Key data
Job description: Occupational therapist
Company: Lichtblick day care centre – Volkshilfe Steyr
Place: Steyr, Austria
I did my internship from May to July 2015.
Me on Facebook
What I did:
- Carrying out diagnostic discussions and assessments
- Individual and group therapy to work towards the client’s goals (in terms of independence in everyday life)
- Supporting and encouraging clients at the dementia day-care centre in all areas
Why I enjoyed my internship:
Due to the different personalities I got to know and appreciate, the invaluable experience and impressions I gained and the joy of the clients when they achieved important goals as a result of their therapy.
What I learned:
To be open-minded towards all kinds of people and all personality types, to have empathy, to see the resources a person can offer and not the limitations, to motivate others, to enable others to live with the greatest level of independence in everyday life and to engage in self-reflection.
My biggest success/My greatest experience:
…was to see how the clients placed an unbelievable level of trust in us within a short space of time and to notice the positive effect this had on the success of their therapy.
How I secured the internship:
I secured the internship by sending an application email to the day-care centre. A year before starting my internship, I had a half-hour personal conversation with my future internship supervisor, who informed me about the day-care centre and asked a few questions about myself.
What I want to do in the future:
I know that I want to work as an occupational therapist all my life. The internship brought me one step closer to this goal and showed me that geriatrics is an area I would like to work in during my future career.
