Lauren Mitchell

Responsibilities

As a Human Services Intern at the Department of Corrections, I was responsible for supporting Parole/Probation Officers, Community Treatment Coordinators, and my supervisor in daily tasks. During the first five weeks of this internship, the interns visited and learned about various state facilities. This helped to set the foundation of correctional programs and their impact on the community. After observation, I was allowed to focus on a unit/facility that I was most intrigued about. For me, this was Fresh Start Women's Correctional Facility. Here. I had the opportunity to sit in on client appointments, help case managers with documentation, and navigate the professional and empathetic environment that is crucial to the success of clients.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment of this internship was constantly taking on challenging and unfamiliar duties. This internship is traditionally geared towards Criminal Justice majors, which is not my area of study. However, I challenged myself to learn about criminogenic needs and other critical criminology terms to better understand a client's story. I also worked at Dress for Success Des Moines during this internship, which enabled me to make connections with clients served in both roles. This supported my ability to educate staff in both workplaces, as well as interns with a different major than me, on methods of best serving clients dealing with vulnerable and traumatic experiences.

Learning experience

The greatest lesson I learned from this experience is that we are all just humans at the end of the day. This may sound very simple, but as people, we are constantly judging everyone and everything around us. While this is very normal, it is crucial for the success of both communities and clients that we can find some relatability within our experiences and a client's experiences. It can be easy, even comfortable, to judge a person based on their past. However, as a human service professional, it is imperative that I am able to support a client holistically and based on their individual needs.

What advice would you give?

Say yes! This is the time to try something that you may not have thought you were looking for. This internship is a great opportunity to take on a project you have never done before or complete tasks that you may need help with. Asking for help shows initiative, responsibility, and commitment. You might be able to draw connections between different organizations that share the same clients and/or systems. Challenging yourself will help you narrow down the work that you want to do in the future.