My name is Marie and I am a German Psychology student. Before coming to Willingness, I had just finished my Bachelor thesis. Whilst studying at Dublin Business School for the fall term 2018, I attended a guest lecture held by two members of the Willingness Team. I was immediately intrigued by the topic (sex and relationship counselling) and especially appreciate the holistic approach Willingness represents.

I see an internship at Willingness as an opportunity to gain practical experience whilst learning from a multi-disciplinary team. It was exciting to be confronted with new methods and to understand how psychological issues can be seen from different viewpoints.  As Willingness offers numerous services, it provides a chance to gain valuable insight into various scopes of application of psychology. 
In addition, Malta was a great combination of cultural appeal and a language I am fluent in, which secured that I could actively participate in the team and best utilize my knowledge.

The work at Willingness consisted of the following projects. First, the interns were instructed to digitalize the Willingness database which was extremely interesting as we encountered a broad scope of real cases. Additionally, we were asked to submit a blog post featuring a topic of our choice every week which definitely enhanced my writing skills. I especially liked that we were given the freedom of choice topic-wise, also regarding the presentations we had to hold in front of the Willingness Team halfway through the internship. As our group of interns was, in my opinion, exceptionally diverse, we covered a great variety of topics and, therefore, learned a lot from each other. Also, the work at Willingness included a research project as well as the design of a clinical audit, both studies were conducted in teams. Furthermore, the interns were involved in ‘Chat Bar’, an emotional support service within a social welfare tent which was set up at two different festivals. Prior to that, we received training. In general, during all our tasks and activities, we were constantly overseen by the Willingness Team.  They were very welcoming, approachable and understanding. At Willingness, a lot of energy is being invested in working together as a team. The cultural diversity of the team and the interns helped me to develop and refine cultural sensibility concerning psychological disciplines. Collaborating in order to pursue a common goal has many advantages, yet implies challenges, too. Great diplomatic and conversational skills are necessary to work together seamlessly. So, a lot of soft and teamworking skills can be gained.

If you enjoy working together as a team, to collaborate in order to achieve the goal of a patient’s total well-being an internship at Willingness is a great opportunity for you. Especially the cooperation of different professions provides the team with expertise on various subjects and challenges the own perspective. This leads to an expansion of knowledge and the acquisition of a more holistic view which I consider as being indispensable of when working in the psychological field. 

Marie Anderlik is from Germany and just finished her undergraduate program in Psychology. She is currently working as an intern at Willingness Hub.