2021 Summer Blogs – Page 9 – Gillings Around the globe

Gaining Experience and Prioritizing Self-Care

Posted on June 28, 2021 by nayavill

For my summer practicum, I am working with the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA) to create and present a toolkit on how to detect and prevent human trafficking on college and university campuses.

I have always been interested in the anti-sexual violence movement, starting at UNC Asheville where I went to undergrad. I was able to work with the Center for Diversity Education in creating a presentation on the importance of bodily autonomy on college campuses. This experience catapulted my passion for sexual and reproductive health justice which is what I’m most interested in focusing on professionally at Gillings and after graduating. However, I have never worked in the anti-human trafficking field, so I was nervous that the onboarding experience would be way too overwhelming to turn into a toolkit in such a short amount of time. During my first two weeks, I spent most of my days conducting literature reviews, watching recordings of presentations, and meeting with my preceptor to talk through the several pages of resources. While it was (and still is sometimes) overwhelming familiarizing myself with the history and language, I enjoyed talking through this new material with my preceptor. The anti-human trafficking movement is a very politicized movement and there are disagreements on how to address human trafficking between different types of organizations. For example, sometimes right-wing anti-human trafficking organizations focus on criminalizing sex work, while public health based anti-human trafficking organizations (like NCCASA) understand that victim blaming is harmful and rather focus on outer-layer solutions and prevention models that are more helpful for survivors and community members.

As you can imagine, the topic is emotionally difficult to read about, so self-care is discussed quite frequently at NCCASA. It is really refreshing to experience an organization that takes self-care and mindfulness seriously. I am looking forward to gaining experience working with an organization I admire so much and having these very difficult, and necessary, conversations.

I was also apprehensive of working from home this summer on a project that would benefit to work hands on with other people in NCCASA. I want to make sure that this toolkit acts as a useful resource for NCCASA and other stakeholders, and not just something to check off for a grade at the end of the summer. My preceptor has been so supportive and easy to talk to that I feel really lucky to be able to work with them as they continuously check in to make sure I am getting the most out of my practicum experience, which in turn is helping motivate me to do the work. They have also been really great at making sure I get to meet with important anti-human trafficking advocates who work at NCCASA. While I would love to work in person and directly with the community, I am really grateful to still be able to meet people who work in a field that I find extremely important. Hopefully I get to meet them in person next time!

River, my dog! — River keeping me company on my Zoom meetings.

While working from home has its challenges, I am able to spend time getting ready for my move to Chapel Hill in July (finally!), work outside, and enjoy new coffee shops with friends which has been fun now that I am fully vaccinated!

Sydney (in the MCFH concentration) and I working on our practicum deliverables.

I have also been able to take this as an opportunity to dog sit which is the best way to spend work breaks 🙂

River (smiling) and Duce (sleeping) on the garden bed… their new favorite spot.

Looking forward to continue truly connecting with this work and with the anti-human trafficking community.

Hadas

Practicing gratitude in times of uncertainty

Posted on June 23, 2021 by nayavill

A lookout from a mountain and looking into the forest. — Taking in some views.

As most others can relate, it is disappointing to have an online program after a year of online coursework. However, this last year I have become well-acquainted with practicing gratitude in times of disappointment or uncertainty. I have found many things to be grateful for. First, I am grateful to be learning from and working alongside with many committed individuals through the UNC Division of Global Women’s Health. This is one of the Zambia Hub internships that focuses on program management and administration. Additionally, the flexibility of a remote practicum has allowed me to visit family and friends that I otherwise would not be able to! The flexibility has made it possible to pursue other interests as well without feeling like I am neglecting the valuable internship experience.

There are two projects I will be working on this summer, one for cervical cancer in low-resource settings and the other to address adverse birth outcomes. My responsibility is to design a suite of communication materials to indicate on a larger level how UNC is contributing to the body of research and clinical practice in novel and innovative ways. This has consisted of an orientation period in which I reviewed program quarterly and annual reports, proposals, and the literature from the researchers and others. I have worked with my preceptor, the program manager, to interview the country leads to understand their need for communication materials as well as central themes and gaps in the research or practice. The website content I drafted will be up on the website somewhat soon!

Flowers looking out into the vast forest. — Nature.

Lighthouse from a grassy area. — Lighthouse.

Overall, I am excited to gain some valuable insight into how a multi-level research program operates and how one manages several different projects at once. One of my favorite things I am learning is how important it is to keep perspective in how individual programs contribute to the overall goals of an organization. That being said, I know I have a lot to learn and look forward to that over the next several weeks!

Due to the remote format, I have been in the Triangle area rather than in Zambia. But I am happy to be able to explore some more of the beautiful state of North Carolina.

– Renée

Global is Local (and on Zoom).

Posted on June 22, 2021 by nayavill

Bridger making a peace sign in front of some large dinosaurs — A positive side-effect of doing a practicum remotely practicum: getting to visit your parent’s new home in Utah (and making some new friends).

In some ways my 2021 practicum summer, like many things in a school year defined by the pandemic, is a lot different what I would have expected before enrolling. Having been unceremoniously removed from my life in Panama at the onset of the pandemic, I had always envisioned my practicum as a chance to dive back into working overseas, forming and learning from international partnerships in community settings. Instead, I’m conducting a practicum entirely via Zoom, working remotely with a public health organization based in Colorado.

However, in other ways, my position has been providing me the exact kind of experiences and challenges I was always hoped for in a practicum. My interest in Public Health and global practice began during four years of service with the Peace Corps in Panama. This form of grassroots development and health education has shaped the way I view and engage in Global Health work, learning and working alongside community-driven programs. However, in partnering with the United Nations Development Programme in the Darien gap, I became interested in developing the skills to identify ways to leverage large-scale resources to support community-driven efforts. My practicum so far has placed me at this nexus of community outreach and institutional power.

I’m interning with Pitkin County Public Health in Colorado, filling a position through a Preventative Health Block Grant seeking to address significant health inequities in their health and community infrastructure exposed by the pandemic. Specifically, the grant and the team I’ve joined of members of three neighboring public health departments and community stakeholders, is intended to improve health equity, especially for the Latinx and immigrant population in the area. As an intern I’ve taken on facilitating the development of deliverables such as a mental health awareness and promotion campaign, resource guides, and internal trainings for county organizations to apply an equity lens towards their services.

There’s a clear equity gap in Pitkin County and the surrounding area. Aspen, the largest town in the area, is a well-known resort community with high cost of living, and a population that more than doubles during the winter ski season. However, there’s a significant population of service and industry workers who support this resort lifestyle, including a large Latinx and immigrant population. Many locals struggle with high cost of living and services in the greater Aspen area, and many live in neighboring counties of Garfield and Eagle—however, the pandemic has helped illuminate the level of existing inequity in many regards, including access to health services and information.

It’s been an interesting challenge gaining contextual knowledge around the Pitkin County area and going through the process of making connections and building relationships all remotely. The virtual format has pushed me well out of my comfort zone, cold-joining lots of Zoom meetings with different agency partners, sending out emails to make connections with individuals, and not ever visiting the spaces I’m attempting to serve. It has struck me as an odd sensation to be discussing programs for a community I haven’t visited since I was 3 years old, but strangely enough, Global Health organizations do that all the time—as such, I’ve taken this challenge as a way to practice combining a community-centered approach to program development within the types of higher up, NGOs and Government agencies I could find myself working in someday after my degree, far removed from the field. While many of the mediums I’ve been using have been out of my comfort zone, when in doubt I’ve relied on some practices learned the hard way during my time with Peace Corps: 1) ask an endless stream of questions, 2) prioritize relationships over producing results, 3) defer all expertise to my local partners.

Applying these approaches has definitely come into conflict with larger realities of my practicum position at times. For one, there’s simply limited time to share and learn in the punctual and itemized Zoom meetings of a government agency. Secondly, the grant I’m working under has very real deadlines around deliverables and progress. With June about to be over, time limitations have forced relationship building and production to be a simultaneous process. The organizational practices fueled by fiscal infrastructure are something I’ll need to be able to navigate effectively, and I think this practicum is giving me great preparation in that regard.

Running from a T-rex — (Note all of them play nice).

It’s exciting after a year of school to be facilitating the development of materials with the potential for real world impact again. Even though just on Zoom, I’ve enjoyed the early relationships with work and community partners in this position. I’ve also appreciated the opportunity to apply skills acquired in Peace Corps to work with international populations in a domestic space. While so much is different than I would have expected a year ago, an early takeaway for me from my practicum is that core elements of learning exchange and collaborative partnership are universal with work addressing gaps in health equity, regardless of miles traveled or hours zoomed.

Bridger