Diving into my internship these past two weeks has been a whirlwind of fun and learning in ways that I never could have expected. I am interning at The Destiny Project SCIO in Prestonpans, Scotland, a mental health charity working to end the stigma of mental health and provide resources to support children and adults facing mental illness and disabilities. I have been tasked with creating a social media campaign aiming to end the stigma of mental health for children, and I have been granted complete creative freedom to take the project in any direction I wish. This has been a very interesting and exciting experience, but my team at TDP is incredibly supportive and encouraging and it has already been such a blast getting to watch as my ideas are beginning to take life.
Overall, I have observed that business in Scotland is much more laid back than in the U.S. Our workday starts at 10am and is very relaxed. We are able to take breaks as we wish, and our schedules are extremely flexible. The company culture of TDP is very unique. Especially being a mental health charity, it is of utmost importance to my supervisor that we are always supported, safe, and taking care of ourselves mentally and physically. That being said, our time in the office is always a great time. Everyone in the office is truly a family, which makes the office feel more like a community space where we have come together to support each other in advancing a purpose close to our hearts, rather than a corporate setting where you go in to complete your necessary tasks and get out. My supervisor often says that the office operates at 20% work, 80% fun, which is a very strange idea compared to the work environments I have previously worked in, but it curiously works very well for the nature of our company.
TDP is extremely people oriented. In reality, we have only spent part of the internship actually in the office. We have spent the rest of the time out doing hands-on activities reflecting our mission as an organization. For example: last week we as interns got the opportunity to tag along with our coworkers to join in on a football (soccer) practice for adults with disabilities, which was such an incredible experience. It is extremely evident that TDP is about so much more than just checking boxes on a corporate level. Not only am I getting valuable experience and learning so much professionally in my campaign work, but I am also getting so much experience in the heart of TDP?s mission and experiencing so much of the Scottish culture that I could not have otherwise.
