The Y Social Impact Center is the social services branch of YMCA of Greater Seattle (YGS). The mission of the Y Social Impact Center is to accelerate young people’s ability to build safe, successful, and happy lives. Every year, we serve 5,000 children, youth, young adults, and families across King County with programs that aim to strengthen young people’s ability to develop to their fullest potential through four strategies: reducing risk factors; navigating systems towards successful life transition; ensuring stability, safety and wellness in times of crisis; and building competencies and social capital. The Y Social Impact Center’s programs include housing, behavioral health, foster care licensing, violence prevention, education, and employment. Many of the young people we serve have had involvement in the foster care, criminal justice system, and/or homelessness systems.

For generalist applicants (1 will be selected), this internship would provide the opportunity to participate in multiple roles on a WISe (Wraparound with Intensive Services) team over the course of the school year. Starting out in the Care Coordination role, students would be able to engage in case management services including but not limited to leading Child and Family Team Meetings and coordinating services for families and youth on a weekly basis. We envision the student getting to know 1-2 families through this care coordination lens in the first quarter, and then in later quarters taking more of a lead role in coordinating care via meeting facilitation, team collaboration, advocacy, and more. By the end of the practicum, the student should be able to complete CANS assessments, lead team meetings, and coordinate care for their assigned clients with minimal support from their task supervisor. If the generalist student wishes and is able, there may also be an opportunity to shift into a clinical role on the same cases; this might look like anything from shadowing the assigned therapist on the case to being shadowed by the assigned therapist by the end of the internship.

For specialist applicants (1-2 will be selected), we would consider starting the student in a Clinical role from the beginning. In a clinical role, students could anticipate shadowing the Therapists assigned to their cases during their weekly therapy sessions, participating in writing mental health assessments and individual service plans, collaborating with members of the clients' families and teams, and when appropriate, taking the lead in providing weekly therapeutic services. Eventually, we would expect the student to independently carry 3-4 cases with some minimal support from task and/or field supervisor(s).

For context, WISe is an intensive, voluntary, community-based mental health service provided by at least three members of a team in the roles of care coordinator, mental health therapist, and peer. (In some cases, there is both a youth peer and a parent peer partner). It is a Medicaid-funded service.

It is crucial in a WISe practice for teams to collaborate with the systems in which clients and their families reside. This internship would provide students with a significant amount of experience interacting with schools, the child welfare system, the juvenile justice system, and systems supporting housing, to name a few.

Within the Y Social Impact Center, students may choose to participate in our various employee resource groups to evaluate our work and implement new systems to become more aligned with our values as an organization.

The Y Social Impact Center has a strong advocacy lens and interns would have the opportunity to engage in the advocacy committee if they so choose.

Y membership, some financial assistance for trainings, mileage and expense reimbursement.

None for generalist. For specialist, supervised clinical experience preferred.

Contact Katie Mraz, Clinical Director of Intensive Services:
kmraz@seattleymca.org
(206) 327-1271