New Haven

A few weeks back I stumbled across an internship fair for the School of Family Life...the area in which my major in Marriage, Family and Human Development falls under. I went to a booth for a place called New Haven that looked very interesting to me. New Haven is a residential treatment center for at risk teenage girls. I love working with adolescents and especially helping them to overcome their difficulties and learn of their individual worth.

Well I put in a resume and was called for an interview last week, they liked me and so they gave me access to their application and called my references. After assessing these two things they called me for a 2nd interview that I went to yesterday. On arriving I found out that they only had 3 positions open and at least 7 people had been in for 2nd interviews just that day. I left feeling that I had done my best, but wasn't getting my hopes up.

On my way home I stopped by WalMart and as I left I got a call, less than an hour after I left New Haven. They wanted to ask me an additional question about my schedule, I told them that a certain shift would work better until school was over, but that I could talk to my professor about not attending to the last 2 weeks of lecture if I was being considered for a certain shift. Later on I spoke them and they said that it wasn't unusual protocol, but they were giving me the option of which shift to work. After discussing it with Brett we agreed that the morning shift would be better and I should talk to my professor. This certain professor was also my adolescent development teacher last semester and so she was perfectly fine with me missing the last 2 weeks.

So as of Tuesday I start work at New Haven!


New Haven has 2 locations, I will be working at the Rosa Parks House in Saratoga Springs. My shift will be Tues, Thurs and Sat 7am-3pm. This is going to be interesting as I am NOT a morning person and I will have to drive 35mins to get there!

My position entails being with the girls in all of their activities, even attending school with them on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully I get to go to the American History classes, I need to take American Heritage at some point so that would help!

I will also be at breakfast and lunch with the girls. Some have eating disorders so there needs to be some monitoring in the kitchen. This is also a good time for me to interact with the girls and see how they are doing. Each shift there is a 1:4 ratio, so I will be responsible for 4 girls that day. There are only 18 girls at this particular house so I will get to know each of them well.

Additionally I will be apart of community meetings where the girls get together every morning and talk about the goals they have for the day. I will attend group therapy sessions and be a Values Coach. Each girls has to complete certain values before they can transition through the stages at New Haven, as they complete each value they are given more alone time, more phone time and can have more visits and recreational trips off site.

New Haven is a long term program for girls that are at risk, some can be there for more than a year depending on their progress and the problems they are facing. New Haven isn't just about helping the girls, but also their families, parents are required to visit every 6 months and family therapy is done over the phone. These girls come from all over the Unite States and some internationally.

Being apart of New Haven is a big step for me. This is a job within my field, what I have been working for my whole time at BYU. I am excited, but nervous at the same time! I hope I can be what these girls need, that I can help them progress and feel of their worth. I hope I am up to the task. This is a great opportunity for me to establish myself in the kind of work I want to do long term. We will be here for at least another 3 years so New Haven may become a big part of our lives if I am able to climb the ladder of job positions.

I am very excited and feel very blessed for this opportunity!!

If by chance you want to learn a little more about New Haven this is the website,

http://www.newhavenrtc.com/