Leading before graduation: M.S., B.S. psychology students intern with North Shore Healthcare, Reflective Roots Psychotherapy & Healing
UW-Stout Polytechnic students share experiences at regional health, therapy organizations in Q&As
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 24, 2026
Menomonie, Wis. – University of Wisconsin-Stout Polytechnic’s Cooperative Education and Internship Program (CEIP) is a fast-lane pipeline to success, providing students with applied learning experiences at regional, national and international companies within their professional field before they graduate. Of this year’s graduates, 77.4% were hired prior to graduation, while 99% of recent graduates were employed or continuing their education within six months of graduation.
Recently, M.S. applied industrial/organizational psychology graduate student Aranthza Gonzalez and B.S. psychology student Julia Pollitt shared about their summer internship experiences with regional health care companies – North Shore Healthcare’s Support Center in Milwaukee and Reflective Roots Psychotherapy & Healing in Baldwin.
There were 745 UW-Stout Polytechnic students enrolled in CEIP this summer. UW-Stout Polytechnic’s Career Outcomes site provides CEIP and First Destination reports, which show that 100% of recent M.S. applied industrial/organizational psychology and B.S. psychology graduates are employed or furthering their education within six months of graduation.
Aranthza Gonzalez, North Shore Healthcare
North Shore Healthcare provides services ranging from skilled nursing to assisted living, short-term rehabilitation to home health and hospice, and brain injury rehabilitation. With 70 centers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and North Dakota, it is the largest provider of post-acute care in the Upper Midwest.
Gonzalez completed an internship in learning and development at North Shore Healthcare’s Support Center in Milwaukee, where she worked on the corporate side of the organization, supporting initiatives across multiple health care facilities through services such as learning and development, human resources and operational strategy.
Gonzalez’s path into applied industrial and organizational psychology was shaped by her experiences at organizations from several different perspectives – from serving in the U.S. Navy and working in frontline health care to now working within learning and development at the organizational level.
“Those experiences have made me especially interested in the connection between the people making organizational decisions and the people carrying them out every day. My internship reinforced that even something developed behind the scenes – whether it is a training program, communication, process or leadership resource – can ultimately influence an employee’s experience and the culture of an organization,” she said.
Gonzalez’s internship roles included supporting leadership and employee development, creating training resources, developing implementation and tracking tools, analyzing competency data and helping coordinate learning initiatives across multiple facilities.
“Coming from a hands-on health care background, it was a full-circle experience to see how the work happening at the Support Center empowers frontline teams to provide exceptional resident care,” she said.
Gonzalez plans to graduate in May 2027 and hopes to continue building her career in learning and development or people and culture, particularly in roles where she can support employee development, leadership, workplace culture and organizational effectiveness.
“As both a veteran and someone who has worked in frontline health care, I understand how much the decisions made at the administrative and leadership levels can affect the people doing the work every day,” she said. “I want to help organizations recognize the importance of psychological safety and understand how leadership, communication, training and organizational practices shape workplace culture. I hope to contribute to workplaces where employees feel safe speaking up, asking questions, learning from mistakes and contributing their ideas. To me, supporting employees is not separate from organizational performance – it is part of creating a stronger and more sustainable organization.”
Julia Pollitt, Reflective Roots Psychotherapy & Healing
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 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’s main roles during her internship 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.
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.
“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,” Pollitt said. “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.”
About Career Services
Career Services’ programs and events invite students to connect with employers and include the biannual Career Conference Week, the Built Environment Career Fair, Wisconsin BioHealth Summit, Government & Nonprofit Career Fair and Internship Draft Day.
CEIP received the 2024 annual Excellence & Innovation Stewards of Place award from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, “for its outstanding results and potential to influence and serve as a model for other institutions.”
UW-Stout Polytechnic offers more than 70 industry-aligned undergraduate and graduate degrees and 40 professional certificate programs. One of the 13 Universities of Wisconsin, UW-Stout Polytechnic is distinguished by applied learning and research, business and industry collaboration, and career-focused experiences to prepare students for success in engineering, technology, design, management and other fields.
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Photos
M.S. applied industrial/organizational psychology graduate student Aranthza Gonzalez at her internship at North Shore Healthcare.
B.S. psychology Julia Pollitt (right) with her internship supervisor, Reflective Roots owner and founder, psychotherapist Stephanie Larson.
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University of Wisconsin-Stout Polytechnic
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Abbey Goers Marketing Communications
- September 24, 2026
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