Changemaker Catalyst Award recipient Nicole interned at Sandstone Care, an outpatient center for young adults and adolescents struggling with substance use and/or mental illness, in the Spring Semester of 2022.  Nicole is a graduate student, Class of 2022, enrolled in a master’s degree of Social Work.

During my experience interning at Sandstone Care, I had the title of a Junior Clinician in which my goal was to absorb as much knowledge as possible and practice my clinical skills. I was tasked with co-facilitating multiple therapeutic groups, which were either processing or psychoeducational groups. The four groups I worked with were Multi-Family Substance Use group, Multi-family Mental Health group, Mental Health partial hospitalization group, and Mental Health Intensive Outpatient group. Alongside a multi-disciplinary team of clinicians and other junior clinicians, we facilitated discussions between clients and brought awareness to topics such as boundaries, communication, DBT skills, addiction, self-compassion, resiliency, stages of change, trauma, etc. This experience was exciting mainly due to it being extremely challenging and continually pushing me to think critically and apply concepts that I learned in my school program. Learning to navigate the dynamics of group interactions and establishing rapport with patients presented a challenging experience. However, this experience was extremely rewarding and humbling to be able to work alongside individuals who are so dedicated to their treatment.  

The most significant part of this experience was being able to see the progression of the client’s mental health in a positive direction. The experience I gained from this internship allowed me to understand mental health from a more holistic lens and served to help me acquire the skills necessary to become an aspiring clinician. This experience engaged me in situations that challenged my thinking about the social systems that are in place and how to better incorporate aspects of social justice and social innovation into my practice. My perspective on mental health and the treatment world has been greatly shaped in which I strive to be a changemaker in the field rather than just following the norm. Due to this experience, I aspire to work in the policy realm to affect change on a macro level in which I can have a more far-reaching impact on the youth suffering from mental illness. I am humbled and honored to have had this experience and will continue to strive to be a changemaker.