Volunteers, interns and professors write about their experiences
By Kari B. & Teresa C., CSB/SJU Student Nurses
" Thank you very much for your guidance, words of advice and encouragement over the past 3 months. We couldn't have asked for better mentors. You are both inspirations and have equipped us with valuable knowledge that will be essential to our nursing careers...you two do incredible work here."
By Tyler E., Court Monitor
"...there were a lot of memorable experiences for me, and I learned a lot about our legal system in the process. In the end, I think my greatest benefit working with Anna Marie's was a new perspective on domestic abuse."
By Laura S., Criminal Justice Intervention Intern
“I couldn't have asked for another place. The knowledge and skills you helped me acquire, I will take with me and apply to careers in my future. Also thank you for giving me the confidence to shoot for the highest and always do your best.”
By Kim Schultz, Professor, St. Cloud State University
This is an excellent internship. We, at SCSU, are very happy that our Community Psychology students have a chance to be mentored at Anna Marie's.
By M., VISTO Volunteer
I just wanted to say thank you so much for the experience that I received as a VISTO volunteer. I really enjoyed meeting the moms and kids and mentoring the children. I now have a better understanding of what a community outreach program such as Anna Marie's does for victims of domestic violence, and have a genuine appreciation for what you both do. ...thanks for the conversation about career options and your history, and ...thanks for the supervision and knowledge provided us when we volunteered.
By J., a field study volunteer in the children's program:
Today, we took some of the kids out to lunch and then to the park for play time. I have never seen them smile as much as I did when they were playing there. It felt good to know that we can make them that happy by just taking them to the park.
I also had the opportunity to practice something that I learned in the Love and Logic presentation. She told us about using "one liners" with children when they are trying to say mean things or trying to look for help making decisions. Today one of the little boys was a little jealous because he couldn't be the center of my attention because there were other children. He decided to tell me that he didn't like me. At Love and Logic, she told us a good response to that is a one liner like, "I am sorry you don't like me because I sure like you!" So that's what I said. And he left the playroom and came back in a few minutes and told me he didn't mean it, he really does like me. It was really neat to see it work.
From A.,
Today I was part of what is called a "face to face," with one of the kids. J. has been having a lot of problems with his anger. He's been hitting mom and siblings and losing his temper quite often. Mom is really worried about it. We told him that being angry is O.K. but that there are other ways to deal with it. We asked him what kinds of things made him angry and then told him examples of things he could do to deal with the anger such as talking to Mom, an advocate, a teacher, counting to ten... It ended up going well, but I think he needs a lot more work with this issue before he can actually learn an efficient way to deal with this emotion.
From a student volunteer,
Tonight was very hectic. The house was very full so we came up with something so all the kids could be part of it and all the moms could have a little break. Story time! Hug Bug Time! We gathered all the kids and the "Hug Bug" (a huge stuffed animal) and started reading stories. It was very neat. Most of the stories dealt with emotions in some way... being happy, mad, scared. Feelings we all have come through at one time or another. So whenever we read about some sort of emotion we'd have the kids tell us what it meant and then describe a time when they felt that way. It was lots of fun! Finally all the kids got to hug "Hug Bug" and go with their moms.
