09/09/2026
At "Healing Nebraska: Talent Meets Need," about 200 UNL students joined professionals in mental health, psychology, and education to learn about career pathways and pressing issues.
The event was a culmination of nine summer internships in which UNL Honors students worked across the state in roles supporting behavioral health initiatives.
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Grace Frodermann, psychology, worked with Community Alliance, helping individuals experiencing mental health and substance use challenges achieve their potential to live and work in a community of mutual support.
“I got to understand much more vividly what it’s like to have a severe mental illness and see that recovery is possible, no matter how hard it looks at the beginning,” she said.
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Pallas Splattstoesser, psychology, worked with CenterPointe and said the internship changed her understanding of behavioral health.
"Mental health is shown as an individual struggle that one person goes through alone," she said. "And that's just not true. I've learned that when we give and show commitment to the community, they give back."
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Andrew Moyer, biological sciences, said the experience as an intern with NAMI Nebraska inspired exactly that commitment. Moyer focused on providing care for underserved populations, such as rural residents, immigrants and non-English speakers. He developed a people-centered approach to healthcare.
"My experiences with building trust and mutual understanding, integrating communities into the mental health sphere, and attending to the person first and the disease second, profoundly inspire the physician I hope to become," he said.
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Read more about the event and the Honors program collaboration: https://go.unl.edu/oia0
UNL Department of Psychology Nebraska School of Biological Sciences Nebraska Honors
