Summer is often my favorite time of the year. Good weather, relative to Southeast Alaska, lots of free time, leading to lots of adventures. This summer, I found myself in twice as many days of rain as the sun, fleeting moments to sit and breathe, yet one of the best adventures I have ever embarked on.
Mental health has always felt important to me. As an inherently optimistic person, my heart ached to watch my family struggle with depression and addiction and hear of friends losing loved ones to suicide. I even found myself struggling after a year of relentless health issues. With this in mind and my love for helping others, I plan to pursue a degree in psychology with the intention of counseling ethical wilderness therapy for youth.
When I initially secured my internship for this summer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness Juneau and Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition, I was hopeful. I was very unsure of what to expect but recognized that I was committing myself to work 60 hours a week between the internship and my other full-time job, which consisted of spinning Crêpes for hours on end. Having to work a second job was just a reality for me and my financial ability to attend Whitman, and thankfully the WIG program was something that supported me in also having a career-oriented productive summer.
From my very first day at the office, I felt welcomed and valued. In our tight-knit coalition community, our office was the second home of 7 other full-time employees and a few honorary members. I quickly found my footing and built relationships with my co-workers and supervisor that will serve me for the rest of my life.
NAMI Juneau/JSPC is very project based. We will find things that we want to see done to support people’s mental health, and then we go out and do it. For Pride month, I found myself making tacos with queer youth that filled my heart to the brim and organizing a raffle at the community Pride Outside event the following day. That entire weekend was filled with smiles and love and people finding ease within their own beings. I was given the freedom to even establish my own project: interviewing someone who had lost a loved one to suicide, sharing their story, and sending a message of hope and support in the form of an article in the local newspaper. I was met with so much positive and rewarding feedback from locals that I may even write another one separate from my internship in the future.
Other days at the internship landed me on a farm with trained miniature therapy donkeys, planning a traditional community grief ceremony, supporting people in applying for mental health mini-grants, designing a flier with a passionate attendee of one of our support groups, and full of gratitude for the handful of wonderful people this internship beckoned into my life. Every day at this job was an adventure, and every day bore an emotional weight. This organization felt genuine, intentional, and fulfilling, reassuring me that my intended major and career path would also someday provide these positive attributes that made my actions feel purposeful.
Experiences like Kiana Potter’s are made possible by the Whitman Internship Grant, which provides funding for students to participate in unpaid internships at nonprofit, some for-profit, and government organizations. We are happy to be sharing blog posts from students who were supported by either a summer, fall, spring, or year-long grants at organizations, businesses, and research labs all around the world. To learn how you could secure a Whitman Internship Grant or host a Whitman intern at your organization, contact us at ccec_info@whitman.edu.