Boundaries in internship… Yep, I said it! They are a thing. I think society has this perception of interns being the paper-pushing, coffee-runners that aren’t good for anything else.
This is so far from the truth! In my internships I saw fellow interns add immense value to the organizations we worked for and on the days that I wasn’t emotionally drained, I was able to acknowledge the value that I, myself brought to the table as well. We were still working on the practical application of everything we were learning in our coursework, but damnit did we try our very best! In the last internship I completed prior to graduating, it was so interesting to see the dynamic between myself and the three other interns. We all had different strengths and we learned to be such a great team. By the end of our time together, we were kicking ass co-facilitating groups and taking on our own individual clients. Building this dynamic was such a great learning experience and really gave me a fresh perspective on being an “intern.”
Having said that, if you are interning currently or will be in the future, please know you are valuable and important. While we have to be flexible in our internships (we are, after all, there to learn), there are certainly boundaries that we should establish as well. I think as interns it becomes easy for us to lose our voice and forget that we are entitled to express our needs. We fear the repercussions that speaking up may come with. But let me share a bit of wisdom with you… the worst case scenario that we picture in our minds very seldom actually happens in real life. On the contrary, we are often pleasantly surprised at the outcome when we put ourselves out there and do something as difficult as setting firm boundaries in a job or an internship.
When I began working in my second internship, I had to learn to set boundaries very quickly. It was something that was uncomfortable for me. I am only a recent graduate of boundary-setting-in-life-university. Seriously, I have sucked at setting boundaries and being assertive up until only recently. As I have progressed in my career, I’ve learned how important it is and not only how it benefits me, but how it also builds a sense of respect among my colleagues. So come time for my second internship and I was assigned a supervisor who was an LCSW at my site. I was so excited about my placement and I loved the agency and what they represented in the community. While I never stopped loving the work, I was soon to be disappointed by my supervisor, someone who was supposed to not only be my guide, but to be an example in respecting and honoring the social work principles that we hold so dear. I noticed behavior early on that was concerning, such as not showing up on time, not planning ahead for group therapy, and making inappropriate jokes. I observed this behavior for about two months and then back to back, he made some racist jokes and made a joke directly to me about the weight of a colleague. I had had enough at this point. This was not the kind of example I would allow myself to have as I started my career in social work. This was not a man who was at all interested in advocating for our clients and I knew at this point I had nothing to gain from being supervised by him. I went back and forth about how to handle the situation, as I didn’t want to lose my placement or be seen as problematic and treated differently. However, I felt very strongly that I needed to be assertive and ask for what I needed and that I needed to set boundaries in my internship to make sure everyone knew I took it seriously. I decided to speak with another staff member about what happened and then followed up that conversation by speaking with the professor overseeing my practicum at my university. My memory sucks and grad school is a blur, but I will never forget the conversation with my university. I was driving home from work on the highway when my professor called me with the head of our department on the call as well. I was sure I was going to be reprimanded for stirring the sh*t and potentially threatening my placement. What I got was the complete opposite. I was met with compassion and understanding (shout out to Kent School of Social Work at UofL, love y’all). They were appalled at the behavior that I was witnessing and were willing to work with me to remove me from that situation immediately. They were proud of me for speaking up for myself and honoring the code of ethics that had been drilled into us since day one. Not only did they assign me an amazing remote supervisor that seriously changed me as a human being and as a professional, but they even had a three way call with my site asking them to move me to a different campus where I would not have to work with my previous supervisor. All accommodations were made and from there on I gained so much valuable knowledge and experience. It would have looked completely different if I hadn’t asserted myself and made my boundaries clear.
So for those of you in an internship currently, or beginning one in the near future…or really any professional in this field:
Don’t let the fear of stirring up conflict keep you from making your boundaries known. More than likely you will be met with more compassion and understanding than you are imagining. We tend to catastrophize these situations in our minds and the results end up being far more positive than we could have ever imagined.
If your boundaries result in some sort of negative consequence, consider whether you share the same values and ethics professionally as the agency you are at. More than likely, this will be a no. At which point, it may be time to find a different place to grow. In hindsight, you will probably be really proud of that decision years from now.
Keep kicking ass psychustlers! Maintaining boundaries is one of the most important things we will learn in our field, so get a head start! You’ll thank yourself later.
Love, your fellow hustler,
Karina
For your viewing pleasure, here's a fun pic of myself and the amazing supervisor my university assigned me to oversee my placement!
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