Support
This summer, I interned at the St. Lawrence County Public Defender’s Office in Canton, NY. In this role, I shadowed multiple attorneys in various courts, expanding my understanding of the justice system and observing both defendant behaviors and attorneys’ strategies. During these fifteen weeks, I had the opportunity to work with the public to understand ways of helping them with their situations and to better understand the challenges they face, along with the challenges attorneys face while trying to help them.
During this internship, I had the opportunity to observe a wide range of court proceedings, including trials, pre-trial conferences, preliminary hearings, permanency hearings, and more, in County Court, Family Court, City Court, and Town/Village Courts.
My primary focus and goal of this internship was to gain firsthand experience observing the portion of the population that I would be working with in a career in Forensic Psychology. I was particularly interested in observing how individuals who were difficult or had mental illnesses behaved in and out of court, and how attorneys approached these interactions to ensure cooperation and protect their clients’ best interests.
In addition to achieving this goal, I developed stronger communication skills, particularly in tailoring my message to my audience. I learned that I could effectively communicate my ideas to the attorneys with language that was understandable to us, but not to the general public. I learned you need to design your language based on the person you're speaking to, which may seem like common knowledge, but until I worked with a segment of the public that might not understand the complicated words of the law, it was never at the forefront of my mind. I also improved my ability to observe social cues, behaviors, and emotional states. By sitting in on client meetings, I was able to witness in real time how clients expressed their emotions and how attorneys adapted their communication to support the clients, while maintaining cooperation and preventing emotional reactions from harming the case. This skill is crucial as accurately reading and responding to nonverbal and emotional signals allows attorneys to build trust, diffuse tension, and guide interactions toward more positive outcomes.
I have a strong passion for helping those who feel lost or hopeless by providing both emotional support and practical assistance, which led me to secure an internship with the St. Lawrence County Public Defender’s Office. I thought I wanted to work with individuals in the criminal justice system whose severe mental illness prevents them from fully understanding their actions or circumstances and getting them the help they need, instead of incarcerating them. However, this experience, along with personal life experiences, shifted my focus toward medical social work. Although my career focus has shifted, I find my internship experience and the lessons I learned to be extremely beneficial, as these lessons are applicable across many different professional fields as well as in my personal life. I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the St. Lawrence County Public Defender’s and I am truly grateful for this experience.