Spring Semester: Reflecting and Planning

In my work as an intern thus far, I have learned a lot about health communications, health/healthcare advocacy, and myself.

When it comes to health advocacy, I've learned that advocating for healthcare equity requires advocacy for many different issues as everything affects one's health. This means advocating for the rights of minoritized communities as their health is most likely to be negatively affected due to the myriad of societal obstacles placed in their path. Environmental issues, criminal justice reform, racial equity, gender equity, etc. are all issues that must be on the radar of any health advocate.

Additionally, this internship has given me direction in my career. Prior to starting this internship, I was still unsure as to what career path I wanted to pursue, but I have found that health communications is the path for me! This field incorporates a lot of aspects that I wanted in career: the ability to make a positive difference in my community, project/initiative oriented, writing/communicating about topics I find interesting, the opportunity to interact with and advocate for public policy, constant room for growth and learning, interaction with people outside of my own field, etc. The thought of having a career in health communications genuinely excites me and I can't wait to continue gaining experience and find my next steps.

My work at this site was integral in accomplishing the goal of making health information and resources available to parents, both through the podcast and social media. In running the social media accounts for this project, I was able to create a consistent source of information for parents and shout out local and federal resources as well as provide ways in which parents could contact the podcast with suggestions for topics. Building our social media presence with consistent posting will hopefully lead to higher outcomes in terms of audience reach over a longer period of time. Additionally, my contributions in organizing the recording of the podcast and editing the episodes allowed others at my site to devote time to other important projects, such as Eliza's efforts in organizing outreach in the Haitian community of Indianapolis. In this way, we were able to work as a well-functioning team and support each other. My efforts on the technical and communication end contribute largely to organizational goals of creating a more health literate society.

One skill that I would like to continue to improve upon is confronting challenges. While I understand the role of failure in the learning process, I am still reticent when it comes to taking risks. In the future, I could try to seek out risk rather than simply reacting when a risky situation arises. This internship has allowed me to improve upon almost all of the necessary skills I need for being successful in a professional position, especially in terms of teamwork and leadership skills, which I have greatly improved upon over the course of the year. I am able to more readily accept positions of leadership and feel more comfortable in a heavily collaborative environment.