The Journey from Intern to Employee By Christina Broughton, Intern & Career Development Programs Manager
Vinfen has been building and expanding internship opportunities across the company over the past few years. With only a small handful of interns back in 2019, today Vinfen hosts dozens of interns throughout the academic year. Our teams value the diversity of experience and skills the interns bring with them, and interns gain a rich learning experience working directly with our teams and persons served. We regularly talk to and survey our interns to make sure they had a valuable time working at Vinfen. But nothing speaks towards the success of our internships better than the relationship now-intern, future- employee Kristi Cosgrove has with her team and clients. Kristi started as an unpaid intern at the Haverhill Clubhouse this winter, working to obtain her Associate's degree in Human Services with certificates in Drug and Alcohol Counseling and Children's Behavioral Health from Northern Essex Community College (NECC). After working here a few months, Kristi felt Vinfen was the place for her. After completing her internship requirements this summer, Kristi will be moving to a full-time position at Vinfen in the Communication Arts Social and Recreation Unit. " Haverhill Clubhouse aims to combat isolation and the stigma associated with mental illness. What they are doing as a community is just that." - Kristi Cosgrove
Kristi Cosgrove, Intern, Haverhill Clubhouse
Kristi was encouraged by her experience as an intern to pursue full-time employment. We are thrilled that Kristi will be starting as a Residential Counselor at the Haverhill Clubhouse later this summer!
" Members and staff welcomed me with open arms the moment I stepped through the door, and my experience has been incredible. I have learned more than I could have hoped throughout my internship, and I look forward to continuing at the club. " - Kristi Cosgrove
And her team members hold similar thoughts of Kristi:
" Kristi has been an asset since she began at our clubhouse. Her motivation to learn new tasks and projects has been infectious for new staff and members. She has been a great role model. I could praise her all day long." - Julia Morison, Program Director Haverhill Clubhouse As we continue to grow and improve our internship programs, we hope to help more students find exciting opportunities to intern at Vinfen. We also support Vinfen employees who need internships for their academic programs. To talk more about Vinfen's internship programs, email Internships@vinfen.org or visit the internship page on MyVinfen.
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