Psychology Major Cate Elam '25 Explores Career as Therapist at Recovery Center
Name: Cate Elam
Class Year: 2025
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Pleasanton, Calif.
Internship Organization: Hope Recovery
Internship Title: Support Group Facilitator Intern
Location of Internship: Remote
Why did you apply for this internship?
I chose this internship to see if therapy would be the best career path for me to pursue and to decide if I could handle the emotional toll this job can have. I want to become a therapist, but one of the challenges that new counselors have is taking on clients' emotional burdens due to their own strong empathy skills and difficulty with compartmentalization. I struggle with this in my day-to-day, so I wanted to see if I could learn skills to mitigate this as a part of my journey to potentially becoming a therapist. I also wanted to work more with survivors, learn more about the impacts and realities of trauma and abuse, and support a population that is often ignored or dismissed.
Was there anything special about how you found this internship?
I found this internship after talking with another Bryn Mawr student about psychology-related volunteer work she did outside of class, and I then applied to become a volunteer because of her encouragement. Coincidentally, there was another Bryn Mawr student in one of my psychology classes who was also working with Hope Recovery at that time, so both of them were able to give me tips about starting off as a new group facilitator. Because of my volunteer work, I was able to expand my role to an internship position with the help of my amazing supervisor.
What has been your favorite part of this internship?
My favorite part has been working with survivors, watching them find strength and hope, and learning more about the tools we all have at our disposal that can help us heal from trauma and abuse. It has been so rewarding and inspiring to see survivors realize their worth after experiencing intense abuse. I've learned how to persevere from all these compassionate and strong people, and every day I am reminded of the resiliency of the human spirit.
What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn't expect?
This internship has also been highly educational and taught me more than I expected about the legal logistics of recovering from abuse. Through testimonies from survivors of domestic violence, I have learned a huge amount: I discovered the ways family court is set up to protect abusers, the various forms of financial abuse that abusers wield to keep victims trapped, how abusers can weaponize their children and child custody against victims, and the economic barriers put onto victims trying to receive protection and justice. Hearing these experiences has illuminated that abuse doesn’t end after the relationship is over and that the legal system is immensely apathetic to victims' trauma. Additionally, I am required to build workshops on topics that interest survivors in relation to trauma (i.e. the intersection between addiction, eating disorders, and trauma), which have taught me about treatments for specific disorders, skills for regulating emotions, tools for boundary-setting, and rituals for grieving lost childhoods and relationships due to abuse. This research has also taught me why old models were ineffective and that for newer methods to work, they must be trauma-informed, rooted in scientific research, and incorporate elements of holistic healing.
Working remotely for the first time? What has that experience been like for you?
At times, I have struggled working remotely because I gain so much of my energy from being around others, and sometimes a full day of work on my computer can be draining. However, I appreciate that the internship is fully online because I can do my work from wherever is most convenient, and group members are able to connect with one another no matter where they are based. It is really uplifting to see people across 43 states be able to join a fully free platform that provides them with support and meet people in completely different environments who share similar experiences.
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?
I am developing skills in compartmentalization, honesty, and time management. I continue to work on not absorbing the stress, trauma, and pain that members describe through self-care rituals and talks with my supervisor. I am also developing better sleeping habits and strategies to monitor my emotions. In addition, I am developing skills to balance authenticity and professionalism in a way that still builds trust between group members and myself. Lastly, I am practicing time management skills by setting personal deadlines in advance of a due date so that I don't turn in a project filled with overlooked mistakes.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?
One of my struggles was understanding how honest I should be with members and what that looks like, especially when they describe behaviors that are unhealthy. For example, some members struggle to acknowledge the necessity of change within the recovery journey and the control they have over their behaviors. Many turn to destructive coping patterns, which may have dangerous consequences for them or their loved one’s life. I struggle the most with honesty when members promote their dangerous behaviors as beneficial because I fear their endorsements would encourage relapse in other survivors who are committed to recovery. However, after bringing this up to my supervisor and working more closely with these members, I realized that it is possible to validate the person without validating the behavior. Sometimes, that support is the spark a survivor needs to realize their autonomy and ability to heal.
What is most rewarding about your internship?
The most rewarding aspect of this internship has been working with survivors and listening to each of them bravely and vulnerably share pieces of their story. I am truly humbled and honored each time I witness group members recognize their own self-worth and resilience despite their trauma, and their recognition uplifts my beliefs of hope and change. Though these support groups are intended to promote connection and recovery for survivors, they also allow group facilitators like myself to heal our own trauma implicitly.
Was this internship what you expected it to be?
In some ways, this internship is what I expected; in others, it is not. Because I had worked as a volunteer for four months prior, I knew what types of duties I would generally be expected to complete. However, I did not expect how emotionally draining this work can be. It is extremely important that support group facilitators have and/or find time to unwind and turn off their brains because this work requires a lot of energy to provide the best support you can. Nonetheless, I also did not expect how rewarding it would be to hear the impact I have on group members. Some members have voiced their appreciation directly to me, which makes all the emotional labor worth it tenfold.
Through the Career and Civic Engagement Center Beyond Bryn Mawr Summer Internship Program, Bryn Mawr students pursue opportunities in fields such as nonprofits, government and law, health care, research, sciences, business, and the arts. Thanks to the generosity of our alumnae/i and donors, over 150 students across all academic departments are funded to pursue unpaid internships or research experiences in the U.S. and abroad each year.