Women’s Health and Human Sexuality courses. Community Health

taught me how to be culturally competent and interact with people from many different

backgrounds, which has been helpful in my internship. Human Sexuality and Women’s Health

have been helpful when talking to the nurse practitioner about her findings in medical exams or

understanding different medical or anatomical terms hearing my co-workers talk about. I felt

confident in these skills and terms that I have learned in my classes, but I felt the least prepared

on what to expect the first day of my internship.

I had no idea what I was going to be doing as an intern or what would be expected of

from me. Once we had our intern orientation, I felt more prepared, but I was a little nervous

about interacting with the kids. They told us we are not supposed to talk about their cases with

them or ask any prying questions but sometimes it would be very hard if they would say
something about it. If you are trying to talk to a child and they say, “I am scared my dad is going

to kill my mom”, how do you respond to that in a way of changing the subject without

dismissing their fears? This did happen to me, and I believe I handled it well by assuring her that

she was in the right place to receive help, but after she said that, am I supposed to ask her what

her favorite color is? That was the most challenging part of my internship, but it also taught me

how to respond in a professional manner in difficult conversations, especially with children.

I believe that the School of Health and Human Performance did everything they could to

prepare me for my internship, but my internship was just a bit different from other people’s. I

would say that parts of public health apply to my internship, but I would personally see this

internship most fitting for a criminal justice major. I think that there should be a meeting for all

interns to go to who are interning the next semester and they will receive the syllabus for the

class along with reviews that past interns have given internship sites. I would have liked to have

seen what the past interns at The Bright House said their responsibilities were before my first

day, because I would have known what to expect.

Internship Performance

A new skill that I learned was how to be empathetic, and it is sometimes hard for me to

show sympathy or empathy at times, but my skills in that area have improved from being at The

Bright House. I believe my skills have improved from me interacting with the victims of sexual

abuse or counseling clients and listening to some of their stories. I also hear how my co-workers

respond to certain situation where it may be difficult to show empathy and have taken some tips

from them as well. I have not presented my project yet, as I will be presenting it the Thursday

after this paper is due. I am sure that I will not be satisfied with my performance though because

I always expect myself to do the best that I can, and I always see room for improvement. I
believe my supervisor and co-workers will be satisfied with my project along with how I present

my work. My project/presentation is the only real substantial assignment I have had this

semester. I have daily assignments such as cleaning or answering phones, etc. that I always do

great on, and they always seem to be satisfied with my work.

I would say the overall quality of my work would be a 9 because as I mentioned before, I

always see room for improvement. I did everything that my supervisor or co-workers asked of

me and did it effectively and promptly. I answered the phone every time it rang and always got

up immediately to let clients into the house for their appointments. I think the main skill I need to

work on to be successful after graduation is confidence in myself. My supervisors would ask me

a question, or I would go to speak to them and many times I would answer or start with “I

think...” or use filler words such as “um...” I need to work on my confidence in the professional

setting (which has improved over time at my internship) which will also help me improve my

confidence levels in interviews.

Personal/Professional Insights/Benefits

This internship has impacted some of my future professional goals. I have always been

very passionate about child abuse prevention and sexual assault awareness/prevention, but after

completing my internship I am sure I would like to be a sexual assault nurse while also

continuing with my previous goals of being an emergency room nurse practitioner. It is a very

difficult adjustment from what I have heard, but I believe I have the passion for the field to do a

good job at it. My internship also helped me improve my confidence in professional settings.

Before working at The Bright House, I would be a little nervous or self-conscious to talk on the

phone to people. I now feel extremely comfortable when speaking to people on the phone and

can help them very quickly regarding what they are calling about.
 I have gained a lot of insight since starting my internship at The Bright House,

specifically in the youth and women populations. I did not realize how prevalent sexual assault

or child abuse was in the area and it is very saddening to see. But I am now aware of how often

these events occur and can educate other people on the rates of sexual/child abuse in

Milledgeville and surrounding counties.