Winona Friendship Center Psychology Internship
Presenter(s)
Olivia Christofferson
Abstract
Over the course of this Spring semester, I've spent ten hours a week at my internship site at the Winona Friendship Center. My main responsibility there has been to create, promote, and run a mental health related program for the older adult members of the Friendship Center. The program I created was a reminiscing and memoir writing program. I lead a group of 4 – 12 members a week through the writing process to write and share their memoir and helped them process in a group setting the emotions and memories that came up during the process. My other responsibilities at the Friendship Center include hour long one on one appointments, planning and organizing the Volunteer Recognition Banquet for the 2025 volunteers, attending other Friendship Center programs to grow my relationship with members, and working on other assigned projects and presentations for the Friendship Center. My internship experience has helped me gain confidence in my abilities, apply my classroom lecture knowledge to the real world, and has made the gap between undergrad and the workplace feel less monumental.
College
College of Liberal Arts
Department
Psychology
Campus
Winona
First Advisor/Mentor
Robert Casselman
Location
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
Start Date
4-23-2026 9:00 AM
End Date
4-23-2026 10:00 AM
Presentation Type
Poster Session
Format of Presentation or Performance
In-Person
Session
1a=9am-10am
Poster Number
59
Winona Friendship Center Psychology Internship
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
Over the course of this Spring semester, I've spent ten hours a week at my internship site at the Winona Friendship Center. My main responsibility there has been to create, promote, and run a mental health related program for the older adult members of the Friendship Center. The program I created was a reminiscing and memoir writing program. I lead a group of 4 – 12 members a week through the writing process to write and share their memoir and helped them process in a group setting the emotions and memories that came up during the process. My other responsibilities at the Friendship Center include hour long one on one appointments, planning and organizing the Volunteer Recognition Banquet for the 2025 volunteers, attending other Friendship Center programs to grow my relationship with members, and working on other assigned projects and presentations for the Friendship Center. My internship experience has helped me gain confidence in my abilities, apply my classroom lecture knowledge to the real world, and has made the gap between undergrad and the workplace feel less monumental.
Comments
Christofferson, Olivia J