I appreciated the variety of responsibilities and the didactic experiences we had at the internship. We didn't just learn what the clinic did; we learned the WHY through lectures, hands-on practice, and opportunities for conversation with clinicians.
What I wish was different
I would have loved to get a better idea of what a week at the internship might look like because I think I would have come better prepared with questions, grad school ideas, etc. to maximize the professional development sessions we got to have.
Advice
Don't discount the small moments and seemingly mundane tasks; they are opportunities for some of the best learning experiences. Be willing to see tedious tasks or challenging dynamics as part of the learning process.
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Advanced The
June - August 2017 • Oak Brook, IL
What I liked
I enjoyed gaining hands-on clinical experience in the mental health field. In my search for a summer opportunity during my undergraduate career, I found ATS to be a unique because of the ability to interact with clients. I learned so much about the treatment of anxiety disorders and social phobias by observing first-hand, and I think this active experience complimented my classroom learning.
I also enjoyed the professional development aspects of the internship. It was very valuable to learn about the various post-graduate degrees from real professionals, and these discussions helped shape my career goals.
What I wish was different
I wish I had received more feedback throughout the internship. The director gave thoughtful, constructive feedback to each intern at the end of the experience, but it may have been nice to have a mid-way check-in so the feedback could be put into practice.
Advice
I would advise anyone in the internship to take advantage of the professional development opportunities. Ask questions about graduate school experience and current career goals from people farther down the path. In the field of psychology, there are many different routes you can take, and this internship provides a great opportunity to meet people who have pursued a wide variety of careers.
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Clinical Psychology Intern
June - August 2020 • Oak Brook, IL
What I liked
The clinical experiences and other growth opportunities (presentations, seminars with working clinicians) were very helpful. The intern cohort I worked with was extremely motivated and great to work alongside. Dr. Lynas provided excellent mentorship and feedback throughout the summer. Even though I am pursuing graduate education in a different field of psychology, this experience was extremely helpful to me in my career development and graduate school applications and interviews.
What I wish was different
The COVID-19 pandemic was a big source of stress and a reality that made the internship challenging at times. The clinic and the State of Illinois take covid precautions seriously, and that meant adjusting major aspects of the internship to accommodate. These adjustments did however lead to good practical experience with remote work, remote clinical experience, and learning how to provide in-person treatment in adapted circumstances.
Advice
This is an unpaid internship. Therefore, if possible, see if your school or another affiliated organization will help fund/compensate you to offset not making money over the summer with this internship. Either that or consider a part-time job or gig work to supplement this internship (pandemic and your situation allowing). Personally, I knew I had to balance not getting paid over the summer with a frugal following fall semester. So definitely consider your budget seriously. In a perfect world, every internship would be paid. Unpaid internships can sometimes touch upon some real issues of equity and access to opportunity. However, in the case of this internship, I think that it would be prohibitively expensive for ATS to offer this internship to undergraduates as a paid experience. ATS is an organization of a very different scale than a hospital, law firm, or other company that might offer unpaid internships and so I think it doesn't reflect at all poorly on ATS to offer an unpaid undergraduate internship. I think this is especially true in psychology, as many students can see a real benefit to having clinical experience in the competitive graduate school application process. The resume building, learning, professional relationships, and opportunity to prepare for and apply to future paid and more advanced clinical experiences through ATS make taking part in this experience well worth a summer as an undergraduate!
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Clinical Psychology Intern
June - August 2020 • Oak Brook, IL
What I liked
A truly unique experience for undergraduates interested in clinical psychology to gain exposure to the field through learning and applying evidence-based therapeutic techniques. It was extremely rewarding to work intimately with children and their families, and to see their immense progress in such a short period of time. There is also a professional development aspect integrated into the internship to help students navigate the field. This internship helped me a lot in terms of thinking about the type of work I want to do as a clinical psychologist and the population I want to work with.
What I wish was different
Due to disruptions from covid-19, aspects of the internship and Adventure Camp itself had to be compromised. I wouldn't say it was necessarily a bad thing, because as interns it gave us the opportunities to be more involved, in terms of running the camp, being counselors, thinking on our feet when unexpected situations arise... etc. However, it would have also been nice to see how Adventure Camp was run at its full capacity pre-covid!
Advice
Time management and staying organized is probably an important aspect of many jobs, but it is especially applicable here as you may be expected to take on many different roles and balance a number of different tasks.
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Clinical Psychology Intern
June - August 2019 • Oak Brook, IL
What I liked
This internship is designed to provide real-world clinical psychology experience in a private practice setting, while also teaching about graduate school programs and psychology careers. I found this internship highly educational and hands-on, which made for a rewarding experience.
What I wish was different
Due to the long hours (40 hour workweeks for 10 weeks, often worked over-time) I wish we had been compensated. Working part time while also working this internship made for a pretty stressful summer. It was also fairly stressful work in general, especially the Summer camp week in which we had to work 7am-11pm the whole week.
Advice
If you can afford not to work, or if you can get an internship grant from core (I did), I recommend this internship given the great amount of experience and educational components.
