DDD offers internships to students majoring in Social Work

Although March is Social Work Month, our appreciation for those who choose Social Work as their vocation continues year round. The DES Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) is proud to offer an internship program for students studying to become professional social workers. Here are just three examples of the wonderful people who plan to dedicate their lives to helping others, especially those with developmental disabilities.

Apache Junction Office: Ramona

Stacey Lee, a Support Coordination supervisor at the DDD Apache Junction Office, received an email from her Area Manager asking if she’d be interested in supervising an intern. Within weeks, Ramona Granillo, an undergraduate student at the Arizona State University, reported in as the first intern to be stationed at the Apache Junction Office.

Stacey Lee (left) and Ramona Granillo at the Apache Junction Office breakroom.

The main function of an internship is putting theory into practice. As a senior at ASU working on her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, Ramona has a number of “competencies” (or learning objectives) that must be met while she is at DDD. One of which is learning more about environmental justice.

Ramona started with a general understanding of environmental justice. For example, she  read an article about how people with disabilities have less access to information when dealing with environmental disasters.But in practice, Stacey explained the different forms of environmental justice, such as accessibility for a person who uses a wheelchair. The environment for a person with disabilities “can be affected by not having wide enough doors in their own home, not having a bathroom that’s set up for them to be as independent as possible,” explained Stacey.

“When we had our discussions, even though we were thinking about different things, we both got to see the different aspects of environmental justice,” said Stacey.

This being Ramona’s first semester as an intern, her primary role is to “shadow” the support coordinators, especially her assigned Field Supervisor. The purpose of shadowing is to watch, ask questions and learn. Stacey commented, “I’m really excited for Ramona for her second semester [of her internship] when she will be facilitating the meetings.” It will be Ramona’s turn to be shadowed by the Field Supervisor assigned to her, “so she won’t be alone.”

Chandler Office: Lexi

Lexi King, also a senior at ASU who is studying for her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, is enjoying her second semester as an intern at DDD. Lexi remembers, “I really didn’t know what I was doing after high school, but somewhere I stumbled upon social work and I asked myself, ‘What’s that?’ The more I learned about it and looked into it, I thought, ‘Oh, that sounds like the perfect field with a lot of niches.’”

Lexi King (right) and Casey Stanton of the Chandler Office.

Like Ramona, Lexi spent her first semester as an intern reviewing Person-Centered Service Plans (PCSPs) and chatting with the unit’s Support Coordinators. “I spent a lot of time shadowing team members and watching how they conduct meetings, how they do the documents, meet with members and making sure they get the resources they qualify for and need, and pairing them with providers.”

During her second semester as an intern, Lexi has been more hands-on. She has been given opportunities to run meetings (supervised by her Field Supervisor), and compile documentation, but most of all, she is placing an emphasis on learning more about policy. “Why we do what we do, and how everything works in those systems; how people get services. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work,” said Lexi.

Overall, she says it’s been a good experience. “It’s really cool,” said Lexi. “I didn’t know what I expected with an internship. I didn’t realize how much more we do than just the meetings, case managing, and meeting with people. There’s a lot that goes on outside of that. I really like it and I really like all the families I’ve met, even the difficult ones - it’s been cool to work with them and figure out how to navigate those trickier or more difficult situations.”

Yuma Office: Jaime

Jaime Gonzalez earned his Bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University and is currently working on his Master’s degree in Social Work from ASU.

Jaime Gonzalez (left) and Josie Esquerra of the Yuma Office.

“I think social work is an area where you can impact a lot of people and make a decent living,” said Jaime. Jaime sees the internship program as an opportunity to learn and practice the scenarios discussed in textbooks and lectures. He believes the internship program is “a great experience and a great opportunity to practice.”

“I love it because every time I do an activity, it relates to disabilities,” said Jaime, who has worked for the Arizona Western College’s K.E.Y.S. program. Jaime explains, “Arizona Western College is a local college here in Yuma. It offers the Department of Education’s K.E.Y.S. program, which offers assistance to college students who have a disability, are low income, or are first generation collegiates.” According to Jaime, DDD’s internship program gives him the opportunity to go into people’s homes, talk to caregivers and parents, as well as support coordinators and other professionals in DDD.

“Jaime has been helping us a lot with the outreach,” said Supervisor Josie Esquerra. He’s put together a Resource Guide for the Yuma area to use at transition fairs.

“My approach was to help the support coordinators in our unit,” said Jaime. “Josie talked to me about how this resource guide is not just for the support coordinators in my unit, but for the whole department–the division here in Yuma, which I thought was awesome! I always wanted to leave an impact [through] my internship.”

Jaime likens his experience with the DDD internship and social work as “systems engineering, but you’re working with people.”

What’s Next?

Both Lexi and Jaime will graduate in May at the end of the semester. Upon graduation, both plan to apply to DES for a permanent, full-time position. Jaime may apply for the DES Vocational Rehabilitation Program, because his vision impairment prevents him from driving, which is a prerequisite of a DDD Support Coordinator. Lexi is considering a position with DDD.

“I think more [social work majors] should do this internship,” said Lexi. “I don’t know if there’s any other internship that would have been better, that I would have enjoyed it as much as this one.”