UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Erick Alonso, a fourth-year Chaiken Scholar majoring in psychology in the College of the Liberal Arts, is determined to become a mental health counselor after graduating from Penn State next May.
The New Brunswick, New Jersey, native is learning as much as he can about brain development, cognitive processes and neurological disorders inside and outside the classroom. For the last year, Alonso interned for The Arc of Northeastern Pennsylvania (The Arc), a social service organization that supports individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as a direct support professional.
Alonso started interning with The Arc in April 2023 to gain real-world experience working in the mental health field. At the time, he was a student at Penn State Scranton, but he was able to continue the internship after transitioning to Penn State's University Park campus in the fall of 2023, as part of the University’s 2+2 plan, by traveling to Scranton on weekends and breaks.
Through The Arc, Alonso was placed in a residential community where he supported people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He said the goal of these neighborhoods is to allow people to gain independence, and his duties, such as maintaining the residents’ hygiene, providing emotional support, and updating nurses and doctors on behavioral log sheets, ensure the residents can participate in their hobbies, socialize and prioritize their well-being.
“I don’t go in and have a routine, per se, as I have to tailor how I interact with individuals based on their episode, their diagnosis, their personal history and the intensive outpatient program plan for their stay,” Alonso said. “Interacting with people from different backgrounds — schizophrenia, Down syndrome, oppositional defiant disorder and autism — has been very interesting and unique.”
While Alonso learned about disorders in his 100- and 200-level psychology courses within the College of the Liberal Arts, he said working with these people on a one-on-one basis has given him more perspective on such diagnoses and the ways life experiences can create unique disorder presentation.
“Interacting with patients and getting to know their background has given me so many more experiences than I have ever had because you develop a bond with them and learn about everything they’ve been through and done,” Alonso said. “Some of them go through the most horrific things or things you would have never imagined, and you learn a lot about them but also about compassion and empathy. These lessons have stuck with me as I continue my internship.”
Because Alonso developed working relationships with people from various backgrounds, he felt his experience allowed him to better champion and represent people who have diverse diagnoses.
“I hope that through this experience, I can break the stigma of mental health disorders and diagnoses, as learning about different diagnoses is a lot different than talking to and working with people of that diagnosis. Each person is so unique, and there's no one type of diagnosis portrayal,” Alonso said.
Although his internship taught him a lot about others, his experience also taught him a lot about himself and the type of work to which mental health professionals are exposed.
“I always thought of myself as impatient, but during this internship, I’ve learned that I can be very patient, as well as organized and consistent with my work,” Alonso said. “Patience is the most important thing if you want to be in this field because you deal with so many people, and you can't have a certain feeling or bias about them or their problems. You have to make sure that you can remain stable and in a way that helps them get better.”
This realization has helped Alonso prioritize self-care — something he said is “very important” for those in the mental health field.
“At the end of the day, you could either think of your job off the clock or you could not,” Alonso said. “It’s important to have a life outside of work that you enjoy. You have to take care of yourself because it can all build up. Taking care of yourself lets you better take care of others.”