Internship

Workplace

IUPDP uses REDCap to organize data from various studies. While I did not have experience with REDCap prior to my internship, I did learn to use Excel in my first year research immersion program. Though seemingly unrelated my previous experience using such a similar database to organize weather and ozone patterns has helped me smoothly transition into organizing important data for my current internship.

In spring 2024 I took a reading, writing, and inquiry class. My specific professor taught us how to make an ePortfolio and had us put all of our work from that semester into it. Learning about ePortfolio's beforehand has come in handy for creating this ePortfolio about my internship.

During that same class I shadowed a volunteer at Children's TherAplay where they provide various types of therapy for children with disabilities. I had the challenging task of writing an essay on my experience while still protecting the privacy of the clients per HIPAA regulations. I did plenty of research and followed my professor's instructions so that I knew what information I could and couldn't include about the experience in my writing. A large part of my internship is transcribing therapy sessions for research purposes. The research I did on HIPAA last year has so far helped me get through the HIPAA compliance training during my first week at the internship. It has continued to help me follow the proper protocols and avoid unnecessary details to protect client privacy whenever I am asked about the internship. I could work on the speed at which I transcribe, but the dictate function has helped with that a lot. I will not trade off my accuracy for speed, but I do believe that I will continue to get better as I practice and get used to the way each of the clients speak. 

My role as a team member is very much behind the scenes support. I do not interact with the clients directly, but my daily duties help convert the therapy sessions into organized files that my supervisor and her team can use in their research as they continuously improve the way they put MERIT into practice based on how effective it is in the sessions that I transcribe.

Successes and Challenges

I got to learn all about how Metacognitive reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) works by attending one of the training sessions for new MERIT therapists. The presentation included information on what metacognition is and how it is measured. It was a very informative experience that I believe will play a vital role in my literature review on the subject. I know it might sound silly, but I made a small labeling mistake that my supervisor corrected me for it. It was not a big deal and I easily fixed it, but I am glad that I handled it so well since I have been so careful not to make any mistakes throughout the year. It was kind of like a weight being lifted off my shoulders because now I feel a little bit more willing to take risks knowing that it's okay and it is part of the learning and growing process as an intern. 

My biggest challenge so far has been asking for help when I need it. It took me a week just to ask for clarification on a specific annotation I was working on. I don't think anything in particular lead to this challenge, I have always just been very independent and never really liked asking for help. The continuous support from my supervisor and others working around me has been a huge help in creating an environment that I feel more comfortable opening up in and I think the more I do it the easier it will become. My other challenge would probably be balancing the internship with school. I struggled a lot at first, likely due to falling behind in school after being sick for the first week and a half. Thanks to the advice from my advisor and the assignments in organization and time management I slowly got into a steady rhythm that allowed me to catch up. There are still some weeks I feel overwhelmed, but I know if I take it one step at a time, stick to my plans, and communicate with my supervisor and professors, then everything will work out. 

In January my supervisor reviewed the first draft of my literature review. It was nowhere near perfect, and I already had a couple of things I planned on tweaking, but getting her insight really helped give me a clearer idea of what I can do to improve it. With much more experience in the field and with writing multiple literature reviews in the past, I am glad asked for feedback so I will be able to not only fix my current literature reviews but also take her advice with me for any future reviews I do.