Clinic Intern and RA, UMD Psychology Clinic - Dr. Colleen Byrne
Major: Psychology & Criminology/Criminal Justice
Class Year: 2023
What was a typical week like in your internship position?
A typical week for me is that I come into the clinic on Wednesdays and Fridays for a few hours. In person, I hold meetings with my team and the clinic director, connect with therapists, keep referrals up to date, and make sure all assessment measures are readily available. I also do remote work during the week too. That involves creating graphics for our social media of research articles, upcoming events, or updates, and sending emails to my team discussing upcoming assignments. It’s all very manageable, as I am a full-time student but still am able to allot at least eight hours a week to this internship.
What do you enjoy most about your current position?
The thing I enjoy most in this position is helping therapists and learning the ins and outs of running a clinic. This experience has expanded my knowledge of all the different types of tests you can give to clients as a therapist, how to properly handle confidential paperwork, and how to appropriately connect with therapists and assist them in their job. I also like learning about the law aspect of running a clinic. It’s intriguing how much paperwork the clinic director must read and must stay up to date with all the changing laws. A new act called “No Surprises Act” just recently got put into place, requiring providers to give patients information about expected costs. It was cool to see my supervisor hearing about this, explaining it to me, and then immediately putting it into place.
How did your coursework help you in your internship?
My vast coursework in psychology has helped my position in many ways. Adult psychopathology (PSYC353) has been the most helpful because I learned a lot about the structure of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), which is something I must be familiar with in the clinic. Similarly, in that same adult psychopathology class I also learned a lot about different psycho-educational measures that are used commonly for therapy. It's been very helpful to also have that knowledge because I work a lot with psycho-educational measures and I'm responsible for making them available for the therapists. Overall, I would say the amount of coursework and experience studying psychology has helped extremely as an intern for the psychology clinic.
How did you locate your internship position?
I located this internship by attending the PSYCDay Fair that was held in the fall 2021 semester. I introduced myself to Dr. Colleen Byrne after wandering around the event for a bit. We became acquainted and she suggested that I apply for the internship. I'm thankful that I attended that event because it brought me this great opportunity and allowed me to network with other psychology professors and programs. I would suggest this event to any future student not only because you get to learn more about the type of events UMD has pertaining to psychology majors, but it's an opportunity to get a feel for what a job could look like in this field.
Advice for students:
My best piece of advice for students applying to internships is to connect with as many people as possible before you begin applying. This way, not only do you get to hear job experiences from different types of people, but it gives you an upper hand if you do decide to apply to their company because they will remember that you went out of your way to connect with them. Another great tip someone told me is to try and learn something from everyone. This is something I take pride in doing with people that I meet because you never know when a simple conversation can become a life changing one. The best way to get guidance is from people who have had lots of experiences and have learned things along the way that they can share with you.
Anything else you want to share with students about your experience?
I highly recommend getting an internship during undergrad because it gives you a sneak peak into working a field you're interested in, and most of the time you can get credit for it so it's a win-win.