The Door: A Center for Alternatives 

Project Description

For the past year I worked as an intern at The Door in their membership department. My official title was “Intake Counselor”. In this role I spoke with the new members that came through the space, made them feel welcomed and comfortable, and helped them feel supported while they transitioned into our programs. My work was very hands on, and required a lot of emotional resilience and patience. Intakes can be very personal and intimate, which made the job even more important.

Who was supporting you in your work?

During my research paper I had a lot of support from my academic fellow/ mentor, this was Ahad Ali. He was very helpful in understanding the process of writing a research paper, and I really appreciated all the insight he gave me. I also think he was very easy to communicate with and I felt lucky to have his support. At The Door, my two supervisors were a huge support in my internship as well as my research. These were Justine Kahn and Hilda Mulero. They were the supervisors of my department as well as extremely genuine and supportive individuals. I am so thankful they were my bosses, I couldn’t have asked for two better people to work with.

Me and Ahad had a lot of emailing and zoom calls, as well as meeting a few times in person. I thought we worked very well! He was really intelligent and had a lot of good advice to offer, and I appreciated him being patient with me and taking time out of his life / work to support me.

Project Themes:

Research, Social Justice

How has this project has been impactful or transformative?

I think some moments that felt impactful were when young people I had intakes with would recognize me and ask for further support outside of the intake. A lot of young people I spoke with felt comfortable enough to stay in contact with me, and ask for further assistance if/when needed. Even if help wasn’t needed, I loved when they would come talk to me about their days or updates on their life… that felt really special.

What would you do differently? 

I would maybe have given myself more time for interviews. I definitely felt a little rushed when I had to do them, and that was just poor time management on my end.

Will you publish or print your work?

I'd love to! I’m not sure where, and I don’t exactly know where to begin this process however I would love to find a way to publish.

Short summary of your experience:

It was great! The internship itself was perfect. couldn’t have asked for a better spot to intern at.