Case example 7

Brody's supervisor described him as willingly and energetically doing everything he had been asked to do in his internship in an urban recreation center. Yet she acknowledged that although he had been there for nearly six weeks she did not have a sense of who he was as a person or what his interests were. She also noted that several of the teenage boys in the program had been excited to hear that a male college student was coming for an internship, but once Brody arrived, those relationships never formed. Although the supervisor described Brody as well-liked, she also described him as quiet and standoffish. She was concerned that Brody was waiting for the boys in the program to approach him rather than taking the initiative himself. Given their histories, it was unlikely that they would make the first move to form a relationship and neither was Brody. When the faculty liaison spoke with him about this feedback, Brody seemed puzzled. He didn't understand what more the organization could expect of him since he was developing and leading the programs they had asked him to, shadowing multiple staff members, and demonstrating a good work ethic through arriving on time and working a full day every day. The faculty member asked Brody about the relationships he had formed during his internship. He responded that he knew he probably would never see these people again after this semester so he wasn't very concerned about forming relationships. Instead, he said, he was focused on doing a good job.

EXERCISE 3.12

• Are there aspects of Brody's behavior that you can identify with? If so, what?
• What might be motivating Brody to avoid developing relationships with others during his internship?
• What specific strategies might Brody use to overcome the closed boundaries that he has brought into his internship? If you could advise him, what might you say?