Mayra Ramirez (she, her, ella) is an intern in our Case Management unit. She is chronicling her year-long internship to raise awareness about the important support she and the entire Case Management unit provide to our clients.

My name is Mayra, and I am attending University of Southern California in pursuit of a Master of Social Work degree. I knew that I wanted to complete my internship at Community Legal Aid SoCal because of their values and commitment to racial and economic justice. These ideals are the cornerstone of my studies, which focus on the relationship between discrimination and persistent stress and how these conditions affect a person’s overall mental health.

It’s been exciting to work on an interdisciplinary team alongside paralegals, attorneys, and other case managers. My goals for the year have been to improve my interpersonal, supportive counseling and case management skills and learn how to navigate the complicated systems that many of our clients are left to face alone.

I am well on my way to achieving my goals. Under the direction of my supervisor, I have been interacting with clients almost daily. I assess clients’ initial needs and help them through their legal journey by providing emotional support, referrals to housing providers, food banks, and job placement centers, assistance with benefits applications, and court accompaniment.

These client interactions have impressed on me the importance of providing culturally sensitive, trauma-informed care. As such, I am dedicating part of my internship to assessing and analyzing the Intake & Assessment unit’s processes to ensure the initial contact between staff and client is affirming. This will give way to a trusting relationship between clients and CLA SoCal staff and restore a measure of security and safety for our clients.

I hit the ground running and am looking forward to sharing more about the impact case managers have on legal aid clients.