I cannot believe that I am already in the last week of my internship at the Family Justice Center. This experience has been incredible and I do not want to leave my position at all. It would be impossible to list all of the tasks I have completed this summer, but the biggest ones included inputting and organizing all of the current data that my supervisor had regarding her teen dating violence prevention curriculum last year as well as designing and implementing a new survey to gauge knowledge, perceptions and prevalence of teen dating violence in Orleans Parish. The process of designing and implementing the new survey has been tedious, challenging and, at times, frustrating, but I have persevered and learned a lot through this process. My work is nowhere near finished, as I will continue to work on the project from home and into the fall semester, but the hardest part is now behind me. I look forward to continuing with this research project once it is approved by Tulane University’s IRB and using the data in my thesis as well as to help the high school and Speak Up Program to adjust their current services. I am beyond excited for the potential that this project holds for making a positive difference for my organization and community.
I spoke to this in an earlier post, but I have completed every objective that I listed at the beginning of the summer, except to work on networking with other organizations. Lucky for me, another intern, that I shared a cubicle and supervisor with, spent her summer working on that aspect, allowing it to be accomplished to the utmost degree.
Now that I have completed my internship, I really want to learn more about programs that are working on intervention and prevention that are different from the program I have worked with, specifically those that do not focus on youth. I spent some time a few days ago, talking with a man that works at the Family Justice Center who is creating a prevention program directed at men. I am very intrigued by this direction of prevention because domestic violence is such a gendered issue. I truly enjoy learning about this topic and the new research that is out there because I believe that one day the prevalence of domestic violence will be greatly diminished. Right now it is just about focusing on what combination of efforts will get our society there. Once I have graduated from college, I really hope to return to this type of work. I mentioned it in an earlier blog, but I want to work in domestic violence prevention and intervention because it is a public health problem that I am very passionate about and that I really think can be effectively addressed, so long as different approaches work together, just like they do extremely well at the Family Justice Center.
If any student were to be interested in an internship with the Family Justice Center or working with domestic violence in general, I would advise them to pursue it. Domestic violence is such a silent killer. Since it takes place in people’s personal space, it is easily kept secret and ignored. Society neglects this issue, but in reality it is quite common. The statistic is about 1 in 3 women will experience domestic violence in their lives. That is a significant amount. The skills and knowledge that I am taking away with me have improved my ability to work with people in all aspects of life. I also feel like I got to utilize my already existing skills set to make a resource better for everyday people and that is the highest reward I could hope to receive for my work. I would highly recommend this experience to any undergraduate student, especially one working in public health.
My concepts of gender roles in the work place have been reinforced by this experience. However, I was challenged by the fact that there were a few men working in domestic violence prevention at the FJC. As a public health major, I am used to seeing the social sciences that are geared towards helping people being dominated by women. This was exactly what I saw in my workplace. However, the few men that did work at the FJC really impressed me with their level of passion for this issue, which surprised me considering how gendered the burden of domestic violence is towards women. I really hope that the field continues in a direction where more men become invested in this type of prevention and work, because the problem of domestic violence is rooted in socially constructed gender norms and pressures that fall along gender lines.
As far as becoming a more effective change agent and citizen, I learned not to limit my potential and ability. I ran into a lot of challenges during the IRB process, especially because I am an undergraduate student, taking on a larger sized research project, that is more characteristic of a graduate or even higher level student or group of students. What my supervisor taught me was that I shouldn’t doubt myself because I have enough skills to find the answers and ask for help from the appropriate people. She was entirely right about this. What matters the most about being an effective change maker is that you know why you are fighting so hard to make a change and that you never lose sight of it, even when things get really hard. I’m so grateful that I had such a determined and dedicated supervisor, because she really acted as a role model for me, when I thought I wasn’t going to be able to follow through and accomplish the large goals I had set for myself.
All in all, I am satisfied beyond words about this internship experience. I really hope that other students take opportunities similar to mine and work in this field. It would make me extremely proud if another Tulane student took my place in this internship and built off of the work that I spent countless hours developing. Someone really has to do the work I have been doing because research in this field is desperately needed, even though it’s hard. I knew I would be able to make a small step towards a better solution, and I’m so glad that I took the risks I did to do so.