Providing Children and Adolescents with Psychological Support

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to intern at Pediatric Assessment Learning & Support (PALS) in New York City. PALS’s mission is to empower parents to help their children thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. [They] take a highly individualized, strength-based approach to understand the whole child. [They] ensure that our patients find the educational setting and therapeutic services that best meet their needs. ​

I observed and assisted clinical psychologists as they worked with children and adolescents with a wide range of developmental, cognitive, academic, social-emotional, and behavioral challenges. My responsibilities included scoring and organizing data into appendices in preparation for patient reports, writing patient background histories, observing neuropsychological evaluations (and occasionally administering tests), conducting literature searches, and interacting with kids of all ages and abilities. ​

This experience taught me how much I value working with people, problem solving, and helping others. Working in the field of psychology is a continuous exploration of learning about the mind, and it is ultimately connected to every aspect of life. I enjoyed applying what I have learned in classroom settings and books into real life situations and circumstances. I feel inspired by the people I have met in this field, and excited about pursuing my own path in psychology at Bowdoin and beyond. 

Internship funded by the Preston Public Interest Career Fund​.