Ok - this one might be a little cheesy. I'm going to do my best with this blogging thing. Writing for me and for my friends and family in a way that isn't too personal, but is genuine. We'll see how it goes....
So, I've just recently completed my internship at Sarah Reed Children's Center in Erie, PA and have decided that the next step in life is traveling to Mexico for about 10 months for a volunteer position. Finishing internship was the last hurdle for me of my graduate program and I graduated this past spring. Yes, I am FINALLY done with school! Usually after internship, the next step is getting a job or getting a postdoc. For me, I've decided that the next step is taking some time "off" from the marathon of being legally and/or ethically (depending on the state) allowed to call myself a psychologist and pursue an experience where my personal and professional interests meet. I haven't met too many people in this field who aren't passionate about some area of education, mental health, or social change in general. I guess I'm not that different. In undergrad, an interest in inequalities in education grew into an interest in the inequalities that immigrant/ migrant families face in education. That interest took a back burner during grad school at South Carolina while I focused on various other hurdles and formed new passions based on my experiences there. I always hoped that I would have the opportunity to FINALLY learn Spanish and spend time in a Spanish speaking country. I'm not sure exactly when I decided that this year would be the best time, but sometime during the year in Erie, when I realized that I could finish my dissertation and graduate after internship, it seemed realistic that I could take some time off to finally pursue those interests. It must have been pretty early in the year, because I remember Linda and Lisa helping me by sending me names of people who might be able to help or sending me links to websites (xoxo Lady Friends). It must have been at Christmas when I brought the idea up to my parents, and was a little surprised when the idea wasn't met with more protest! Part of me felt like this was a little crazy, I'd finally be finishing school and finally would have the opportunity to finally get a REAL job, but instead I was considering continuing to put off "real life" and proposing a new adventure. If I hadn't had so much support and received such positive feedback from friends, family, and supervisors, this would have never happened. At Sarah Reed this year, we spent a lot of time talking about creating a feeling of safety within our relationships with our clients, which would then allow them to take some risks and perhaps have a chance to do some healing. Safety is also a central principal to the Sanctuary model (which I'll get into later). Anyway - I'm not completely going off on a tangent, but I'm trying to make the point that I feel fortunate to be surrounded by family and friends who provide me with a sense of safety, thus allowing me to pursue an opportunity that is a little out of the ordinary and maybe a little risky in some ways! So bottom line, I'm going to spend 10 months in Mexico because I want to improve my Spanish, learn about the mental health culture in a new place, and expose myself to an opportunity that I think will ultimately give me a better chance of ending up in a professional position that I will also find personally fulfilling. The End:-)
