Adventures of a 56-year-old intern

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After 30 years as a journalist, I recently started work as a pastoral care intern. Learning to hot-desk was hard. Talking to people, a joy.

 

Armed with my newly minted security access card, I walked up to the access gateway and tapped my pass. The light flashed green. The doors slid open.

 

It hit me then. I was legit in this organisation. 

 

The pass had my name, my department and the word “Intern”. 

 

After 30 years as a Straits Times journalist, I was beginning a new chapter of my life.

 

Since moving to Perth two years ago, I have been figuring out what to do with my life, post-career. Writing and editing, or editorial training, are natural options. But I had settled in Perth, away from my natural hinterland Singapore. Here in Australia, I am a migrant with no contacts and no networks. My commercial value had plummeted from quite high in Singapore, where I am known and know a lot of people, to negligible in Australia, where very few know me.

 

It took me a few months to adjust to the new reality. Then began the process of discerning what’s next. Time to dust off long-delayed dreams to pursue my other interests.

 

Earlier in 2025, I embarked on a part-time course in pastoral care. As part of the training, we are attached to a healthcare organisation one to two days a week. This was how I became an “intern” as part of a pastoral care team.

 

My job is to talk to people coming through the healthcare organisation about how they are. Pastoral care caters to the spiritual and psychological needs of people. In a healthcare setting, these could be residents in a care home or patients at a clinic or hospital. They could be caregivers or family members. They could also be staff. Pastoral care team members provide a listening ear for people who want to talk through their feelings or want some emotional support. They may also develop group sessions to facilitate peer support.

 

In Australia, pastoral care is a developed field of work. In a school, pastoral care staff, who may also be called chaplains, care for students alongside teachers, social workers and psychologists. Some sports teams also have pastoral care workers. It’s catching on in the mining sector, with employers recognising the virtue of having a team dedicated to the well-being of staff. Pastoral care is spiritual, but may not be affiliated to any particular religion. 

 

Beginning anew 

 

My first weeks as a pastoral care intern were immensely stressful. 

 

I had to find my way around the maze of buildings and rooms. Way-finding has never been my strength, and I feared getting lost.

 

It was also disorienting not having a desk or room to work from. I had to place my bags in a locker in the common area. There was no lock, which the prudent Singaporean in me found unnerving. Eventually, I developed a system of leaving my valuables in the car and carrying just essential items to the office. 

 

I missed having my own workspace. At The Straits Times, I had a nice room to myself, with a window, at the mezzanine level. Now, I was an intern jostling for space and time on a “hot desk” computer, in a room with half a dozen youngsters and others.

 

Waiting for computer time was stressful. We had to log our interactions in the computer system each day. At the beginning, it would take me more time to write up the file notes than it took me to talk to someone – so a 10-minute conversation would see me spend 15 minutes struggling to input all the relevant information into the system, in the correct order. I made many mistakes and had to delete and recreate entries. My experienced team members were very encouraging, correcting wrong notes and assuring me things would get easier. 

 

The young people around me in the computer room, who were from different departments, were helpful. One day, one of them took pity on this mature intern struggling to print out a document and helped me adjust the computer settings, so the correct printer would be the default. (I think she also wanted me to finish my work so she could take over the computer to get her own work done.) The correct settings made things easier. 

 

This week, I finally managed to print a document uneventfully on the first try. I felt a sense of accomplishment. Maybe I’ll get the hang of it one day.

 

I also had to deal with some of my own emotions in this process. I felt a loss in significance, as my position on the organisational social totem pole was near the bottom as an intern. Luckily, Australia is a very egalitarian society where people relate to you as you are, generally ignoring age and job title. The other day, I discussed a case with several members of the care team and realised that everyone had spoken to me and to one another as equals. I had not been made to feel like an “intern”. 

 

I suppose I didn’t behave like one either, as I had sought out all the relevant people to talk to, to understand the situation better, and had engaged them respectfully. This was where my journalist’s training had come in useful – I am used to seeking out information and finding the correct people to speak to.

 

Lived experience 

 

Being a senior intern is an interesting experience.

 

I am a newbie in the organisation and need to learn from scratch how to get around, how to get the computers working, and even how to order lunch from the cafeteria. I know nobody at the workplace, except for my fellow senior intern. The other day, I walked down the corridor and someone called me by name. “Hi,” said the person, using my Christian name. My heart surged at this small milestone in my internship journey. 

 

While I am a newbie in many things, as a mature person with decades of professional and personal experience, I am also an old hand in other ways.

 

I draw from experience to build rapport, to ask questions to get a conversation going, to listen to the emotions not expressed. I pick up on non-verbal cues. I affirm what people are saying, reflect their emotions back to themselves, and summarise and paraphrase what they are saying so they feel heard. 

 

The other day, I was talking to a person whose active life was halted after an injury. As we talked and shared, I drew on my own experience as a cancer survivor. The words flew back and forth. Some tears were shed. We meditated together. When I left, an hour had passed. 

 

It was the 23rd anniversary of my cancer diagnosis. Was it just coincidence that that day, of all days, I would spend time with someone in a similar predicament as I was decades ago? Cancer had paused my life, and led me down a different path that would eventually culminate in me sitting there as a pastoral care intern, talking to the person. Perhaps their injury would lead them down a path that would similarly transform their life. 

 

It is very early days, but I am already finding it immensely meaningful to listen to, and accompany, people who are going through the healthcare system.  

 

In Singapore, a rapidly ageing society, there are many people with decades of experience in various fields who are stepping off the career ladder. Many are able-bodied, and would like to remain engaged in part-time, consulting work, or as volunteers. My newfound experience as a senior intern got me wondering if companies can offer senior internships to help tap the contributions of this group of people.

 

Unlike regular paid work, internships can be time-limited, allowing both parties to exit the arrangement gracefully. An internship also recognises that the senior person, while experienced, may need re-socialisation.

 

In February, ST reported on the example of two senior interns at a Malaysian start-up that sells pimple dot patches, called Dododots. Mr Leslie Mah, 62, and Ms Loh Kit Lan, 55, were made full-timers, after a year of working as “senior interns”. Mr Mah became a warehouse manager, while Ms Loh was reportedly a whizz at paperwork. Their experience, when shared on social media, led netizens to recall the 2015 Hollywood movie The Intern, which had Robert De Niro play an avuncular 70-year-old opposite a young start-up founder played by Anne Hathaway.

 

Plenty of research shows that having older team members is beneficial to businesses. Older employees, whether intern, part-time or full-time, tend to be more stable workers, have better emotional intelligence to manage work and relationships, have stronger work ethics, and come with networks and experience. Multi-generational workforces are also reported to be more resilient and more responsive to fast-changing consumer trends. 

 

To work well, senior internship arrangements need a supportive environment. The supervisors, and other colleagues in the same department, are crucial. I am fortunate to have caring colleagues who are willing to spend time with me and my fellow senior intern, to guide us and to help us fix computer glitches. Our team includes full-time staff, part-time staff and staff who work across different sites. The staff have become used to a rotating roster of people coming in and out, and take newbies in their stride. This creates a more fluid structure where newbies like me are not made to feel like intruders, but are part of the overall team whose contribution is welcome. 

 

The other day, I asked one of the experienced staff if he could accompany me to see a young man I was due to visit, as I was worried about not being able to overcome intercultural difficulties. I had “shadowed” him the last time and learnt from it. “Can I shadow you again this week?” I asked a little plaintively. His response startled me. “No, I think it’s time you flew solo.” His manner was mild, but his words were firm. I gulped. Okay.

 

I straightened my shoulders and steeled myself. I went to the person’s room, knocked and went in. 

 

Fifteen minutes and a good conversation later, I emerged beaming. There will be many more things to learn on this pastoral care journey where I am now an intern. But he was right. I can start to fly solo. 

 

• Chua Mui Hoong is senior columnist with The Straits Times.

 

 

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Reproduced with permission.
Photo: The Straits Times
Written By: Chua Mui Hoong

 

 

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