Benefits of Internship
One of the main benefits of any internship is developing valuable skills that you can carry into the beginning of your career.
“Because internships take many different forms and students enter internships with many different skills and needs, there will be a wide range of skills obtained,” Slattery said. “I encourage my students to talk with their internship supervisor about goals and expectations from early in their internship.
For Undergraduate/Post Graduate psychology students, an internship can help them determine a specialization. “It also can help identify populations that the student may want to work with or not want to work with,” argues Melissa Meade, a mental health counselor who specializes in dance/movement therapy.
Perhaps the most significant benefits of a psychology internship are the practical skills one gains. Students can apply theories they learned in the classroom to real-life professional settings. Additionally, an internship experience can make students more marketable when searching for jobs, says Dr. Jeanne Slattery, a professor of psychology and a licensed psychologist.