The school based health center offers Alameda youth with health resources like sex education and contraception. They also offer STI and HIV testing for free. Along with these services, they also offer group and individual therapy as well as information on these topics.  

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Jan 16, 1 hour:

Today was the first meeting. I like Stevie and Amor, they are both super nice. We came up with group agreements together and it felt good to know what we are expecting from each other. I am eager to get to know my team more.

 

Jan 23, 1 hour:

I am excited to get started on some of these projects, but I am also nervous to see how they will turn out. I hope that enough people will show interest and show up. I like the vibe of the internship because I feel comfortable coming to Stevie and Amor with questions and concerns.

 

Feb 6, 1 hour:

We are getting ready for teen dating violence awareness month. We are doing a tabling event during lunch in a week. I am anxious to see how it goes,. I have never done anything like this before. I feel good knowing that the information we are going to be sharing with the community is important and relevant.

 

Feb 13, 2 hours:

Today was the day of the tabling event. We didn’t advertise it as well as we could have, but people still showed up. At first, it was a bunch of elementary school kids from NEA, but eventually some ACLC high schoolers came over after hearing that there would be a raffle. I really enjoyed seeing lowerclassmen learn about unhealthy relationships with their friends. I felt better having done something aside from our weekly meeting.

 

Feb 20, 2 hours:

Today, we gave a lunch presentation on healthy relationships. Only a few people showed up, but I still felt good about it. The people seemed engaged and interested in the topic. Some of the attendees even knew more than Amor and I. This was troubling at first, but after the presentation I felt better.

 

Feb 26, 1 hour:

Today we went over what would be going on during the month of March. We talked about how we were going to do some healthy relationship presentations at NEA. These presentations will be different than the lunch time ones because they will be given to specific classes. Stevie said that they will be middle school age and that we might have to tweak the presentation to be more appropriate for them. I am nervous to present to a younger crowd, but I am excited to teach them something important.

 

Mar 5, 1 hour:

Today we just reviewed the middle school version of the presentation. Dividing up roles was pretty easy because the three of us get along very well. I feel like the work will be evenly divided and that the presentations will go smoothly.

 

Mar 13, 1 hour:

Stevie made some edits to the Middle school presentation, so we spent today’s meeting talking about those changes. I feel ready, but still a little wary of the way the studing will act/react during the presentation. Stevie found a cool video about consent to show at the beginning of the presentation.

 

Mar 20, 1/2 hour:

I was sick today, so instead of going in for the meeting, Stevie let me call her from home instead. We just had a final check in before our presentation next week.

 

Mar 23, 1 hour:

The presentation was moved to next week, so today we talked about ideas for mental health awareness month. I am ready to get these presentations on a roll.

 

Apr 9, 2 hours:

Today was the day of the presentations. One went well, the other one not so much. I was very tired and it was probably very noticeable. I wish that I had gotten more sleep the night before. Now that these presentations are over I feel better and ready to move on to the mental health awareness.

 

Apr 26, 1 hour:

Stevie went over the schedule for May with us. We are going to give more presentations as well as lead a coping mechanism workshop where kids can come and make stress balls. I thought we were done giving presentations on healthy relationships, but I guess the facilitator who’s class we presented to last time wants us to come into her other classes.

 

May 1, 3 hours :

Today Stevie and I gave the presentations during 1st and 2nd period. These ones went far better than the last ones we did, probably because I was better rested and more familiar with the content. I feel good knowing that the kids learned - at the very least - what consent is. We also had our regular meeting during 5th period. We didn't have much to talk about so we just discussed other matters.

 

Closing Report:

 

My internship with the School Based Health Center was not what I expected it to be. The skills I ended up using did not match the skills I thought I would be using. I learned things that I didn’t foresee learning about, while also not learning things that I thought I would learn. Certain aspects were easier than anticipated, while some were harder. Overall, I enjoyed my time at the health center and will forever be grateful for the experience it has granted me.

The majority of the things we did had to do with healthy relationships. We planned and executed presentations and a tabling event. Although the presentations were pre-made, Amor and I offered our feedback and suggested changes.

I expected to learn more about safe sex and what it is like to work in the health center. I ended up learning more about healthy relationships and what it is like to work outside of the health center. The majority of the work we did had to do with community outreach. We wanted to raise awareness and hopefully get more people to come into the health center. I learned that these issues aren’t being talked about enough. It was obvious that some of the kids hadn’t been given a talk relating to consent and abuse. This made me sad, but also happy knowing that they were finally getting the information.

I faced the obstacle of my mental health getting in the way of my responsibilities. Some days I would text the intern group chat and let them know that I would be missing the meeting because I was sick, but in reality I was just battling a lack of motivation and energy. I communicated with my team and eventually started showing up on a more regular basis. I was glad that the health center understood and offered support.

Another obstacle was the fact that Amor and I have somewhat conflicting schedules. We had to work out a good time for our weekly meetings, as well as when we would hold our healthy relationships presentations. It was also difficult when either Amor or I couldn’t make it to a meeting, because we would have find other times to meet to make sure we were both on the same page. Communication in general was a struggle, but having a groupchat made things a lot easier.

I expected the internship to be more structured than it was, but I feel like had it been more structured I would have learned less from it. In college things aren’t going to be mapped out at every step along the way. A lot of it is improvised. This experience helped me to be more flexible and communicative. I wish that Amor and I had done more work outside of what we did during our weekly meetings, but it’s alright. I also feel like I could have been way better when it came to being on time. I feel satisfied with the experience and hope that one of next year’s seniors has a similar opportunity.