Psychology & Social Work Internship

My mane is Suhani, I am from Calgari which is in Alberta, it’s a province in Canada. I went to UBC which is the University of British Columbia, I went to Okanangan Campus and I graduated in 2021. I chose to do an internship here at Iasis because I have a medical undergraduate studies in microbiology and I decided that I wanted to go into a master’s in ? counselling. So I have a biological and genetics bicrobio background that I really wanted to get more counselling and psychological and sociological support background. A little bit more exposure to counselling and that area to help bridge those two departments to help me in genetic counselling because you are working with healthcare which combines both those fields. So, when I was looking for opportunities, unfortunately there are not as many hands on or shadowing opportunities in the region that I’m from. Especially around Calgari because of the way, but there are other volunteering opportunities. So, when I was looking for options, I decided to look abroad and I found this particular internship. What I really liked about it, is that it allowed me to learn about different sides of psychological and sociological support, systems that are available internationally, in different cultures, this has been my first time in Greece and Athens, so I was able to learn a lot about the culture, the people, how diverse it is. I did not realize how diverse Athens is. I mean how populated it is compared to where I am from. We have a fraction of the amount of people that we do here in the city. There were a lot of similarities that I’ve noticed as well because I was born in India. So I’ve visited Mumbai and Bangor many times throw-out my life, so there are a lot of cultural similarities between Indian cities and Athens, I have noticed. So I think it was easier for me to adjust, get used to the city life, the transit, the people, the communication style. It was also very helpful, a lot of people spoke English here, so I think that people here in general are very open, kind, and very expressive I’ve noticed. It’s very different to where I am from. Some things that I’ve found interesting during my internship is- because I don’t speak Greek- I had to rely a lot upon non- verbal ques so a lot of facial expressions, social queues, things that I would not necessarily be able to tell based on the language but looking on inflections and the way that people are speaking rather that what they’re exactly saying. Also I’ve had support with other interns and volunteers who were able to translate for me, but at the moments that I was unable to I feel like you can learn a lot based off of how people behave. Based on social ques there. The way they interact with one another and other volunteers and other social workers and psychologists here, I could see the changes from the beginning of a group activity towards the end. For some people there was like an increase in their mood, they were more social towards the end, they felt better, whereas for others it was like a gradual progress. It was very settling. You have to be really paying attention to their social ques to really see the difference, but it was noticeable. Another thing that I found very interesting is the similarities and the different types of psychosocial support that is available here and in Canada, so things like CBT, group activities, I’ve had to deal with mood, social ques, social skills, some of similar group activities like having an exercise component in order to deal with the psychological side of mood but then also have like talking within a group, introductions, styles of activities, the questions, the work, which are very similar to group activities that I’ve seen in other psychosocial support groups in Canada. So I thought that was really interesting, how despite being miles and miles apart- completely different country and culture- a lot of the practices, the types of support are very similar, it’s very applicable because at the end of the day we are all humans. We all need very similar things. I am very happy with the internship coordination here. They were very accommodating. We got lots of support. If I had any questions I was able to ask. Get direct answers very quickly as well. So I didn’t necessarily feel like thrown in the middle of nowhere. That was very helpful. I really did enjoy my stay here, I think that people in general are very helpful. If I got lost or if I had questions about certain things that I didn’t really understand what was going on, I could just ask and then there was no fear and no judgment- at least none that I could perceive. Thank you so much.

My name is Eniola and I am from Houston Texas and I go to college at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. I interned at IASIS in Greece and I choose this internship for many reasons. One reason was to get out of my comfort zone and immerse my self in Greece and to see how the psychological system is done here compared to the States and elsewhere. During my time here I have learned a lot, I learned different units, how they operate, for example the Fabric Republic and how they make cloths and distribute cloths for the community and also how they set up different sites for people to donate it, so its actually more of a community participating to help the community, which is very nice to see. I have really enjoyed my time here, I enjoyed the coordinators as they gave me a nice place to stay, which was very safe and they also gave me a map with tips which I was able to use to explore around, which helped my immersion because I was staying here for one month so having that really helped me get to it right out of the bat. Over all my experience in Athens Greece was amazing, the weather was nice, the people, the culture, the food was all just wonderful. I enjoyed my time here and I do plan on coming back here just here for the visits and just to go back to see all the sights that I wasn’t able to see.

My name is Tahnee, I am from Mexico City. I’m twenty five and I’m studying psychology at the Open University in Madrid. (As I could ? today ? Erasmus plus) to be able to do my internship and my practices that are mandatory for me to be able to finish University and I chose Greece because I believe it is a very interesting country and in some ways it is a little like my country, so that’s why I thought I could fit in Greece. And I did, I really liked it. I really like the program and Iasis in general. I think it’s a very interesting and well founded organization. I am very pleased with everything that I’ve learnt. Even if it was in a different language, some things, I felt like really everyone was very welcoming and yes, I really liked it I am really grateful with my mentor Eleni. I am also very grateful with the whole team because I’ve actually learnt, I realized that I’m really studying the right thing, because of my practices so I’m really happy. I encourage anyone to come to Iasis and get to know everything they do because it’s a very big, interesting organization. So, I’ve experienced many interesting things during this internship but I think for my field of work which is psychology and as I said, it was very interesting to be able to have very close contact with clinical population and I’ve learnt a lot about them and I think I realize that I want to continue working with people with mental health problems. I am very pleased about the program, the people I’ve met and about the diversity of different nationalities and volunteers they have. The activities were really interesting to me, like Greek dances so I’ve learnt a lot about a culture of the world which was a good adapt to my internship. I am looking forward to come back.