Mollie Ulm

My name is Mollie Ulm and I graduated this August with my BA in psychology and the Criminal Justice Certificate. I have spent the past 20 years working in health care and would like to work with individuals who have severe and persistent mental illness within the criminal justice system. I am currently looking at different grad schools that will be a good fit in helping me to achieve this goal. After graduation, I will continue working at a local hospital inpatient psychiatric unit in addition to working as a research assistant with Dr. Caldwell at Mendota.

For my summer internship, I chose Family Service Madison’s Steps to Success day treatment program. Steps to Success is a year-round program for individuals aged 11 to 14. Students are referred by health care providers, schools, parent/guardian, or may be court ordered through deferred persecution. Programming runs from noon to 4PM Monday through Fridays and is comprised of individual therapy and group activities. On average students spend about 4 months in the program. Even though I was only there for 11 weeks, I was able to see the strides individuals made with the care and compassion of the Steps to Success staff. While the program is small, the work it does for students and their families continues to astound me.

While at Steps, I had the opportunity to work closely with staff in facilitating groups and activities for the students. I was involved in the weekly staff meetings and felt like part of the team when expressing concerns or ideas. During my internship I was also able to observe some of the other groups that Family Service Madison offers. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with Steps to Success and Family Service Madison. The skills I learned in working with individuals aged 11 to 14 has impacted the way I interact with everyone and will affect me for years to come.

In addition, I am so grateful to the family of Audrey J. Harris for setting up the scholarship and the faculty of UW Madison’s Criminal Justice program for choosing me as a recipient. The scholarship helped to alleviate financial burden, allowing me to focus on enjoying and experiencing my internship to the fullest.