UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls

Criminology Internships

 

Turningpoint Internship

P.O. Box 304
River Falls, WI 54022
715-425-6751

http://www.turningpoint-wi.org/


Students indicate duties performed

  • Outreach and interaction with community and other services, crisis calls on the crisis hot-line, sorting donations, office work,planning, and school presentations. (2010)

 Students identified positive aspects of this placement

  • Hands on learning, supportive staff, client interaction. They really trusted me and let me do things a full fledged associate would do. I filled in as a volunteer coordinator often because the person who normally did it went on maternity leave. It was a great learning experience and confirmed that this is what I want to do and I am good at it. (2010)
  • The environment is always changing. There's always new people with different problems coming in. It really opens your eyes as to the types of problems occurring in "my own" home. (2005)
  • Laid-back environment, nice people, co-workers (2005)
  • Helping others through hard times in their lives (very rewarding), feel like you can really make a difference. Great staff to work with. (2004)
  • Helping someone find the means to rebuild their lives. It was a great feeling to know that you participated in providing something for a woman in need, and to know that she and her children will be safer, happier, and hopefully living a better life. (2004)
  • Working with a fantastic group of women that really enjoy doing what they do. You get to see people that are being helped and 'thank yous' from those that really appreciate your help make you feel good about what you are doing. You get to witness first hand the programs that Wisconsin has developed to aid the less fortunate. You are also exposed to a reality that you cannot get in the classroom or from any book. (2004)
  • Meeting a lot of strong and courageous women. Being able to do most of the tasks independently and feeling comfortable and knowledgeable about them. The best thing I got out of this internship was being able to facilitate a women's support group on my own. (2003)
  • Opportunity to improve the lives of others. You perform a service that is challenging, but rewarding and badly needed in society. (2000)

Students identified difficulties typical in this placement

  • Sometimes it can be emotionally draining. Certain things are hard to learn and deal with. (2010) 
  • There is a lot of stress in this environment. Dealing with women and children who are in crisis is hard to handle sometimes. It can be very emotionally draining. (2005)
  • Working with victims of domestic or sexual violence is difficult in itself. (2005)
  • Stressful situations and can become frustrating at times. (2004)
  • Disappointment in that some situations do not end up as you hoped they would. (2004)
  • Sometimes you go home feeling very frustrated. For example, you work all week with a client, filing for aid, looking for housing, filling out and delivering job applications. You come in the next day to find out she called her abuser and had him pick her up. Sometimes all your work is done for nothing. (2004)
  • Leaving your work at work--it is easy to become so involved that you have a hard time not thinking about some of the stories you hear or cases you're working on while on your own time.(2003)
  • Stressful situations make it easy to burn out. A lot of things you must learn on your own. (2000)