Natasha Lang

Psychology & Spanish

Wedikco Children's Services

How has your internship helped build skills and clarify your career goals?

Being a residential counselor at a therapeutic camp for kids with different behavioral and emotional challenges strengthened my desire to do clinical work in psychology, and also helped build my communication and empathy in working with kids with different traumas and psychological disorders.

How do you apply your Liberal Arts skills in your internship?

I applied my liberal arts skills by speaking in Spanish to one of my campers that preferred Spanish over English, and that helped him communicate better. 

Describe your typical day as an intern.  

My typical day as an intern included waking up at about 6 am and taking the kids to different activities throughout the day, engaging them during down time, and doing cognitive behavioral therapy checklists with them multiple times a day.

What was the most challenging aspect of your internship?  

The most challenging aspect was continuing to be patient with my group of 10 year old boys, and coming up with creative ways to solve different challenges that would arise.

What surprised you most about your internship? 

What surprised me the most was how close I got with all the staff and how invested I got into my campers and their well-being; after the first week, it wasn't just a job. It was my sole goal to help those kids work through their struggles.

Describe the most meaningful experience you had as an intern.

Finally, the most meaningful part of it all was seeing the growth in the kids over the 6 weeks that I was with them.