Will County Health Department interns are assets

When Minerva Spurlock arrived as an intern in the Will County Health Department Behavioral Health Division about three months ago, she had a specific objective.

As a doctoral student at Walden University in Minneapolis, Spurlock was instructed by both her Walden professors as well as American Psychological Association guidelines to “be a facilitator for a great amount of people.”

Spurlock is pursuing a doctorate in clinical neuropsychology. So to help get youngsters who were already clients of the health department’s behavioral health program “think a little differently,” the simple question was: “How?”

“The interns brainstormed,” Spurlock said in a news release. “We thought about doing an anger management group, but finally decided on the coping skills group because we’d be able to get into other emotions besides anger, and therefore involve more kids.”

Soon, between posting flyers around the behavioral health division, word of mouth among the interns, and shared information with kids who were already receiving counseling and their parents, two “Conflict Resolution” classes were established.

The interns created a 10-week program schedule of one hour long sessions. Spurlock joined Sierrah Avant and Jennifer vonPerbandt in working with the older kids, and Grace Domzalski and Nakia Hubbard were assigned to work with the younger kids.

Director of Clinical Training and Licensed Psychologist Dr. Rita Gray says the interns are proving to be a huge asset to the health department.

At least two more group sessions are lined up, including an LGBTQ group and a healthy relationships group. Spurlock is scheduled to be with the Will County Health Department through this coming September.

For information on behavioral health programs at the Health Department, go to www.willcountyhealth.org, or call 815-727-8521.