Jason Ngo (12):
This summer I interned for Kaiser Permanente through their KP Launch program (psychological internship). I came across this internship, when my friend who happened to be working on her personal statement for this internship application let me proofread hers. From there I decided that I should apply, too, but for the mental health subprogram instead. Then, it was just a personal statement, some background information, and getting through the group interview with five other potential candidates. After I got selected, there were background checks, screening, etc.
The experience was pretty cool, with us being able to meet all sorts of psychologists and different professionals in the mental health field. Since my program was specifically geared towards mental health, I got to shadow therapy sessions and talk to the therapists who hosted the specific sessions. It was basically a form of debrief with them where we got to ask all the questions we wanted. We also had seminars that went over a variety of topics, such as eating disorders, ADHD, diagnosing patients, etc. We also got to work on our own projects by making reels or promotional materials with a “final” clinical presentation.
During this internship, some specific skills that I improved on were my critical thinking skills through either understanding the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition/main handbook) or challenging other presumptions that I had about the mental health field. In terms of technical tasks, we did not do as much as I thought they would make us do more, but I felt it was more of an enrichment experience. Kaiser has a big emphasis on diversity and equality access, and I think each psychologist I talked to had their own take on that and their own unique aspect that they wanted to bring.
During the days when we couldn’t shadow or shout out in person therapy sessions, we had to join online meetings, which sometimes felt like a lot. At times, we were also in a small conference room that had no windows, so it felt like we were trapped with the screen for a long time. However, we still had lunch and water breaks, with them letting us walk to do other things. And again, the best part was definitely shadowing therapy sessions, but more than that, it was establishing relationships and connecting with so many different psychologists, marriage and family therapists, researchers, and professors, to see their perspective and what their professions were all about.
Overall, this experience really empowered me to become a clinical psychologist in the future, just because getting to impact people’s lives on a wider scale through this profession is very inspiring. Surrounding yourself with people of the same values and letting other people inspire you, even if the profession is hard, is still so worth it. I would highly recommend KP Launch to anyone, and the program also extends to other subgroups of medical topics that aren’t just about mental health. It’s a great experience to connect and network with people your age, college students, and also professionals who align with your interests.
