By Kate Quick

It is now the Winter Quarter, and for many students at DePaul University, this means that they have officially begun an internship.  

Internships create great opportunities to explore career pathways, meet individuals in your desired field, and make choices regarding the kind of career that you want. While internships are beneficial and usually catalytic to future careers, internships can consume a significant amount of time on top of your coursework. Specifically at DePaul University, many programs require internships, limiting flexibility in schedule and time commitment.  

Not every program at DePaul requires an internship, but many strongly recommend obtaining one, as internships can make a world of difference in getting a great job post-graduation. For example, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences students are not required to complete an internship for any of their majors but many LAS majors may offer program-specific internship courses in which students can pick their internship and get course credit for their efforts! 

• Please note: every undergraduate student at DePaul must complete an Experiential Learning credit as part of the Liberal Studies Common core. One of the most common ways of completing this credit is by getting an internship. 

Other majors at DePaul require practical experience as part of their degree. Both graduate and undergraduate Education students must complete student teaching hours and the graduate Counseling program’s required Professional Practice which entails full day commitments spanning all three quarters during their final year. On top of this, students are still enrolled in courses.

No matter what degree you are pursuing and the type of internship associated, having an internship can undoubtedly cause stress in busy and overworked college students like yourselves.  To handle the stress that accompanies an internship, it is crucial that you establish self-care, or the practice of taking care of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of your life to promote health and wellness. It is a mindset in which you choose YOU.

While self-care regimes differ for everyone, there are a few staple ways in which students can prioritize their self-care while in their internships:

1. Define what self-care is to you and envision how you can put it into action. Whether it is reading, exercising, cooking, or calling your loved ones on the phone, it is important that you define what activities promote a sense of wellness in your life. Before beginning your internship, brainstorm two to three ways in which you will implement self-care activities. These also do not have to be set in stone. Treat self-care activities as a trial and error process; if one thing doesn’t work, adapt or try something completely different!
2. Set expectations and goals early, both professionally and personally. In the onboarding process, be sure to sit down with your supervisor to understand your professional role and your expectations. In addition, set personal boundaries with yourself. Leave work at work and avoid taking on more than what is expected of you. Know your abilities, and do not overwhelm yourself with responsibilities above your capabilities. Of course, take initiative on tasks and come to work with the mindset that you are going to work hard, but know your limits. Taking on too much can lead to chronic exhaustion and professional burnout. Strike a balance between taking initiative
3. Move your body. Some internships may require a lot of desk work and limited opportunities to get active. Extensive immobility can be damaging to your body and mental health. Stand up and stretch at least once every hour. If possible, take a walk around your internship site when you have a free moment. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. When you are not at your internship, be sure to incorporate physical exercise into your lifestyle. 
4. Fuel your body with healthy snacks and meals. When packing snacks and meals for your internship, be intentional about what you pack. Pack food that will energize you and provide benefits to your body, and pack enough so that you aren’t hungry throughout the day! You don’t want an empty (or too full) stomach to affect the hard work that you are putting in at your internship. Your physical health is directly connected to your mental health, and healthy eating is a protective factor of both. 
5. Spend your time off with intention. There is no one-size fits all to self-care, meaning that my self-care might look completely different than yours. How I spend my free time may also greatly differ from how you spend yours. The bottom line- it is YOUR time, and you should spend it in a way that fulfills you and provides you with what you need to satisfy your self-care needs. Find a hobby, spend time with loved ones, see new things, try new food, etc. Whatever it is, make sure that it allows you true time off from your internship. Everyone needs a break, so spend your free time with intention!
6. Acknowledge your accomplishments. As an intern, we can get all too focused in impressing our supervisor, getting a good grade, or even striving for perfectionism. We may develop tunnel vision, only seeing our mistakes. We tend to ignore our achievements or focus too much on external feedback, such as from a boss or a report. Constant negativity towards ourselves can cause decreased confidence in our ability to do the work. This can be detrimental as an intern looking to further a career out of our internship. Take time each week to evaluate recent tasks, projects, clients, lessons, etc., and pick out at least three things that lead to a sense of pride and accomplishment. Write them down, say them out loud, or text them to a loved one. The key is that you took time to recognize your wins instead of your failures. 

This is not an exhaustive list to implement self-care. There are hundreds of other ways that students can add self-care activities into their lifestyles, and I encourage you to brainstorm at least three ways in which you can actively implement the idea of self-care into your life. 

Self-care should not be reactive, but instead, proactive. By taking control now, you can better protect yourself against any stress that comes later. 

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See the following resources from the Career Center Library on how to professionally obtain, maintain, and make the best use out of your internship. 

• Internships 101
• Make the Most Out of Your Internship
• Make the Most Out of Your (REMOTE) Internship   

If you are interested in taking an internship course or receiving course credit for an internship, be sure to speak with your academic advisor regarding next steps, check out the following links:

• College of Communication
• Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media
• College of Education
• College of Law 
• College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
  • Undergraduate Advising
  • Graduate Advising (contact your program director)
• College of Science and Health
• Driehaus College of Business
  •  Undergraduate Advising
  •  Kellstadt Career Management Center 
• School of Continuing and Professional Studies
• School of Music
• The Theatre School
• Undeclared students: Office for Academic Advising Support