More Than an Internship
My Experience at Casa Famiglia
Cooperativa Social Essere
Cooperativa Sociale Essere is a family home in Meta, Napoli, that offers a safe home for kids in the Meta Area. When I say family home, I mean a child care home centered around family and belonging. Coop. Sociale started in a convent and is basically run by the sisters - they run the show as far as I'm concerned. The nuns are there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and their assigned Social Worker is Dr. Marianna Di Candid (Pictured below)!
As well as this, there are two educators that help relieve the nuns. One of the educators is Federica Rispoli and the other is Mikaela Passaro (Both pictured below). Federica is my supervisor and it has been such an incredible mentorship - despite our language barrier. She is in charge of Centro, which is the learning center. These 4 or 5 kids do not stay full time at the house, but come to seek help with homework, learn chess and other strategy games, and otherwise seek time in a healthy learning environment, a second home. As well as this, Federica supervises the two kids in Primavera, kids ages 13-21. Mikaela is the caregiver for the 6 or 7 kids in Arielle, the kids 12 and under. All of the kids in Primavera and Arielle stay at Casa Familia full time
I have thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the routine and grateful to be a part of the daily life this summer.
"These women have inspired me, and will continue to inspire me in their strength and care for these kids."
Bridging Language, Building Trust
My Role at Casa Famiglia
Syllabus
I am the psychology intern at Cooperativa Sociale Essere. I work approximately 30 hours per week, usually over 4–5 days. Within this time, I spend around 5–7 hours per week working remotely, planning projects and handling virtual responsibilities and the rest of my hours are completed at Casa Famiglia.
I have officially complete 270 hours at Cooperativa Sociale over the course of 10 weeks.
The primary role that I serve as a psychology intern is to assist staff with projects, planning projects of my own, communicating with staff, and any other necessary people. Other roles I tended to fill were helping with homework, entertaining and playing games, and observing daily office operations. About 5-10 hours every week would consist of planning projects and trying to figure out creative ways to entertain the kids.
I created a project proposals, listing the timeline of each activity, the resources needed, and if I would need additional help, i.e, one of the nuns translating for me. I was competing with myself constantly, daily, on how little I could use a translator/Sister Juve to help me communicate with the kids. Most of the proposals included snacks or games. An example of a week of activities is below:
This is an example of what one week would look like. There are about 12-15 kids depending on the day ages ranging from 2-16 years old, this will not entertain every kid. I build the program to entertain a majority of the kids so Michaela gets a break. I created detailed plans for the week that would entertain, but that didn't matter. I was there to interact and learn about the kids, not to just plan activities that would hopefully, for at least 30 minutes, entertain them.
I learned so much more from not making plans, from "going with the flow," something I had not been forced to learn until now.
"My type A color coded weekly plans were good, but they did not match the routine that existed before I got there."
Getting outside of MY structure is what helped me learn Italian so quickly and it is especially what helped me to create incredible friendship with the educators and kids at Coop. Sociale.
It was always important to me that I, personally, make the connection with the kids, not through a third party because genuinely I believe there is something literally lost in a translator. With this, the largest part of my job as intern was learning Italian.
The Language Barrier
One of the biggest challenges—and ultimately, the greatest area of growth—was navigating the language barrier. From the beginning, I made it a goal to minimize the use of translators and communicate with the children directly. I strongly believe that something meaningful is lost when relationships are mediated through a a translator or even the sisters translating for me.
By the end of week 3 or 4 I was mostly alone with the educators communicating in half-italian, half-english. The heaviest & hardest part of learning to speak Italian was embarrassing myself to the full extent. I pronounced a lot of words wrong and spoke really slow most of the time, but we were all trying. There is consistently this look that the educators and I give each other when either one of us speak too fast and it always ends in us dying laughing. No matter how much we had to use our hands or how hard we were laughing, the feeling of being understood was so satisfying it was worth it.
"Learning Italian became the most essential and transformative part of my internship. More than a professional skill, it became a tool for human connection—something that allowed me to be fully present and engaged in the community."
Summary
This internship has deeply enhanced my understanding of diverse perspectives and global awareness, immersing me in a culture and language vastly different from my own. I learned not only to apply psychological concepts to real-world challenges—like behavior management, motivation, and communication—but also to solve problems creatively and adaptively in an unfamiliar environment. Working closely with educators and staff allowed me to develop professional competencies critical to the field of psychology, such as observation, empathy, and interpersonal communication. I gained a practical understanding of the principles and methods that support social and emotional development in children, especially within marginalized or underserved communities. Collaborating in a cross-cultural team honed my teamwork and communication skills, while creating and implementing weekly activity plans strengthened my creative thinking and design abilities. Through language learning, project planning, and daily reflection, I improved my ability to express myself clearly—both orally and in writing—even across linguistic barriers. Most importantly, this experience helped me to analyze and evaluate ideas in context and apply my growing knowledge to serve the public good by supporting children and educators in meaningful, respectful, and culturally sensitive ways.
