Jenna D'Agostini
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My name is Jenna D’Agostini. My internship placement site was at the Children’s Day Program, located in Neptune NJ. The Children’s Day Program is an intensive outpatient program for children 7-14 experiencing serious emotional and behavioral difficulties. The patients attend group therapy 3-4 times a week for 3 hours per day and transportation is provided locally to and from the program. The program’s group therapy incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy and behavior modification, through a goal setting, point, and reward system.
My main responsibilities consisted of supervising the children, assisting therapists, going along on transportation runs, and running my own group therapy sessions.
There were several interesting cases at my site but there were a few that had a significant impact on me. One student was particularly high risk as he had problems managing his anger. He also had an extremely hard time expressing his feelings, which caused him to flip over tables, throw chairs, and destroy property around him when he was angry or upset. My initial reaction to his tantrums was confusion. I didn’t fully understand why he was often triggered. After spending more time with my supervisor and learning more about the psychology of children I was able to have a better grasp on the underlying causes of his tantrums. By the time I left my site, the client hadn't thrown a tantrum in weeks and he improved tremendously on verbalizing his feelings and using coping skills as opposed to throwing
I also saw clients with multiple diagnoses such as mood disorders, ADHD, and attachment disorders. These clients were difficult to form relationships with, however by the time I left, some of them were able to open up to me and express their feelings in an appropriate manner.
I learned so much at my site that it is hard to condense in such a short amount of time. However, some of the main things I gained were a better understanding of psychological disorders. There is an enormous difference between learning about psychological issues in the classroom and actually witnessing them first hand. This experience also opened my eyes to a whole new population I never thought of working with before. Finally, it was great to be able to gain professional experience and work with individuals who I could learn so much from.
My internship did not change my future career and education goals. Rather, it secured them. The only future change my site made was opening up the idea of working with children, which is something I had not considered before. I absolutely loved my internship and grew extremely attached to the children as well as my co-workers which made saying goodbye more difficult than I anticipated. Nevertheless I am grateful to have had such a wonderful experience.
My main responsibilities consisted of supervising the children, assisting therapists, going along on transportation runs, and running my own group therapy sessions.
There were several interesting cases at my site but there were a few that had a significant impact on me. One student was particularly high risk as he had problems managing his anger. He also had an extremely hard time expressing his feelings, which caused him to flip over tables, throw chairs, and destroy property around him when he was angry or upset. My initial reaction to his tantrums was confusion. I didn’t fully understand why he was often triggered. After spending more time with my supervisor and learning more about the psychology of children I was able to have a better grasp on the underlying causes of his tantrums. By the time I left my site, the client hadn't thrown a tantrum in weeks and he improved tremendously on verbalizing his feelings and using coping skills as opposed to throwing
I also saw clients with multiple diagnoses such as mood disorders, ADHD, and attachment disorders. These clients were difficult to form relationships with, however by the time I left, some of them were able to open up to me and express their feelings in an appropriate manner.
I learned so much at my site that it is hard to condense in such a short amount of time. However, some of the main things I gained were a better understanding of psychological disorders. There is an enormous difference between learning about psychological issues in the classroom and actually witnessing them first hand. This experience also opened my eyes to a whole new population I never thought of working with before. Finally, it was great to be able to gain professional experience and work with individuals who I could learn so much from.
My internship did not change my future career and education goals. Rather, it secured them. The only future change my site made was opening up the idea of working with children, which is something I had not considered before. I absolutely loved my internship and grew extremely attached to the children as well as my co-workers which made saying goodbye more difficult than I anticipated. Nevertheless I am grateful to have had such a wonderful experience.