Connections
Texas State University
Sociology Department
E-mail Me
Lisa Wells
Connections Individual and Family Services
Summer Internship
2007
Connections is located in New
Braunfels, Tx. and has a wide
range of services. I participated in a variety of programs and
training sessions. I observed counseling sessions and did life
skills at the Transitional Living Program (TLP). TLP
is a housing development for young adults ages 18-21 who need help
getting on their feet. I also observed group sessions in the
youth shelter. They
had a group on substance abuse once a week which was led by one of the
counselors. I was able to lead it one of the weeks. A group
in the shelter that I got started at Connections was animal
therapy. I found a lady who is very involved with animal
therapy. She came once a week with two of her therapy dogs for
the shelter residents to play with. The kids really enjoyed being
with the dogs. I participated in the STAR program (Services
To At-Risk youth) where we did activity therapy with kids in the
community. I
monitored a kids exchange visit, did a psycho social assessment, and
helped out at an anger management class. I tried a variety of
different programs that were available at Connections. For my
special project, I researched and conducted two surveys on burnout in
the workplace. One of the surveys went to employees at
Connections and the other went to a long list of other social service
workers in the area. The purpose of the surveys were to decrease
burnout rates in the workplace. They were both sent out online
through a special
survey program. I used SPSS as well for this project.
One of
the animal therapy dogs and myself.
Teaching Life Skills at the Transitional Living Program
(TLP).
