While doing my bachelors, I have always been an enthusiastic psychology student who was in search of opportunities that would allow me to contribute to society. I have been active and have held many positions in EFPSA, and that is where I heard about Willingness. I was extremely eager to do my internship at Willingness because I was trying to improve myself in different ways in psychology and I chose to do this at Willingness where I can experience the core values of human psychology and the nature of therapy with the professional and holistic approach of the Hub..
As interns at Willingness we were split into three clinics (Sex, Health, Family) where we all worked in one specific clinic but were trained in all of them. This was an amazing opportunity to learn and gain experience in a variety of clinics at the same time. I was in the Health Clinic and we conducted a systematic review about covid-19 and fibromyalgia patients. I have never done a systematic review before and that definitely scared me at the beginning but Danica our clinic manager was there to support us all the way.
Another thing we did was a clinical audit for the health clinic. Although the health clinic was not established yet, we all felt very excited and involved as we worked on assessments that could be used in the Hub. Every week we would write blogs about specific topics related to our clinic. This task was my favorite. This is because I would learn a lot about things I would not have known before and write about them. This has taken my writing skills to another level and I felt very proud every week when I saw my blogs on the website.
During the programme we would have multidisciplinary team meetings where professionals from the hub would discuss cases. This was always very exciting for me! Although I was not there in Malta, I always felt a strong connection between everyone in the hub and my intern friends. Everyone was so encouraging and inspiring, they would always be open to help us interns as they constantly support their colleagues. I started this programme with a confused mind on my path, I was feeling lost when I started but on this journey I found my way. I felt very welcome from the beginning and I cannot exaggerate enough the benefits of doing your internship at Willingness. People who are confused, or just have the motivation to contribute to society via supporting mental health should apply to this programme. I definitely recommend you to take this wonderful journey!
If you want to learn more about Willingness internships you can reach out here.
Ela Jean Demir is a fresh psychology graduate from the Izmir University of Economics in Turkey. She is currently an intern at Willingness.