Opal Tometi

Agency: Brewster Center Domestic Violence Services, Inc.

Term: Fall - 2004

My internship is at The Brewster Center Domestic Violence Services. My main responsibilities are community education and crisis/outreach advocacy. I have taken on the role as The Brewster Center’s Community Education Intern.

As the Community Education Intern, I will be learning how to give Domestic Violence 101 training sessions. These training sessions are 8 hours long, and sometimes are divided into two days. I am also working in one of The Brewster Center’s shelters for women and children. At the shelter I help wherever needed and interact with and learn about the women and children. There is also a crisis line that is operated and maintained through the shelters, and so I also take calls.

The Brewster Center Domestic Violence Services is an agency whose basic mission is to provide survivors of domestic violence safe options and support through empowerment, advocacy, shelter, prevention, community education and social change.

The mission of this agency is really why I chose this internship site. I love the approach and philosophy the agency has. The agency not only provides immediate help for women and children, but they also look at societal factors and ways to educate people regardless of whether or not they are directly affected by domestic violence. The agency also believes in empowering the people it serves and this in turn may lead to change.

Honestly, the most amazing experiences I’ve had at the internship site have been working with the people who work for the Brewster Center. They have been amazing and it is incredible to see how so many different departments work together to accomplish one common goal. It’s been a remarkable opportunity where I am constantly learning new things. I am completely out of my comfort zone every single day, and I appreciate that. There is no easy way to accomplish a task, I must learn a little at a time, and really apply it. This is an amazing internship site because I also get to interact with the women and children that I’m actually speaking about in educational presentations; I’m relaying information that explains what they may have been through and so it’s a privilege to actually work with the women and children. To try and catch a glimpse of what they’ve been through, and to truly respect and honor them and try and provide them with as many resources has been great. I’ve even been able to have several conversations with friends about domestic violence and even at times debunk the myths about domestic violence which is definitely an honor, because there or so many wrong stereotypes and stigmas that are placed on domestic violence victims that I’m glad to be able to take a stand and explain what may actually be going on.

I am a junior pursuing a Bachelors of Art in History and a Bachelors of Science in Family Studies and Human Development. My career goals after graduation are not definite, but I am interested in pursuing a law degree and I know for a fact that my interests lie in human rights, social justice and international law. So, I will be looking into different law schools and hopefully taking the LSAT.

University of Arizona | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
School of Family and Consumer Sciences | Family Studies and Human Development

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