Therapy can help people process difficult emotions, develop healthy coping strategies, and rebuild a sense of connection and purpose following loss or traumatic experiences.
Reflective Roots Psychotherapy & Healing, in Baldwin, is a woman-owned private practice that specializes in trauma and grief therapy. These are the topics that interest UW-Stout Polytechnic B.S. psychology student Julia Pollitt the most as she thinks ahead to her career.
Pollitt completed an administrative internship over the summer with Reflective Roots, whose goals are to guide clients to reflect on their past and understand their present through individual therapy; brainspotting, a focused psychotherapy tool that uses specific eye positions to help a client’s brain and body process and release deep emotional pain and trauma; and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a trauma-focused psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Pollitt, of Baldwin, plans to graduate in spring 2028 and then attend UW-Stout Polytechnic’s M.S. clinical mental health counseling program. She also plans to establish her own practice one day.
“What interests me most about my degree is the opportunity to understand and support those around me through the knowledge I am gaining both from my internship and courses at Stout,” Pollitt said.
As part of the university’s degree requirements, all students are required to complete an internship, co-op or field experience. These additional applied learning components are part of the reason why 99% of recent graduates were employed or continuing their education within six months of graduation, and 77.4% of spring 2026 graduates were hired prior to graduation.
What were your main roles as an intern at Reflective Roots?
As an administrative intern, my main roles were to assist in preparing appointments, updating and organizing company policies and documents, compiling resources for referrals to other providers and clinics, and reviewing crisis resources and other files.
What did you enjoy most about your internship?
What I enjoyed most about my internship was the one-on-one time that I had with my supervisor, Reflective Roots owner and founder, psychotherapist Stephanie Larson. We spent a lot of time exploring the clinical aspects and business aspects of running a private practice, which made me even more excited about becoming a therapist. At our lunch meetings, we would go over treatment plan examples and updates and discuss strategies for providing effective treatment. She answered any questions I had.
She taught me a lot about taking care of yourself as a therapist in order to provide the most beneficial treatment to your clients.
Was there anything challenging about your internship, and how did you face those challenges?
The challenging aspect of my internship was that I worked in my local community, so I was familiar with some clients and got to learn a lot about keeping my personal and professional lives separate.
Also, something I learned was that one of the hindrances to individuals seeking treatment or making progress was misinformation. This is why it’s so important to break things down and help others process what you’re suggesting or guiding them to do.
How do you hope to make an impact in your field?
One way I hope to make an impact in my field is by incorporating both somatic and psychological interventions into my therapy practices. I learned a lot about this during my internship and have grown incredibly passionate about diverse interventions for treating various psychological illnesses and struggles.
I believe my courses at Stout will contribute to my impact on the field. I have already noticed several connections between the practices I learned during this internship and my coursework.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Don’t take your internships and experiences for granted and always ask every question that comes to mind. You will get so much more out of your experience that way.
