King County Best Starts for Kids is a King County voter-approved initiative to support every baby born or child raised in King County to reach adulthood happy, healthy, safe, and thriving. Through comprehensive supports from prenatal development to adulthood, Best Starts for Kids catalyzes strong starts in early childhood and sustains those gains as kids progress to adulthood, launching King County’s kids on a path to lifelong health and well-being.

To date, Best Starts for Kids has served more than half of a million King County children, youth, young adults, and families in partnership with more than five hundred community-based organizations and is the most comprehensive approach to childhood development in the United States.

As part of the Liberation and Healing Strategy within Best Starts for Kids 5-24 investments, The Community Well-Being Initiative builds community capacity to share resources and deliver culturally relevant programming on emotional health and wellbeing in order to reduce stigma associated with mental health topics and reinforce compassion, connection, and care in communities.

The Social Work student will engage in direct practice by supporting a community led coalition that our team is involved in as a major partner. The South King Emotional Wellness League (SKEWL) addresses the emotional well-being of historically marginalized communities in South King County most impacted by Covid-19 and police violence. Our mission is to build up more BIPOC provider pathways and reduce barriers for the underserved residents of Washington. We are committed to initiating innovative solutions that do not contribute to systemic inequities and oppression.

As a practicum student you will provide 1-1 mental health support to BIPOC community, attend coalition meetings, coordinate volunteer providers, support internal and external partnerships, and engage with community members at community events.

As a student you will also support our team internally within Best Starts for Kids by helping to refine and build our resource hub for community mental health needs. Examples will include updating mental health resource guides so that we can share them with community, updating website content to be more assessable to mental health needs, supporting Best Starts for Kids partners in mental health resource needs, mapping out mental health resources for community partners in the community, and collaborating with the other strategies within Best Starts for Kids to create fun, innovative approaches to community care.

In the past interns have worked on focus groups, evaluation projects for messaging about mental health on social media and have worked with partners such as UW’s Behavioral Health Institute and NAMI to plan and convened events for BIPOC mental health professionals.

In this role a student will be able to engage in macro work by engaging in policy meetings to create shared policy goals across King County relating to youth mental health, championing a strengths-based approach for mental health, engaging in evaluation of the work of the Community Well Being Initiative and the South King Emotional Wellness League, and supporting policy work.

- Free trainings in evidence-based modalities of choice.
- Access to free professional development provided for all King County staff and interns.
- Free trainings and workshops.
- Flexible schedule
- Creative freedom for tasks and learning goals

CRITERIA:

- Students must be enrolled in a Master of Social Work graduate program throughout the employment period.
- Applicants must reside in Washington state throughout the employment period.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR STUDENTS WHO:

- Have an interest in the public sector, and are considering a professional career in evaluation, health promotion, public policy, or another related social services field.
- Are committed to being anti-racist.
- Are committed to make change among marginalized community members including LGBTQTSI and BIPOC communities.
- Have experience or interest in any of the following areas: mental health, facilitation, evaluation, coordinating programs and events, supporting community members, public health.
- Are proactive learners who are curious about how to create and improve upon processes.
- Can work autonomously and on a team, where they’re willing to pitch in to help team members wherever they can.
- Can connect and work collaboratively with internal and external groups from diverse backgrounds.
- Are proficient with the Microsoft Office Suite, and proficient with (or willing to learn) Microsoft Teams and SharePoint.
- Can work and thrive in a virtual setting.
- Have predictable and reliable attendance.
- Have strong time management, communication, and writing skills

Email resume and cover letter to Makayla Wright, mawright@kingcounty.gov. Please include the Title of this position on the subject line of the email.