Thursday, November 5, 2009

Interns, Interns Everywhere!

Brandywine Counseling's internship program has grown by leaps and bounds over the past year. We currently have over 90 students involved in a project around our agency! This is a big help to our staff while providing real-world experience for the interns.

The Alpha program has been working with interns for close to two years. Site Director Mark Lanyon has partnered with several local schools to get the word out about our program and make it a sought-after destination for many students. Our internship program really started at Alpha, and now our other locations are jumping on board.

The Outreach department and Lancaster Avenue site have started a "service learning" partnership with Del Tech. It began because a Human Services professor thought some field work would be valuable to her intro students, rather than waiting until all of their coursework was completed. It's mutally beneficial; we can depend on a group of students each semester to complete tasks, while we teach the next group of people coming to us after they graduate for full time jobs. The work they will do for us will prepare them for the "real world" of human services. There are 68 students working with us through this project.

In addition, Outreach is working with nursing students from the University of Delaware. These interns are assisting with the Needle Exchange to do rapid HIV testing, educate about safe injection and overdose prevention, and have discussions with users about their sexual health. This opportunity gives the interns a wonderful opportunity to practice working with real individuals. 16 nursing students are currently with us.

We'd like to thank all the professors and administrators who have helped our internship program grow to this level: Karen Stevenson and Terry Fisher at Del Tech, Elaine Greggo at the University of Delaware, Sandra Brisiel at Del Tech, John Corrozi of Wilmington University, Norma Gaines-Hanks of UD, Vanessa Johnson of West Chester University, Carla Strassle of York College of Pennsylvania, and John Smith of Seton Hall University.

If you'd like to intern at BCI, here's how to apply. Yes, believe it or not, there are still some of us staff without one! You can have a clinical background, but also communications or technology.

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