If you didn’t already know, getting an internship is not that easy. Throughout this text, I will describe you my own experience starting by how I looked for an internship to the one on its own. I will tell you about several questions I had along the internship, as well as worries, pride, happiness and discoveries (yes, it’s possible to experience positive feelings!)
The first step is to look for an internship, which is not the easiest thing to do. Imagine one second, all the hours spent to find a place on the Internet or in the directory. Add to that, five hundreds written and re-written cover letters, two hundreds phone calls and finally six hundreds emails. Time passes by, stress is getting higher and refusals keep adding up. And then, surprisingly, you receive an email from a psychologist. An interview is proposed. It is THE interview. I can’t ruin it. Then, the end of the interview has come up… I got to wait a little more before the final answer. Two weeks later I finally get it!
I thought the toughest was behind me but I got it wrong. You’ll see throughout my anecdotes that being an intern was not that simple. The real challenge has only begun.
First of all, being an intern involves a position that is not easy to find and take. Many times I felt shy and not integrated within the team. Indeed, working with multidisciplinary staff, I often found it hard to figure out my place: when to speak, how to take action for example. It is even more difficult when the psychologist welcoming you is not integrated within the team. Feeling comfortable working in the institution is really important in order to develop great relationship with the patients as well as with the professionals. Thus, you can get support if you need to, especially when facing delicate situations. For example, I once felt powerless when I faced patients mistreated, when I encountered a suicidal man or even when I met a too flirty patient.
The suicidal patient situation particularly affected me. At this moment I realized the responsibility I hold as a psychologist. Close to the end of the interview that I’ve done by myself, this patient told me that he wished to die. He actually had a precise scenario of how he would commit suicide, which was by jumping off the window. He thought about it regularly. Although he couldn’t move properly, he said that he would do anything to die (“when you want something, you can have it” as he said). This was the first time I faced this sort of situation and I felt powerless. I clearly didn’t know what to do but I felt compassion for this man who’s been suffering for a long time. I immediately informed the psychologist in charge of my internship and she agreed that the staff should be aware of this urgent issue. The medical team took care of it by locking all windows and enhancing psychological support. I figured out that communication was really important. As a matter of fact we shouldn’t hesitate to let someone hold the situation when we don’t feel competent and qualified enough.
Even though my internships might have been hard, I still learned a lot. If I could give you a tip, as you’ll soon be an intern (once again), it’s to accept that you may not know everything and that’s fine. Don’t try to do too much. Be aware that performance anxiety will eventually be there everytime you decide to take action as an intern. Nevertheless, you need to know how to handle it and let people more competent take charge of the situation if necessary. Keep in mind that looking for support from professionals is also an important quality to have in order to be a good psychologist.
Don’t worry, we all go though these steps, and that’s what allows us to improve as a psychologist to be. It’s sometimes a twisting road, often demanding, but always great and rewarding.
WORDS WE HAVE LEARNED:
- Throughout: Au cours de, durant, tout au long de
- Internship: Stage
- Directory: Annuaire
- Cover letters: Lettres de motivation
- Figure out: Comprendre
- Flirty: Entreprenant, dragueur
- Performance anxiety: Anxiété de performance
- Twisting road (English expression): Route semée d’embuches, route sinueuse
Charline Drapier – Gladys Rossoni – Lindsay Paingt