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 Ģ������ƵStories      July 21, 2025

By Cam Adams

Landey Green does it all.

She’s a driven psychology student at Ģ������Ƶ and a tireless runner, competing for both the Catamount women’s track and field and cross country teams. The summer season is usually a time to wind down for student-athletes, but not Green.

She’s still at it.

Green is working not one, but two internships this summer near Tampa, Florida. One is with the victim advocacy group at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and the other is with Selah Freedom, a faith-based anti-human trafficking nonprofit.

“It's been amazing,” she said. “I had no idea what was going to happen because it's some pretty hard core stuff that's coming at me that I had never dealt with before, and it has honestly been a blessing, like I have loved every second of it. Everybody that I've worked with has been great.” 

Both of Green’s internships involved something she’s very passionate about: helping people. Working with the local sheriff office’s victim advocacy group, she helps victims find resources like where to find therapy or court-related stuff through different mediums.

Sometimes she’s going to the actual crime scenes to reach out, and other times, she’s checking up them over the phone along with the victim advocates.

The Ģ������Ƶsenior also tags along with a licensed clinician for “Knock ‘n Talks” where they knock on the doors of dementia patients, patients with suicidal thoughts or anyone else who might need help to get them in touch with resources.

And Ģ������Ƶhas given Green the resources to be successful in those situations.

“Western has been very open to constantly making sure that we have healthy communication and healthy ways of thinking,” Green said.

“I really just think Western, in general, with the classes, learning about the mental illnesses, that's been great also because it's really helpful to understand what certain people might be going through.”

As an intern at Selah Freedom, Green works at a temporary housing facility, but isn’t on the go as much as her other internship.

She’s just there for the victims.

“We would just talk to them,” Green said. “We allowed them to open up if they wanted to, never pushed anything, just kind of being there as another outlet for them, talking through things while we were also learning how to appropriately address the situations and talk through things and know how to deal and help with trauma.”

Though the two internships have kept Green busy this summer, it’s not the workload that’s a lot.

“It's more so kind of the mental work of it because these are pretty hard core areas of internships,” Green said. “I'm not just going in there and doing computer work. I'm going in there and hearing trauma, so it's like that part of it is a lot, but the workload actually isn't terrible.”

But Green knows this kind of work is her calling. After her time at WCU, she plans on getting her master’s in social work so that she can continue to do what she’s loved most about this summer.

“It has really fulfilled what my wants are for the future, and I love helping people,” Green said. “That's just always been my thing, and that's why I want to go into social work.

“I really think that, in general, it has really fulfilled every aspect of my life, made me feel like I have a sense of purpose, that I can actually make a difference in at least one person's life, and that's really all I can ask for.”