Matthew - Reflecting on the summer

The most rewarding part of my internship at the Friendship House was definitely the children. Working with them, creating those relationships was an incredible journey that I will take with me through my future career. Watching some of the kids seriously progress, grow, and mature through the work of the Friendship House was inspiring and wonderful. I was truly blessed to be a part of the team at the Friendship House who could help those kids get the help they needed. My internship was extremely rewarding because it taught me the importance of compassion and understanding. Working with kids who have been traumatized is difficult to say the least. However, it was rewarding to develop the skills necessary to work with such a group of bright young children.

Working at the Friendship House had its challenges as well. As wonderful as the children were, working with the parents or family members was usually stressful. Sometimes parents get overwhelmed and stressed and then take it out on the staff members at the Friendship House. Occasionally parents can be stubborn or aggressive. It’s very hard trying to schedule a child to see a psychiatrist when the parent is furious about something and is yelling and being stubborn. Although not all parents were hard to work with, most parents could be challenging to say the least. However, I worked hard to overcome this challenge and be patient with parents who were being difficult. I kept an open mind and understood that those parents definitely had a lot on their plate. Through everything, the Friendship House taught me a lot about compassion, patience, and understanding, providing me with an incredible experience, one I would do again in a heartbeat.

Matthew Busch
Neuroscience