Introduction:

During the summer of 2019, I worked at the Marjorie Kovler Center, Heartland Alliance in Chicago, Illinois. The Kovler Center is an organization that provides mental health and social services to foreign-born survivors of torture. The clients who are eligible for services tend to come to the United States seeking asylum after facing politically motivated, state-sanctioned torture in their home countries, and are in need of a range of services. The organization focuses on mental health care, as they offer services such as psychiatry, psychotherapy and complementary therapies such as acupuncture and massage therapy, in house. They also offer medical services to clients in house, as a nurse practitioner offers check-ups, prescription medication and referrals to specialists. Lastly, Kovler offers case management services, which is where I was situated in my time at Kovler.

MY ROLE:

Working in case management, I got a glimpse into these many areas and had to take in a lot of information at a fast pace to be able to provide information back to clients in need. Initially, the reason I chose this internship was because I knew that it would entail a great deal of direct interaction with clients. I felt very strongly that it was essential for me to exercise my relational muscle in order to work in the field of psychology. Although my role at Kovler did not involve providing mental health services directly, I gained a lot of relevant knowledge on mental health, specifically trauma.

Through this internship experience, I gained a great deal of expertise in systems in the US, such as public benefits, medical insurance, asylum law, work authorization for asylum seekers and more. These systems are complex and evolving in the current political climate, so it was valuable to learn about them. I helped design an informational magazine on public benefits and medicaid in Illinois to inform and educate clients in a format that is more digestible.

Lessons learned:

In terms of other areas of academic and professional growth, my knowledge base on trauma-informed care and culturally-competent care expanded greatly, due to the expertise of my supervisors and clinicians. Trauma-informed care is an approach that explicitly acknowledges the role trauma plays in people’s lives. Every person and part of Kovler understood the impact of trauma on the individuals we served. Some aspects of the trauma-informed program included promoting safety, trustworthiness, transparency, peer support, empowerment, voice, choice, and awareness of cultural, historical and gender issues in varying contexts/countries. During my time at Kovler, I also focused on learning how to recognize signs of trauma, and respond to them appropriately. One concept that was emphasized was re-traumatization and resisting re-traumatization. We participated in informal trainings on modeling safety questions in conversations with clients to ensure that we were resisting re-traumatization. A lot of trauma-informed care entails providing a sense of predictability, safety and trust in individuals who have had the worst experiences in these areas. Simple acts of offering water, tea or coffee upon their arrival, help reinstill these feelings. Apart from all of the practical skills and expertise I gained, I learnt a lot about how to exist and behave in therapeutic spaces.