Please note: the availability of each position will be confirmed at the beginning of every semester. This is one of the options we have offered in the past.

If you are interested in beginning a conversation about our Internship Program before your arrival in Rome, feel free to contact us: 

Elena Fossà - elena.fossa@trincoll.edu

Flavia Alfano - flavia.alfano@trincoll.edu 

WEBSITE: https://www.fondazionediliegro.com/en/ 

You can't love from a distance, staying out of the fray,

without getting your hands dirty, but above all you can't love without sharing.

Don Luigi Di Liegro

The International Foundation Don Luigi Di Liegro is a non-profit organization based in Rome that supports people with mental health difficulties and their families, working to preserve human dignity and promote social inclusion. Its aim is also to raise awareness of the culture of solidarity.

By mental health, in line with the World Health Organization, we mean "a state of well-being in which a person can fulfill himself, overcome the tensions of daily life, carry out productive work and contribute to the life of his community"

The paradigm in which the foundation's interventions are placed is that of recovery. From the perspective of the individual with mental illness, recovery means finding and maintaining hope, understanding one's abilities and disabilities, engaging in active living, recovering personal autonomy, social identity, meaning and purpose in one's life, and an image of positive self. Recovery is not synonymous with clinical healing (cures). It refers both to the internal condition experienced by the people who describe themselves in their recovery journey - hope, recovery, empowerment and recovery of relationships - and to the external factors that facilitate recovery - respect for human rights, positive culture of recovery and services focused on recovery.

Activities carried out by the foundation:

• Workshops (photography, music, art, theatre, creative writing) promoting personal health and self-care;

• SOSS - a counseling and support service for individuals experiencing psychological distress and their families;

• Workshops in schools to raise awareness 

Interns at Di Liegro Foundation should take care of the following tasks: 

 (These tasks are modifiable according to each candidate's personal skills)

• Attend a training to learn to observe and highlight the strengths and the ability of individuals to positively cope with traumatic events, implementing non-intrusive but empathetic communication.

• Help planning and setting up for events;

• Assist the staff during workshops; get involved in the activities of socialization and art therapy workshops;

Requirements:

• Intermediate level of Italian preferable;

• Proactive and positive attitude;

• Creativity

For my internship during this semester abroad, I interned at Fondazione Internazionale Don Luigi Di Liegro. This is an organization that supports people going through mental health issues. During my time in this internship, I mostly participated in their acting workshop. In this workshop, we did a lot of activities based on acting, mostly improv. There are also many other workshops that the organization provides. There's writing, art, dance, and more. Based on my schedule, I only had time to join the acting workshop. 

Another thing that I did was help with the European Project that they were working on. This project is a collaboration with other organizations throughout Europe. They all worked together to create a document based on the work that their organization does. 

Some advice that I would give future interns is to go into it with an open mind. With everything being in Italian, it was hard at times to follow along, but everyone was incredibly nice and helpful. The people at the fondazione really made the experience a good one.

(J.B., Spring 2026)

DI LIEGRO FOUNDATION - Via Ostiense, 106, 00154 Roma RM