My Internship In Mental Health

My internship is at North Central Mental Health Services. I work with Suicide Prevention Services as a suicide hotline volunteer where I assess suicide risk, and give support to callers in crisis and provide information and assistance to relatives, friends, co-workers and others who are concerned about a suicidal individual. Back in December 2016, I was trained in suicide prevention skills such as lethality assessment, crisis intervention, and victimology and I chose to work for Suicide Prevention Services because I felt like it would prepare me well for me career as a future as a psychiatric mental-health nurse practitioner. Moreover, I also wanted to work there because I believe in saving lives and empowering people, but most importantly I see the value in placing myself in uncomfortable positions mentally and emotionally to forward my personal growth. Furthermore, this internship is different from my previous work experience because I am not interacting with people face to face, rather I am speaking to them over the phone so I have to work hard to convey empathy and care for the person. I am learning how to empathize with people, how to assert myself to end calls that are less severe in nature, and how to be decisive during the critical moments. Likewise, my responsibilities include providing

There are usually two to three volunteers in the phone room at one time and we take turns answering calls, assist each other during calls and keep each other company during down time. My clients are the people I communicate with over the phone during my service. I have already begun networking at my job and have discussed my future career goals with my shift partners. Still, there are many networking opportunities at North Central Mental Health center. North Central houses many different mental-health professionals such as social workers, counselors, and psychiatrist that I could discuss my future goals