Learning about Anger: Intern Reflections

May 17, 2017 | News

When I think about my time at Advoz, I do not think about anger at all.
 
But, earlier this week, I observed some juvenile court hearings. I listened to the offenders in their own words while also hearing the judge’s rulings. I became not only angry with the idea of these offenders being challenged in their lives by the impact of their decisions, but also how beneficial mediation or victim-offender conferencing could have been in such situations.
Throughout the Spring semester, I was the Communications intern at Advoz. I had started in February, just as the merger announcement was about to take place – you could say it was a busy first week!
Looking back, most of my projects involved working within the database, adding pages to the website, and creating social media posts. However, the highlight of the semester was the Around the Table event. There was much for me to do leading up to May 4th, including scheduling some of the Silent Auction items & Sponsor posts you may have seen on Facebook as well as helping to organize the content for the Event Program.
Because my internship dealt with a lot of the “behind-the-scenes” projects in the office, it was wonderful meeting many of you during the event and being able to put faces to names! Listening to Dr. Arun Gandhi speak with such insight was truly inspiring, and it was a great way to end the event. As Dr. Gandhi mentioned, “Anger is like fuel in our car. We need it… but we must learn to use it constructively.”
Overall, interning with the staff of Advoz was one of my personal highlights of the semester: no anger here, by the way, just lots of coffee and laughter! I was extremely grateful for the experience, and I know everything I learned -especially the notion of focused, constructive anger to facilitate restorative justice- will stay with me going forward.

Hayley and Zoie

Hayley (right) enjoys the post-event meeting with fellow Advoz intern Zoie just before graduating from Millersville University.

Read More from the Advoz Blog
Life Learning as an Advoz Intern – Kaylee Geesey

Life Learning as an Advoz Intern – Kaylee Geesey

Kaylee Geesey interned with Advoz in the spring of 2024 in conjunction with Millersville University's Social Work program. As I reflect on the time spent with Advoz, I am filled with gratitude and humbled at the growth I have seen in myself. I am the first person in...

Role-Modeling Restorative Practices

Role-Modeling Restorative Practices

As I write this blog, I am in my ninth week of interning with Advoz: Mediation & Restorative Practices. It has been a healing experience for me to work with Advoz staff and volunteers because they center relationships in all aspects of their work. I have witnessed...

Interning for Mediation: Riley Sloat

Interning for Mediation: Riley Sloat

I am Riley Sloat, and I am currently a senior at Elizabethtown Senior Highschool. I am interested in having a career as a mediator due to the business and Personal Law class I took in my sophomore year, wherein part of the curriculum was to do a mock...

Making Peace Workshop Referral

We just published an updated referral form for our Making Peace Workshop (below). As more partners in our juvenile justice system are again working in person, this is an incredibly valuable resource to build communication and conflict resolution skills in every...

Intern Stories: Meet Brelan Wilcher

harm caused within the community. In one way, it aims to achieve this by serving as a bridge that two or more individuals can cross to resolve conflicts through their mediation programs. The organization also partners with the Juvenile Justice System to speak with individuals who have caused harm to the community and help them take steps to make things right.

Working Upstream to Undo “Criminal Minds”

Working Upstream to Undo “Criminal Minds”

By Chris Fitz "Matthew” was only 13 years old. But this wasn’t his first run-in with the law. In our meeting, he fluently relayed the ways that adults in his neighborhood called the police about him—and how those complaints added up. He used terms like “complaint,”...

On Collaboration

On Collaboration

In the following post, I will explore what I learned about collaboration while creating the last two infographics in partnership with friends and Chris Fitz. This is the sequel to last week's blog post and the final in a series covering a new set of infographics....

On Creating Dialogue about Exclusionary Discipline in Education

On Creating Dialogue about Exclusionary Discipline in Education

Before I share what I learned while creating Zero Tolerance and Restorative Justice (RJ) in education for Advoz, allow me to introduce myself briefly. My name is Catherine Wise. I am a college student studying neuroscience and Spanish at the Texas Christian University...

Adjusting to Move Forward: 2019-20 Annual Report

Adjusting to Move Forward: 2019-20 Annual Report

As we reflect on the last 18 months, we want to thank each of you for helping Advoz arrive in 2021 in a stronger position than we were before COVID-19 first hit. Looking back to last year, right before the pandemic, we had experienced an organizational change with a...