Students from the University of California, Santa Cruz, comprise a large proportion of our certified advocates for survivors of domestic violence (and several staff members are also UCSC alumni themselves). UCSC’s proximity to Walnut Avenue, which is located on the corner of Walnut and Chestnut Streets, makes our location easier to access by public transportation from campus.
Walnut Avenue welcomes interns of all genders, orientations, and other intersections of identity and lived experiences. There are no requirements regarding majors, minors, or other areas of education.
If you’re a UCSC student interested in interning with Walnut Avenue for academic credit, keep on reading! If you’re a student but you’re not looking for academic credit, then you don’t need to worry about extra guidelines or paperwork. Either way, all volunteers begin the same way: you can review the general volunteer information page and schedule a virtual orientation meeting with the coordinator using the information provided there.
For All UCSC Interns Seeking Academic Credit or Experience
Professional Development & Pathways
Because our internships are unpaid positions, Walnut Avenue does it best to repay your time and labor in other ways as much as possible.
The Domestic Violence State Certification Training
Offered at no cost to you, the domestic violence advocacy training is a certification that’s valid under California state law. It is a requirement for anyone providing direct service related to domestic violence crisis intervention, and it’s helpful for any other area of service in which you might encounter someone disclosing personal experience of domestic violence to you (e.g. social work, healthcare and other medical settings, youth services, etc).
Our volunteer programs which currently require prior completion of the certification training:
Teen Group
Youth internship (online youth violence prevention education)
Youth workshop facilitation (middle + high school classrooms)
Hotline advocacy/crisis intervention
Legal advocacy (attending civil hearings in Watsonville courthouse)
Space for Change (restorative + transformative justice processes)
Support group facilitation
Community education
The training you receive has a heavy emphasis on peer counseling skills. Many of the concepts you learn and skills you practice translate easily into situations unrelated to domestic violence, including your personal relationships as well as with classmates, coworkers, and strangers.
Not all internships require the domestic violence training. Depending on the guidelines of your academic program, you may be able to participate in other volunteer programs which still satisfy the requirements to receive academic credit.
Lower-Stakes Career Exploration & Professional Development
Many of our academic interns use our advocacy programs as an opportunity to explore whether or not they want to commit greater time and resources towards certain careers, especially in regards to social work, therapy, and other social or mental health services.
Some interns have realized that the reality of direct service wasn’t what they’re looking for and so were able to choose different career paths before committing financially to further education in those particular directions. Others have found that not only were they on the right track, but now they have more real-world experience to identify where their professional passions lie and to make their graduate school applications more attractive to recruiters.
Having the combination of a certified training and direct service experience can be helpful not only in exploring where your professional interests lie, but regardless of your career of interest, it can help build out CVs for folks with less or no professional experience in the workforce and learn about professional-level expectations.
Professional/Academic Reference
Upon completion of your full volunteer commitment in good standing, you may use Walnut Avenue as a professional reference for future employment or academic applications upon request.
Employment Options
Walnut Avenue can never guarantee employment, whether with itself or another organization. However, as positions become available, Walnut Avenue has a culture of prioritizing hiring from its volunteers and interns.
Prior interns have also reported that their certification and direct service experience was a factor in finding employment at other organizations. Some companies which aren’t involved in social services, even tech ones like Google, have reported a preference for applicants with experience in hotline services because of the way “people management” and “soft skills” are applicable across all fields, not just social services.
Eligibility
In addition to the general eligibility requirements for all of our volunteers, Walnut Avenue has found that the most successful direct service interns are often those who are:
Passionate about gender-based violence;
Willing to uphold all the policies of their chosen program(s), including turning in any required paperwork on time;
Communicating regularly with their supervisor about challenges they encounter. These challenges might be emotional, as is common with any area of direct service related to violence, or professional, such as lapses in communication or needing a different style of supervision for greater success.
Plan ahead - timing can be an issue if you wait too long!
All of our volunteer programs require a background check, which takes time. Students enrolled in a class which has a volunteering requirement should never wait until the last minute to find a location for volunteering. We also only offer the domestic violence training twice a year, every six months, and by law, some programs require the training as a prerequisite. We may not be able to accommodate your class deadline if it’s too close.
Academic Intern Responsibilities
Academic interns are expected to:
Ensure that the tasks they take on are approved by their academic program;
Inform their Walnut Avenue supervisor ASAP if an assigned task is not approved to receive credit from their academic program so that their workplan can be adjusted to make sure the intern is receiving full credit for all of their work;
Be proactive about informing their supervisor about any upcoming deadlines or other program requirements.
Supervision
As interns particpating in academic programs, the community engagement coordinator meets with you on a regular basis to see how you’re balancing your different commitments, offer additional support both emotionally and in professional development, and provide the evaluations required to validate your academic credit. This typically looks like a virtual meeting once a week, either one-on-one or as a group with other interns from your same program, that can run between 20-60 minutes.
For more time-intensive internships, such as the Community Studies Field Study program, the coordinator often employs the use of a workplan like this example one to help maintain clarity on current projects, goals, and the progress being made. The workplan acts as a reference for both you and the coordinator to help minimize that feeling of being “lost” or unsure of what’s expected of you. Unless otherwise requested or needed, the coordinator allows a large degree of freedom in how and when an intern does their work as long as program guidelines are being upheld and deadlines are being met.
Don’t see your academic program listed below?
That just means we don’t host interns from your academic program as often. You’re welcome to contact the coordinator and have a conversation about your program’s requirements to see if Walnut Avenue is able to provide what you’re looking for.
Field Study: Psychology
Number of interns allowed at one time: no limit
Psychology Field Study interns gain experience in peer counseling and crisis intervention through direct service as a hotline advocate. To do so, however, you must first complete the domestic violence certification training.
We offer the training twice a year beginning April and October, so you will need to plan ahead to complete the training before you can begin your six months of Field Study. For example, if you plan to start Field Study in Winter Quarter, you should complete the Fall training in the prior quarter.
A weekly shift on our hotline plus the once-monthly supervisory meeting is usually enough to meet your quota of hours, but if not, then you’re invited to participate in our other volunteer programs to expand your experience.
Volunteer advocates are asked to commit to 12 months of service. This means that you would be expected to continue as a hotline advocate for an additional six months for 12 months total, even after your Field Study program has ended.
Once you complete your 12 months in good standing, i.e. you’ve upheld all the requirements of the program, then you may use Walnut Avenue as a professional reference for future employment or academic applications upon request.
Field Study: Community Studies
Number of interns allowed at one time: 1
Given the time requirements of the Community Studies Field Study program, Walnut Avenue may not always be able to accommodate an intern depending on staff availability for supervision, COVID restrictions, and the services that Walnut Avenue is offering at the time.
A Community Studies internship typically looks like the following:
Completing the domestic violence certification training
Taking at least one weekly shift on the hotline (some interns may take two hotline shifts each week to help meet their hour quota) and attending the monthly supervisory meetings
Choosing additional programs based on personal interest and program availability:
Teen Group, classroom workshop facilitation, and/or other youth service development or implementation
Legal advocacy
Space for Change transformative justice advocacy
Community education projects
Staff Contact
Marjorie Coffey (they/them, Mx.)
Community Engagement Coordinator
mcoffey@wafwc.org
