Meet SDSU student, Beatriz, who recently completed Intern Abroad HQ’s Remote Psychology Internship out of Spain.
San Diego State University’s College of Health and Human Services has an international experience requirement and Beatriz used this remote internship to meet academic requirements and gain course credit.
I would like to help mitigate health disparities, inequities, and improve access to health care and resources through my career. This internship role contributed towards my long term goals of pursuing nursing in a community or public health setting. To work in such a role, I feel that developing therapeutic and interpersonal skills is vital. This remote internship has taught me how to communicate, manage myself better and engage in therapeutic conversation.
Learning therapeutic communication skills
My international psychology internship predominantly involved the translation of texts, audio scripts, and HTML code for a mindfulness and self-care app to assist with outreach to English-speaking clients. I know these kind of apps are well known in the United States, at least within the communities I am exposed to, and I am really glad that these services are also being developed abroad.
Within this internship role, the therapeutic communication skills I learned from working on the self-care programs will be especially with future clients to ensure I am mindful and sensitive to their needs. The gentle awareness and cultural competency I have developed is needed to work effectively with diverse populations.
My most significant learning points were learning the therapeutic methods of speech. Being exposed to the way therapeutic communication is applied in therapy sessions is great because I am currently taking a counselling skills and practice class for my minor this semester. The qualities of the language we learned to implement overlap with the patterns I observe within the programs.
Developing soft skills and time management
I feel much more empowered in my field largely because of how much I learned when it comes to communicating with team members, independent responsibility, time management, and therapeutic communication from the programs. This role allowed me to expand on my Spanish literacy, international communication, and self-management as the time-zone difference required me to complete tasks independently.
Once I completed my first week of the internship, I developed an understanding of what was expected of me. I learned to look ahead at how much I was assigned for the week and distribute the work appropriately across my week to make it more digestible. This is useful for nursing and other helping professions since I will encounter instances where I have a long to-do list and will need to create a game plan to complete everything.
What it’s like to intern remotely
Everyone I was in contact with was so kind and made it very clear that I was welcome to get in touch with them and ask for help when I needed it. I was somewhat preparing myself for stricter guidelines, instructions, and expectations. Fortunately, they are all super kind and flexible. They emphasized that I should focus on just doing what I can. It’s been really enjoyable learning how they write up therapeutic texts, audios, and HTML code since I had never worked with these tasks before.
Communicating with my supervisor and Intern Abroad HQ
One highlight from the internship was the communication with my supervisor, Judit. She always made sure to check in regularly about the tasks and update me on any changes to look out for. I was really glad to have her as my supervisor because her energy was so inviting.
The email conversations with Intern Abroad HQ and the advisors at my university to organize my academic requirements were so warm. All of the regular interactions were positive ones and I enjoyed every bit of it.
Working towards my career goals
From here, I will continue pursuing opportunities that enrich my cultural competency and knowledge of public health services. I want to build myself up to be a leader, who will champion social justice and tackle inequality. I would absolutely love to stay in contact with everyone who I connected with during this internship, and I’m sure I will continue to expand on what I learned during those five weeks.
This internship has also inspired me to work on my networking, connecting to more people and opportunities on LinkedIn. I would like to continue improving my language literacy, as this will be extremely useful for working with diverse populations, particularly with so many Spanish-speaking residents in my area. This has really built up a momentum of personal development that began earlier this year, so I really hope to keep that going!
If you’re considering a remote internship…
The advice I would give is to really take advantage of the amount of support you’ll have available, along with the time you’ll be committing. There is a lot to learn about ourselves when we are put into challenging situations that pushes us to build on our abilities.
This internship is an investment in your future so it is important that you commit to your personal growth. Check with those whom you trust around you and the mentors you have, if you need or want another perspective on your potential.
Learn more about Intern Abroad HQ’s remote internships here.
How can I get started?
Our step-by-step guide on how it works provides you with more information on how to get started. The process is user friendly and there are two options you can take to get the ball rolling.
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If you’re unsure of which internship program is right for you, you can simply check availability to submit an enquiry which will help us to point you in the right direction. If you want to chat over the phone, you can also find our full contact information here.
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If you already have an idea of what you want to do, and when you want to do it, you can submit your application. It doesn’t cost anything and won’t take more than 5 minutes. However, your formal expression of interest provides the foundation for us to help you take the next steps.
