As university students, we are motivated to achieve our psychology goals and work with mentally ill people. Working in the area of psychology requires us to be well educated, ambitious, have good ethics, and adapt to the working environment. The knowledge is fundamental, but sometimes we find ourselves lost before the beginning our journey as we have no practice. We can all fall deep into an excellent psychological book trying to understand the human being and its way of thinking and functioning, but watching the whole process right in front of us is magic. Being in the presence of good experts, watching them interfere with mentally ill people feels uncredible. We face their manners of handling situations, questions, reactions, and professionalism. We are happy knowing that we are not alone integrating our professional life because applying knowledge into practice might seem hard at first.
The social workers and the psychologists are giving their best helping people with specific needs, and we observe them in the middle of the process. We can notice how they connect with the clients and make them feel safe and understood. We can catch sight of it and feel it in the entire room. So next time the clients stand in front of us, we won’t be intimidated but calm and know how to react to their words and actions. We are not afraid of them, but our lack of experience frightens us.This is why the regular meetings with the experts helps us to better understand the mind and therefor actions of the young people.
Project LIKE helps people with differences to feel in the right place. Тhe atmosphere is friendly and relaxed, which predisposes them to share how they genuinely feel and share their thoughts. We all feel part of a whole – the professionals treat the mentally ill, teaching us through the reality. On the other hand, the clients can communicate with people who are willing to listen andare interested in whatever is going on in their heads.
Every day is a new opportunity to learn new abilities. Welearn how to accept criticism, we develop analytical and reflective skills, and we are also taught to be independent by accomplishing daily tasks in the organization. Being surrounded by professionals also helps us mature in our decision to become psychologists and teaches us teamwork and cooperation.
Examining daily situations helps us notice even the most minor details specified in this work. It is easy to grow and learn in a dynamic and warm environment. Our feedback is always appreciated, which is encouraging because being told what you’re doing well can be very helpful, but hearing that you need to improve and make adjustments can be sometimes uncomfortable.
In the workplace, the experts share knowledge and insights of the job and give us advice. Mentoring is an opportunity for us to learn from more experienced people. The program is flexible enough to work with our specific strengths in the context of our internship.
Y.A. volunteer
