My journey with Willingness… it has been quite a roller coaster of happy and hardworking moments which all started back in the year 2016. Frankly, it started before… a year or so before when Matthew Bartolo visited my sixth form, holding a talk about dating and relationships… and that was when I knew I wanted to work alongside him. Little did I know that a year or so later, I would be working within the multidisciplinary team, Willingness as an intern.
It mainly started as I joined the internship programme for a year in 2016 alongside with 5 other interns. During this internship, I managed to learn a lot of what the field has to offer by meeting with the various professionals working within the team, all of which helped us understand their field of specialisation further. We had the opportunity to conduct and take part in a social experiment about gender violence amongst many other tasks. In the meantime, I started attending the Ngħidu Kelma workshops about various taboo topics that society shuns aside and avoids to discuss. The annual 360 conference came along which involved witnessing and hearing various professionals from multiple fields discussing family, following year addiction, LGBTIQ+ and so on…
In the middle of the internship, a position for Matthew’s PA has opened, and I have occupied that position ever since. This position has been a huge learning curve, both personally and professionally. I learned the basic things from scratch; from how to answer a phonecall or an email to how to handle a client when calling with an emergency or crisis. I started taking care of all the administrative work of Willingness which again helped in improving my social and administrative skills. In the meantime, I was attending the team meetings and case reviews held by the team fortnightly which was a very good opportunity to hear different professionals discussing cases for the betterment of our client. The different perspectives (family therapy, counselling, psychology, social work and more) helps in providing a holistic approach to helping the clients further. This was a unique opportunity to hear hands on about the theories that in the mean time I was learning at university.
Following the end of my Bachelor in Psychology, I started working as a triage officer within the team. This was a very good opportunity in helping me further my skills within the field. As a triage officer, I meet up with our clients for an intake meeting, where questions are asked in order to determine which professional can help them best with their regard. I also attended training for talks and workshops and have had the opportunity of presenting alongside other talented team members at workshops, conferences so on.
So far this has been a wonderful journey, where I found a family… however this journey does not stop here. Within the Willingness team, opportunities keep budding and emerging. Willingness has helped me step out from my comfort zone, met amazing human beings who are on the same journey for personal growth and provided myriad of opportunities.
Danica Cassar has recently graduated in Bachelor of Psychology. She works as a triage officer at Willingness. You can contact her on danica@willingness.com.mt or call us on 79291817.