Karey Zmeskal

Agency: Compass Health Care

Term: Fall - 2004

The experience of doing an internship can be a very eye opening experience. I must admit to you that my internship experience thus far as not been what I thought it would be. I am happy that it isn’t want I expected it to be, I have learned a great deal in the short time that I have been doing my internship.

Currently I am working at one of the residential locations called Vida Nueva. Vida Nueva is for woman and their children. It’s a place the woman can go after going through detoxification. I help do inspections of the woman’s apartments, answer woman’s questions when they come into the office, and help out in the office with anything they need.

I am interning at Compass Health Care incorporated, which is located here in Tucson Arizona. Compass Health Care specializes in serving addicted and mentally ill persons and their families. Compass Health Care has three main parts to their organization, detoxification, residential, and outpatient. I am doing a rotating internship, which means that I move from one part of the organization to another part about every six weeks.

I decided to do an internship for a few reasons. One reason is that I have not ever been in the work force before. My counselor thought it would be a good idea for me to do an internship in order to get work experience and to be able to add it to my resume. I also wanted to do the internship for the challenge. I thought it would be challenging to go and work with people that really needed help, but they may not have all the support they need in order to overcome their addiction.

After I graduate from the University of Arizona I plan to go on to graduate school. Right now I do not know where I want to go, but I do know that I want to get my masters degree in Occupational Therapy. I enjoy helping people both physically and mentally when they have had some type of injury and I think that Occupational Therapy will help me to achieve that goal.

I have learned that addiction can happen to anyone. The people that have addictions come from all walks of life and every occupation you can think of. I have also learned how strong people can be and that people can really beat their addictions if they chose to do so. I am also amazed at how open people are with their addictions.

One cool thing I got to be a part of is relaxation training along with a group of woman in the outpatient program. It was really fun and I’m happy I got to be apart of the group. The people in that group were so open to letting me listen to all the things they went through and at my final meeting with them they each gave me a hug, which to me meant that they were happy I was there.

One piece of advice I would give is, be open to new experience. Don’t assume that your internship will be one thing and when it isn’t exactly like you plan simply walk away. This is a chance to see change take place in the people you’re helping and to be apart of that change if you let it happen it will be worth more to you than words can express.

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

Emergency Information   |   Privacy Information    |    Copyright Information   |   Web Accessibility

© 2002 Institute of Children, Youth, and Families
All rights reserved