Student Interns: Special Call Responders

Imagine...

Imagine that you are attending post-secondary school with the hope of becoming a counselor or social worker. You love working with people and listening to their stories. You crave helping them in their journey toward healing and hope in relationships and with God. What do you study? Where do you get experience?

Who are these Interns?

It is students like these that come to us from schools such as Columbia Bible College, Summit Pacific College, and Trinity Western University to serve as interns. Their programs of study focus on people care—such as social services, psychology, and counseling. Most programs require students to gain practical experience in people care through a community organization. At Telecare we take on five or six interns per year, each serving around 100 hours. And everyone benefits—the student, the school program, and us.

Students have benefited greatly

Alexandra Dueck organizes internships for students in TWU’s Social Services program. She comments, “Students at TWU have benefited greatly from the quality training, the experience of active empathetic listening to callers, and the support of supervisors who give excellent feedback helping them improve. Many students have said this ‘real-world’ experience allows them to see the impact of their compassionate presence and the power of a listening ear; they have completed their practicums feeling inspired by the resilience and growth of the callers.”

Helping behind the scenes

While student interns spend most of their hours on the phone lines, they sometimes contribute to behind-the-scenes projects. This past year two students researched Christian counselors in British Columbia—from Vancouver to Hope. The results were over thirty counselor contacts we put in our Telecare database for making referrals to callers. 

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Photo by May Gauthier on Unsplash

In May...