Truthfully, the most rewarding aspect of my internship is the fact that I am able to be involved in art therapy before college or even grad school. This is a rare occurrence– the first time I met Jamie she was surprised that I knew that I was interested in art therapy as a high school student. Also, the fact that I am able to hear about Jamie's experience is really rewarding for me as a student. She is always open to answering any questions I have, while still respecting confidentiality; it can feel as though I am interviewing her at times.
Though I haven’t experienced many stressful work situations, I have learned about how I handle stressful situations in general. Jamie and I talked about the certain roles that we all take on– daughter, brother, basketball player, ballerina– and how these roles represent or suppress who we are as people. For example, someone who takes on the role of “caregiver” is compassionate and considerate, but, also anxious and worried. A caregiver would feel as though they have to suppress their own problems in order to tend for another person's distress. This means that a “caregiver” won’t always deal with stress in a healthy order, but instead, sacrifice themselves to save another person from possible distress. I learned that I often fit into this archetype– possibly because of the roles I play in all relationships. This helped me further understand how I would address stressful situations.
At this point, I feel as though I have learned a lot about this “industry” and gained a lot of information that would help me be successful in it. I have sent out flyers advertising our SOS group, set up a mailing list to gain traction for the group, and have participated in many exercises, all while reading about the power of adolescence and the epidemic of stress/anxiety in girls.