Being An Internship Supervisor: Listening and Being in the Right Place at the Right Time

I have been struggling with something but found some validation and guidance during my part-time job yesterday. I am also getting some more support from a poll that I posted on social media, so I have been obsessively thinking about this topic less than I was before yesterday. This is a good thing since the thoughts were really taking over everything on Saturday.

I was privy to a conversation yesterday between two women in their 70's. They were talking about the fact that many of the people that they help out are unable to do things like make macaroni and cheese from a box. The conversation morphed into wondering why they knew how to do things like make change and tell time on an analog clock and why young adults now cannot do these things.

This conversation was enlightening to me because I have noticed some changes in how the young adults I mentor have been doing the job of being a therapist. Now, I've noticed learning changes for quite some time with interns - a marked decrease in problem solving skills and critical thinking in many of my interns - but this is now getting more complicated and more difficult for me to understand. 

If you have been reading my posts lately, you know that my last three interns have not made any of the assignment deadlines that are established at the start of their internships. I am not sure why this is happening, but three in a row indicates that there is something really wrong - either with my expectations or with interns. A poll that I have established has indicated that this is not just a "me" problem, but it also isn't a "them" problem. Over half of the respondents stated that their interns were not having this difficulty, but almost half of the respondents stated that their interns are missing deadlines.

I am still evaluating what I am asking my interns to do during their internships, but I also want to understand what is going on. Is this a phenomenon that is the result of the pandemic or is it due to anxiety or is it a function of how these students completed assignments during their educational processes?

I do not know the answer, but I do feel strongly that deadlines are important in the workplace. If I do not turn in my documentation on time, I do not stay employed. I want my interns to understand this, but I am not sure how to adapt what I am doing to make it happen. I am also, to be completely honest, a bit resentful that I even have to change what I am doing because interns were not taught about the importance of assignment deadlines in their educational settings. Have we become more focused on making people feel good that we have abandoned the need to teach children how to do things? Is learning now optional? I am ranting again, but I know that the job requirements for many of my interns will require them to follow deadlines or be unemployed. Job requirements are less flexible than educational settings, I guess. I think I will put in an expectation of being able to finish deadlines.

The thing that really angers me about this entire situation is that I have provisions for late assignments and accommodations available WITH DISCUSSION WITH ME - and these things have been ignored. The deadlines come and go, and NO ONE TALKS TO ME! I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that no one wants to talk to me, and I am the one who has to initiated the conversation. I guess I need to do more to coach these young adults in how to do this job.

I will not have an intern in January, and I probably will not have one until June - unless I decide to close up completely. That has crossed my mind recently - do I really want to live in a world where music therapy interns cannot figure out how to meet a deadline? I do not, and I do not want to have to have the same conversations over and over again about why deadlines are important. I am not my interns' therapist. I am their supervisor. I am not their educational consultant, but I will make ways for them to finish things within their deadlines - but they will have to do most of the work. That's the way work works, right? That's the way I've always approached work...

I think I will be taking lots of my non-client time this week to review my internship program and see what can be changed.