The mission of Center for Human Services is to strengthen the community through counseling, education, and support to children, youth, adults, and families.  CHS provides mental health treatment to children, youth, and families who are experiencing difficulties in their lives. We utilize a strengths-based, family-centered, trauma-informed , culturally relevant approach, and an array of strategies to support our clients in achieving their goals.

Internship Opportunities in the Mental Health Department:

• Office-based Mental Health:  We provide mental health treatment to children, youth, and families who are experiencing difficulties in their lives.  We work with such issues as depression, anxiety, trauma, grief and loss, ADD/ADHD, divorce and separations as well as other family disruptions and transitions.  We use a strengths-based approach and strive to tailor our services to the particular strengths and needs of each of our client. Office Based Interns are located at our 148th/Shoreline and Edmonds Clinics.

• School-based Mental Health: In providing mental health treatment to children and youth, often the easiest place to meet with our clients is at their schools. Based mostly out of our Shoreline/Edmonds locations, school-based interns will be assigned to various schools in several school districts such as Edmonds, Everett, Northshore, Shoreline and Mukilteo School Districts. Interns/staff will be assigned one to two schools, and they spend the full day at one school; there is no traveling back and forth during the day unless there are in person meetings off campus. Emphasis of this internship is providing structured, systemic care for clients within their schools, connecting with families, educators, and school staff to provide well-rounded supports for the client.

Interns in the Mental Health Department can be part of our Office Based Teams either in Shoreline, Bothell or Edmonds; or can be part of the School Based Team based out of Edmonds office serving Mukilteo, Edmonds, Shoreline, Northshore or Everett School Districts. The first month of internship is focused on providing training and structure to help you begin your journey as a clinician. In a “typical” 20-hour-a-week, you will spend approximately 60% in direct service, 20% in indirect service delivery such as documentation/client files and 20% in training and supervision. A typical internship caseload will consist of 12-15 clients.

Please note that interns will not be guaranteed supervision with an Approved Clinical Supervisor as these supervisors typically work with our employees, however interns will be supervised by fully licensed clinicians. MSW interns may be supervised by licensed MHC weekly and or a MSW supervisor who may or may not be fully licensed.

Interns are embedded in systems when they become part of the School Based Program which may give more opportunities to influence those systems and/or groups of people.

Interns are embedded in systems when working as therapists which may give more opportunities to influence those systems at a larger scale, indirectly.

Eligibility
• Students studying for their MHC (Mental Health Counseling), MACP (Master of Counseling Psychology), MFT (Marriage and Family Therapy), and MSW (Master of Social Work) are all eligible to apply.
• CHS and the applicant’s school must have a signed learning agreement completed by the start of their internship start date.
• Interns are expected to carry a caseload of 10 - 15 clients, and work a minimum of 20 hours per week for at least 10 months.

Internship Application Process:
Please fill out application and submit with resume to MHinternships@chs-nw.org
Group interviews will be scheduled in March and April
And offers go out one to two weeks after interviews
Most internships will begin in the fall (August/September) to begin training and coincide with schools schedules

NOTE: Our internships will follow CHS' schedule and not UW's class schedule (Internships have a Fall start (late August first week of September), and end at the end June, with the option to extend for 12 months.

Please contact us at MHInternships@chs-nw.org to inquire about mental health internships.