The Sky Center uses a live supervision team approach, families are aware that their ‘counselor-in-training’ has a seasoned supervisor on site, observing through the one-way mirrors and ready to enter the room to demonstrate skills and engage with the youth and families directly as part of the learning process. They complete their internship and carry The Sky Center’s systemic framework into our community. We understand that youth suicide is a multilayered problem that stems from systemic influences and barriers and therefore must be addressed systemically. In the face of unprecedented exposure to community and school-based trauma and global social, health, and climate crises, at a time when change is demanded and resiliency essential, Sky Interns learn to meet multidimensional needs with a wholistic approach.

Like many of her peers, Shelley made a mid-career transition from a Corporate Human Resources Executive to becoming a behavioral therapist. “I have made it my life’s mission to serve; activism was not a choice, it was always part of who I was,” she shared. My mother always said, “to whom much is given, much is expected.” That family grounding continues to this day, “members of my family lean heavily on each other – we’re very connected. We support and love each other – it’s a source of strength.”

Devon referenced her early career work as a NYC Teaching Fellow where she was assigned to an under-resourced school in Brooklyn. Following her husband to Colorado, where he was enrolled in a Bilingual Education Master’s program, she began to explore pursuing a Masters in Social Work and was introduced to The Sky Center by a current participant, Rose. At The Sky Center, “I have most appreciated the interaction with families. I feel energized when I can hold space with families. It is gratifying to see kids and adolescents come to trust themselves, to be confident in their own guidance.”

Heather spoke of having had “a powerful personal experience with counseling” which fostered her exploration of marriage and family counseling as a career. A mother of a toddler, she acknowledges that it “is a confusing time in parenting. Many of our parents came from authoritarian family environments and have seen the pendulum swing to a scenario that is too permissive. I try to help parents find their voice – to take the reins again and re-establish the hierarchy. Personally, I experience it with my toddler constantly testing limits, and The Sky Center training has helped me develop the backbone to set boundaries knowing that my primary responsibility is to provide safety and security for my child.”

These graduate students in social work and counseling join The Sky Center/NMSIP team in August and participate in all aspects of NMSIP’s work from free family counseling to in-school programs, workshops for students and community members, and including Postvention responses when required. They are supervised closely by a team of experienced Clinal Supervisors, supported fully by their peers in the program, and assisted by Spanish-language interpreters, as needed. State-of-the-art video and observation tools are available to them to help them grow as they review and critique their own counseling sessions. Heather spoke of the videos “being an incredibly powerful learning tool. I take advantage of reviewing them and find them informative on many levels. I may catch something that a client said that I missed, or question how I articulated a point. I can take it to my Clinical Supervisor and discuss how I could have approached it better.”

Sonja has found her experience at The Sky Center to be a “peak learning experience” and she says that she “appreciates the holistic family system model.” Rose, who is completing her second year of training at The Sky Center, explained that the system in family therapy is based on the premise “that the family doesn’t come into The Sky Center with one person who is the problem. The way we look at it is that the person is a symptom bearer – the individual in which tension is surfacing within the fluid ecosystem of the family. We look at the dynamics between people and the opportunity for building relationships.”

Rose returned for a second year because, “it was the cream of my entire educational experience. I felt prepared to go out into the world, but I felt I would benefit from another year with greater client continuity. Witnessing other people’s growth is reciprocal, it promotes my own growth, as well.”

This past year, nine graduate interns received 1,908 hours of one-to-one training and supervision in the treatment of suicide risk factors and family counseling models that build strength and resiliency. One trainee described the program, “The Sky Center’s training is well known for going above and beyond in preparing therapists to navigate the challenges of our work ethically, capably, and passionately.”