Internship/Practicum

The Department of Family and Consumer Sciences offers students a wide range of internship and practicum experiences in seven broad areas:

1. Aging and elderly programs
2. Business and financial programs
3. Health and medical programs
4. Human services programs
5. Children and youth programs
6. United Way programs
7. Government programs

1. Opportunities in aging and elderly programs include participation and/or volunteer activities in retirement homes; in-home services for aged or disabled persons; rehabilitation centers; social, recreational, and educational opportunities with persons over age 60; housing and rehabilitation services and nursing homes.

2. Opportunities in business/financial programs include participation and/or volunteer activities in the Consumer Division housed in the State of Nebraska Attorney General's office; personal family financial planning agencies; Better Business Bureau; consumer credit counseling agency; Nebraska State Department of Economic Development, the USDA lending branch of the Rural Economic and Community Development agency; banking and loan services agencies related to health care employees and their families; local Internal Revenue Service; insurance companies; brokerage firms; and the Heartland Center for Leadership.

3. Opportunities in health and medical programs include participation opportunities in such things as the American Cancer Society; Lincoln/Lancaster County Health Department; Lincoln/Lancaster County Health Department-Environmental Health Division; Nebraska Stroke Foundation; and various pharmaceutical companies.

4. Opportunities in human services include access to internships that include such things as programs for school-aged children; food banks; domestic abuse shelters/programs; treatment, rehabilitation for the chemically dependent and their families; emergency shelters; juvenile justice system agencies; independent living, counseling, and system advocacy; tutoring the low-income youth, Head Start, and transition services to regular classroom; homeless services; patient/family relations in medical systems; residential and outpatient treatment services for alcohol/drug misuse for youth and adults; Lincoln Police Department/ Victim-Witness Unit; elementary and teen recreation and education programs, cultural programs, and case coordination; child protective services; foster care recruitment; womens' health services; 24 hour crisis counseling; and programs related to stress management, self-esteem issues, and parent-child relations.

5. Opportunities in programs specifically related to children and youth include programs related to community based co-ed correctional facilities for youth up to 19 years of age; Boy Scouts of America; Cedars Home for Children; Department of Social Services/Child Protective Services; Head Start and Early Head Start; and work related to education and counseling for children and families (includes teen parents, teen activities, self-esteem, peer pressure, and social skills classes for children); alternative youth learning centers; comprehensive mental health services; and local child care, preschool, and public schools.

6. Opportunities in local United Way programs are ongoing and include internships related to tutoring; mentoring; Big Brother/Big Sister; coaching; food programs; childcare; nursing homes; and food programs.

7. Government program internship opportunities include involvement with such things as the Nebraska Commission on the Status of Women; Mexican-American Commission; Nebraska Legislature/Legislative Page; the Nebraska Ombudsmans office; UNL Cooperative Extension offices; and 4-H Youth Development.