Student trainee impacts: Suzanna Winter

Student trainee impacts: catching up with Suzanna Winter

The impacts of the CDHD Student Trainee Program are evident in our service to Idaho’s disability community. Our students are an integral part of our community-based programs such as artAbility and Healthy Active Lifestyles. They act as leaders and natural supports, all the while learning highly valuable skills they can use in their future careers. It’s real work and real experience that boosts their resume and professional development.

As we chat with our past trainees, we’re also learning about the positive personal impacts the CDHD can have that both enhances their time in college and helps them navigate the early stages of their careers.

Ernesto Marques Montez told us how his time at the Center helped him home in on the path he wanted to take after school. And Grace Vitek spoke of the lasting friendships she developed while working at the CDHD. This is something that Suzanna Winter echoed in our latest conversation with past CDHD trainees …

Hello, Suzanna! It’s nice to see you again. We’ll jump right into our questions. Do you remember what projects you worked on?

Suzanna: I mainly worked on the Disability Advocacy Network of Idaho (DANI) project. I also helped out with other admin work around the office, doing document remediation and editing. Stuff like that.

What do you remember most about your time at the CDHD?

Suzanna: I think it was the inclusivity of being able to work on various projects and try new things. That was really nice. Being very accepted into that – like, ‘oh yeah, you want to try this? Here you go! It’s an opportunity to try something new.’ It was an opportunity to dabble in things, which was really nice.

That’s great! Did you find you were introduced to a lot of things that were relevant to what you were studying or what you hoped to pursue when you finished with school?

Suzanna: I did. I was able to do quite a few things because I wanted to work with children with disabilities. I mean, I didn’t work with a lot of children per say – just because that’s not always what the CDHD does (working directly with children) – but more of working with individuals with disabilities. I was able to do a lot and learn more about that. And just other things that would be helpful for my future. To know,  ‘I can do this – I know how to do this,’ which is very helpful in real world applications.

What do you miss about your time at the CDHD?

Suzanna: I do miss working in a close-knit environment of people that I actually knew for quite a long time because I continued working there for while after I graduated. I knew a lot of people and it was really nice. And just having a flexible schedule at work with school and stuff – that was nice!

It’s really great that the Center prioritizes study and works with students in that way. How many years were you a trainee?

Suzanna: I was a trainee for one year. Then I stayed on for another two years.

Oh! I didn’t realize it was two years. That time just flew by. Are there any specific skills that you picked up during that time that have helped you throughout your career?

Suzanna: Some of the webinars and trainings that you attend through just being at the CDHD and being able to attend were very helpful. I can’t think of any specific ones necessarily, but it’s all about building up that knowledge of disabilities and how they can impact people’s lives. It was very helpful.

Are there any people at the CDHD who inspired or supported you while you were pursing your degree?

Suzanna: A lot of people supported me for sure. Just making sure I was on top of it and excited for me to go out and do work. Olivia was one and my direct supervisor for DANI, Richelle – they were both very supportive of going out and pursing my career afterwards. Very excited for me, which was really nice. It was great having those direct supervisors being there and being supportive.

Nice!  Would you recommend the student trainee program to a current student?

Suzanna: Absolutely! First of all, it’s so flexible with your school schedule. That’s always very enticing and supportive for students. Also, being able to learn a lot of things about diversity and the disability community, how to support people – it’s such a great thing to learn more about.

Did you find it to be a good introduction to office work or the ‘professional life’?

Suzanna: Yeah. I didn’t have an office job [before the CDHD]. I worked a lot more in schools working with kids or in retail and things like that, so it was a good introduction to things like, ‘Here’s how you dress when you go to an office. Here’s how you construct a professional email, and make sure you’re attending to all your responsibilities.’  It was a very good introduction where it’s structured but not quite as high of stakes as a ‘big job’.

Right – a nice landing pad.

Suzanna: Yes, absolutely.

What would you say to a current student to convince them to join the program?

Suzanna: Probably those exact things! They’re [the CDHD] really flexible with your schedule. As a student, that’s something that’s so highly valued because there’s not a lot of time in the day. You have to get all your work done but you also need to have an income. You kind of start building your professional career. It’s also such a great thing to put on your resume. You’re a trainee for the University of Idaho at the CDHD. That’s such a good thing to have.

What do you think are the biggest benefits of the trainee program?

Suzanna: I would still be going back to learning a lot of those things and having that community. I did enjoy having other trainees who I got to see outside of work. We were able to hang out and build friendships, which was really beneficial because sometimes as a student – well, I had a hard time making friends in the classroom. I was older than a lot of other students too. So it was really nice to be able to make those connections.

Yeah! I don’t think a lot of people think about how hard it can be to find friends sometimes.

Suzanna: Yeah – especially during COVID. It was not easy.

Absolutely. Aside from your professional pursuits, has the CDHD impacted your life in other ways?

Suzanna: I have friends that I made at the CDHD that I’m still in contact with and I see. That was a big impact and it is really nice that I still have those friendships from my time there that are going to be lasting.

I like it! That’s really awesome. We’re going to shift gears a little bit now and focus more on your current career. What is your current role including your job title?

Suzanna: I work for Catholic Community Services in their Wise Program, which is a wrap around with intensive services program. More specifically, I am a youth support partner or a peer counselor.

I work with youth from about 11 to 21 and kids with disabilities – physical and mental disabilities. Kids who are in the court system or kids who just need some extra support because they have a rough time at home. It’s kind of a broad reaching program.

I support them in being an advocate. I support them in making plans and working on skill building – whether that’s everyday skills like routine and self-care, or communication skills so they can make friends or go out into the community to get a job. I also support them in court if they have court – help walk them through those big concepts that are so hard for kids to understand. I kind of dabble in a lot of little things.

Yes, I was going to say, that’s a lot of responsibility.

Suzanna: Yeah! We get to do a lot of fun stuff too. I’ll try to introduce things in a fun way to kids, so we’ll play sports or we’ll do art, or we’ll go on a hike and just chat. We do fun things so it doesn’t always feel super hard physically. Mentally and emotionally it can be … but you get to see these kids grow and learn new things. They get to graduate from our program. It’s like, ‘Look at all these things you learned. You said you wanted to learn it and you learned it. Now you get to go live your best life’.

That’s so amazing! Does it focus primarily on kids with disabilities or people with disabilities?

Suzanna: Not solely, but a lot of our kids do have autism, bipolar, BPD, trauma history – a lot of mental disabilities. Less physical disabilities. I’ve been learning more about how the brain works and how these different things can affect people’s lives.

It sounds like such a cool job. You get to see diverse experiences. That’s really cool.

Suzanna: It is really cool. I really like it.

How long have you been doing it?

Suzanna: Just about a year.

How do you feel this work impacts or benefits your community?

Suzanna: Sometimes it’s hard to see a community as a whole through this specific thing because we focus more on individuals or family groups, but I do get to see how it can impact those family groups, and they then can go out into a community setting and be successful. Or how these kids can go out into the community, and they can make friends or get a job. They now have these skills that were once a huge barrier, but now they can go out and participate in their communities and contribute.

That must be very rewarding. What inspired you to take on this job?

Suzanna: I always wanted to work with kids with disabilities. That was my end goal when I was going through school. I was looking for a job and browsing different opportunities where I live. I came across this and thought it sounded pretty cool.  I thought I’ll give it a shot and see what it’s like. It’s a little intense. It’s hand-on, which I enjoy. I enjoy hands-on a lot more than computer work.

It sounds like a great fit for you. How did your time at the CDHD prepare you for your role?

Suzanna: I think a lot of those things I spoke about earlier – sitting in on those webinars where you learn different things, working with adults with intellectual disabilities – I got to learn that stuff beforehand.  I got to engage with people beforehand, which was able to lay some of that groundwork for this job. I learned how to respectfully interact with people with disabilities and what they need.

Did you find that you had some good direct experiences that you were able to apply to this job?

I think probably some of the combinations of past jobs and the CDHD when I was helping at programs like artAbility – some of those experiences where you’re working more directly with people. Those are very similar to what I do now. Those direct experiences were very helpful.

I always like to hear when students get direct, hands-on experiences that you don’t always get in college.

Suzanna: Yes, it’s very nice.

Do you think you would have been prepared to step into this role without your time at the CDHD?

Suzanna: I think I would have been semi prepared because I was a behavior therapist for kids with autism before I was a CDHD trainee, so I had some past experience. But I think it really opened another part of interacting within a community setting. I didn’t do that before. It added to my experience. Now I get to help kids in this community. It was helpful.

Thank you again for your time, Suzanna. We really appreciate you sharing your experiences with us and we're so happy to see you're achieving such amazing things as you pursue your career!

Visit the CDHD Student Trainee Program page for more information on becoming a trainee.