Courtney is studying Psychological and Behavioural Sciences and Criminology at UWA, and recently completed a 100-hour internship supporting the Partnering in Prevention pilot program with Zonta House, through the McCusker Centre for Citizenship.
“Partnering in Prevention is a primary prevention initiative focusing on engagement with small to medium workplaces and community organisations across Western Australia,
“I worked as a part of the team at Zonta House, towards the goal of implementing workplace and organisation approaches to support the prevention of violence against women, through helping to educate workplaces and staff members about gender inequality, and hopefully changing attitudes to home and community life,
“I helped with researching gender impact assessments, stakeholder mapping and development of resources and marketing content,” she said.
Courtney’s internship supervisor, Zonta House Strategic Project Officer Natalie Walchshofer, said Courtney had made a significant contribution through her internship that was appreciated by the team.
“Courtney played a pivotal role in supporting our innovative pilot program, Partnering in Prevention (PiP),” Ms Walchshofer said.
“She made substantial contributions to the preliminary groundwork required for the pilot program, and the feedback we received from our PiP team has been overwhelmingly positive,
“Courtney demonstrated her excellence as a researcher and effectively presented her findings in a clear and insightful manner; her contributions greatly benefited the team, as she provided valuable insights, ideas, and suggestions,”
Ms Walchshofer said Zonta House had benefited from hosting a number of interns through the McCusker Centre for Citizenship program.
“Interns can bring immense value to small non-profit organisations like ours, which often lack the resources and capacity to have specialised teams or dedicated personnel,
“Interns are an invaluable and indispensable asset to our organisation, and we consistently find that McCusker interns are of an exceptional calibre,” she said.
“The McCusker Centre for Citizenship fosters remarkable talent through their internship program, and we look forward to the opportunity to work with more exceptional interns in the future,”
Reflecting on the internship experience, Courtney said that seeing the positive outcomes that her host organisation was achieving for the lives of women on a daily basis was a highlight.
“The accommodation provided for survivors of family and domestic violence, as well as advocacy, resources and referrals to specialist services are so beneficial in helping these strong women feel supported,
“The work I undertook in my internship will help to educate people on how to offer assistance to women experiencing family and domestic violence and to recognise signs that violence may be occurring,
“Additionally, the Partnering in Prevention project will help to analyse workplaces’ current level of gender equality in areas such as employment, wages and policy in order to determine areas that need further focus, and to guide staff through the process of improvement,” she said.
“I was able to use prior knowledge from my study and gain new technical skills and knowledge surrounding the process involved in a project, from marketing to evaluation,
“I would strongly recommend a McCusker Centre internship to other students; it has been such a rewarding and informative experience which has given me the chance to help people in the community, as well as network with people in my fields of study,
“This experience has been so rewarding and has inspired me to continue work in the sector in the future.”