A new crop of interns and long-term trainees already has been reporting for duty at the Munroe-Meyer Institute.
At new student orientation, held July 5, MMI welcomed nearly 40 new students. Students are working in a handful of departments, including psychology, physical therapy, speech and occupational therapy.
The current group comes from affiliated institutions across the country, including Illinois, Mississippi, Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Indiana. Over the course of the year, MMI will have a total of 180 short- and long-term interns.
Training of the new students helps fulfill the institute’s mission of transforming lives of individuals with disabilities and assisting their families, said Amanda Zangrillo, PsyD, director of the severe behavior department and associate director of psychology internship training.
“We are uniquely positioned to train interns into that mission through education, community engagement, outreach efforts and through extraordinary care that is provided by the supervisors who are here,” Dr. Zangrillo said. “We oftentimes learn as much from them as they do from us.”
The session kicked off with various speakers. In addition to a tour of the building, students heard about the resources available on campus.
Students also heard about the importance of maintaining wellness, finding resilience through the year and dealing with imposter syndrome, said Allison Grennan, PhD, director of psychology internship training.
The internships and long-term traineeships are a yearlong training process. Some students have the opportunity for rotations during the year to broaden their experience.
The program builds up the pipeline for the behavioral health workforce, Dr. Grennan said.
“We are able to have a platform for interdisciplinary opportunities,” Dr. Zangrillo said. “We know that disabilities can be quite complex. Our families come to us with a wide range of needs. We’re training providers who can go out into the community and work in virtually any setting to support the breadth of needs a family has.”