Case example 2

Van was fortunate to work during his internship under the supervision of a professional whom he genuinely admired. Mr. Stevens, Van's supervisor, was the director of a crisis shelter for runaway teens in a major metropolitan area. He had started the shelter himself and had nurtured it from a struggling, poorly funded, poorly staffed program to a stable, professional, and highly respected organization. Moreover, he had stayed directly involved with the young people who were the clients of the shelter rather than moving into doing purely administrative work as the agency had grown. Mr. Stevens truly cared about the kids in the program and routinely worked 12-16-hour days. He spent hours each day listening to the teens, counseling them, and helping them make important decisions about their lives. In addition, he was responsible for and effectively carried out a myriad of administrative responsibilities.

In the beginning days of Van's internship, he wanted to be at the shelter every minute. He felt that if he left, he was going to miss something. There was so much he had to learn from Mr. Stevens as well as from the teens that he wanted to be there and use every moment wisely. By the end of the first week of his internship, Van had worked 60 hours. He worked a similar schedule during the second and third weeks. By the end of the fourth week of the internship, he was begin- ning to feel pretty tired. He knew that he needed to establish a different schedule for himself but found it a difficult topic to bring up with Mr. Stevens, especially since Mr. Stevens seemed to be immune to fatigue himself.

During the fourth week of the internship, Van's faculty liaison pointed out to him that he had turned in two assignments late and still had two assignments that he had not turned in at all. Van became very angry and defensive. He argued that the human service department expected far too much of its interns and that there was no way he could live up to everyone's expectations of him. He expressed resentment toward having "all these stupid assignments" and added that he had not even had a conversation with his own roommates or been out with his girlfriend in over two weeks. In closing, he stated, "I'm beginning to think I'd be better off as a shoe salesman or something. You don't have to feel guilty at 5:00 if all you're leaving behind is a bunch of shoes."

EXERCISE 9.9 Analysis

1. What incentives are there for Van to change his work habits?
2. What forces are operating to keep him stuck in his current behavior patterns?
3. What aspects of Van's situation can you personally identify with?
4. Are you dealing with similar issues in your own in-internship? If so, what approaches are you using to manage them?