Internship Opportunity – Advocate Aurora University Student Assistance Program (USAP) at the University of St. Francis (USF)

Advocate Aurora University Student Assistance Program (USAP) at the University of St. Francis (USF) has a current internship opening for 2023-2024. Detailed information about this internship opportunity can be found below.

Please direct any questions to Meghan Bahr at meghan.bahr@aah.org

Welcome to the Advocate Aurora University Student Assistance Program (USAP) at the University of St. Francis (USF)

The primary goal of this internship is for interns to develop competency and confidence in basic psychosocial assessment and intervention skills. These skills will be learned and refined through direct experience with clients, didactic instruction, individual supervision, and group supervision.

Section I: Ideal Applicant

Master’s level interns for USAP located at USF must have the ability to work autonomously, be self-directed, and work collaboratively as a member of a team. Interns should be interested in providing both individual and group therapy, utilizing both in person and virtual modalities, and be motivated to apply brief, solution focused interventions.  Additionally, internship opportunities at USAP take both a developmental and experiential approach to training; therefore, interns must be willing to focus on both personal and professional growth. As the University of St. Francis has various locations in the Joliet area, the intern must have access to transportation to meet the location needs of this internship.

Section II: Applying for USAP Internship

We require a cover letter, transcript, curriculum vitae and three letters of recommendation with all applications. At least one letter of recommendation must come from a supervisor who is familiar with and can speak about your clinical work and experience. To apply or further information, please email Meghan Bahr, LCSW at meghan.bahr@aah.org.

Section III: Overview of the Internship

This 750-hour internship is structured to train a social work or psychology Master’s-level intern in providing mental health services in a university setting as part of Advocate Aurora’s USAP. The intern will have the opportunity to be exposed to a wide array of clinical and didactic experiences being part of Advocate Aurora and the University of St. Francis (which is a small, Catholic, liberal arts university). The internship utilizes the practitioner-scholar model of clinical training and service delivery. The practitioner-scholar training model emphasizes the integration and application of critical thinking and skillful reflection across a broad range of experiential activities.

This internship is designed to challenge the intern to grow professionally and personally into the role of a mental health clinician. We incorporate theoretically based, self-reflective, and culturally competent practice, and encourage the intern to meet high ethical standards as clinicians working as part of Advocate Aurora and within the university setting. The intern can expect to receive rigorous supervision and mentoring to become:

  1. A strong generalist clinician who can confidently and flexibly move between multiple roles a general practitioner holds.  This also includes the ability to evaluate how various economic, environmental, social, and spiritual factors influence mental health and wellness.
  2. A self-reflective clinician who utilizes their selected theoretical orientation in conceptualizing client issues, clinical practice, social identity issues, and interventions.
  3. Able to develop and articulate a special interest and transform this interest into micro and macro level interventions.

Training Experiences

The specific objectives of the internship program through USAP:

  1. To train ethical and competent future mental health clinicians who are capable of functioning independently.
  2. To expose the intern to a variety of activities and services that the USAP provides.
  3. To build skills in development of therapeutic relationships, diagnosis, treatment planning, and case management.
  4. To develop skills and expand therapeutic abilities in a variety of therapeutic modalities, including intake assessment, crisis intervention, individual and group therapy, and psychoeducational seminars and programming.
  5. To help increase self-awareness, including the ability to identify strengths and opportunities for growth.
  6. To provide a training experience that will facilitate the intern’s understanding and appreciation for the need to engage in culturally competent work
  7. To provide experience in consultation and collaboration with other professionals on a university campus, including Residential Life, Athletics, Career Services, Student Affairs, Institutional Diversity, and Peer Ministry.
  8. To identify and develop an area of specialization based on the intern’s interests.

Generalist Practice

The primary goal of this internship is to assist the intern in their development of becoming a skilled generalist practitioner who can address and advocate for the USAP clients with various mental health concerns. The intern will increase awareness of student development and mental health issues. The intern will develop competencies in multiple clinical venues that USAP  provides, such as initial clinical screenings, crisis management, individual and group therapy, outreach and consultation, psychoeducational seminar programming, and training administration.

Specialty Focus

In addition to a generalist practice emphasis, the intern is expected to develop and demonstrate a specialization that the intern is interested in cultivating. This specialization will also encompass individual clinical interventions as well as focus on working collaboratively with other departments on-campus such as the Office of Institutional Diversity, Student Affairs, Residence Life, Peer Ministry, and University of St. Francis student organizations.

Self-Awareness

This internship stresses the importance of the development of the skills needed to engage in therapeutic relationships and assist clients in making the changes they desire to make. The intern will be encouraged to work on their personal growth and self-awareness with regards to being observant and sensitive to diversity issues throughout the internship. The intern will be provided continuous supervision both individually and in group format to support their clinical, personal, and professional development. Supervised experience will be provided in therapy and counseling services, crisis intervention, psychoeducational seminars, program development and evaluation, and professional clinical and administrative issues.

Community-Based Interventions

USAP actively serves USF by identifying and creating initiatives geared towards addressing various health and wellness topics presenting on campus. USAP strives to provide students, professors, administration, and staff with information, education, and consultation on various wellness issues such as substance use, anger management, effective communication and conflict resolution, managing stress, boundaries etc. through the course of the academic year. The intern will gain experience and skill in working with systems and groups to further educate and create a positive impact in the USF and Joliet communities.

Call for Submissions – Learning Sciences Graduate Student Conference

The 8th Annual Learning Sciences Graduate Student Conference

The conference will be held this year at University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa from October 13-15, 2023. Proposals for sessions are due by June 7th. This years’ theme is Thriving in the Wilds.

Please see the Call for Proposals for more details or find it here on the website. The goal with this year’s theme is to build on last year’s focus of resulting challenges from the pandemic with a new perspective on thriving– as individuals, graduate students, community members, and researchers. We also encourage you to follow us on social media, where you can see more regular updates and share within your networks!

Participate in Research Study!

Counseling students, please see the message below regarding an opportunity to participate in a research study.

“Hello,

I am a doctoral candidate in Counselor Education and Supervision at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I am conducting a quantitative study on the relationship between an individual supervisor’s cultural humility and engagement of cultural opportunities on the strength of the supervisory relationship.

The study has the potential to assist supervisors and counselor educators to understand the cultural processes in the supervisory relationship. The research can potentially assist supervisors in cultivating cultural humility and preventing behaviors that can harm the supervisory relationship and/or the supervisee.

If you are a counseling graduate student or provisionally licensed counselor that is currently under individual supervision please consider completing this survey and contributing to my study. The responses will be confidential and will take 15-20 minutes.

Thank you for considering volunteering your valuable time to this study.

It would be great if you would announce it to others who may qualify.”

Survey Link

Additionally, the IRB approval letter can be found here.

Internship Opportunity – Project STRIDE

Project STRIDE: Grant Supported School-Based Internship Opportunity

 

Dear all second-year students entering Practicum/Internship next year, 

We wanted to let you know of an exciting opportunity for those of you who are going on to practicum/internship starting in the Fall. STRIDE is a US Department of Education funded joint project between the Counseling Program and the Department of Psychology. As you can see in the flyer, the program provides training, tuition support and a stipend to eligible trainees who wish to serve students in high-need elementary/middle schools in Chicago. We plan to hold an information session via Zoom on May 17th at 12pm. Please attend if you are eligible even if you already have an internship placement. Thank you!

 

You may complete the STRIDE trainee application found here before the info session: STRIDE Trainee Application 2023_24 AY. If you plan to attend, please email us at projectstride1@gmail.com.

 

More information can be found here: PROJECT STRIDE 5.5.23

Senior Interview Day May 19th!

Are you still searching for a position after graduation or an internship for this summer? 

You don’t want to miss Senior Interview Day on 5/19/23! Check out these education-related opportunities with employers who are looking to hire now.  

Employers will be doing OPEN OR PRE-SELECTED interviews.  

  • If you are interested in a position that involves a PRE-SELECT interview, you must apply for the role by 5/10/21.
  • If you are interested in a position that involves an OPEN interview, you must apply for the role by 5/17/21.
Employer Job Titles – Click the link to go to the job posting and apply Type of Interview
ACE Amandla Charter HS Math Teacher Open
ACE Amandla Charter HS Special Education Teacher Open
ACE Amandla Charter HS Paraprofessional Open
ACE Amandla Charter HS Physical Education/Health Teacher Open
College Possible Starting August 2023- AmeriCorps College Access and Success Coaches-Chicago, IL Open
Illinois Student Assistance Commission ISACorps Community Outreach Worker Open
KGH Autism Services Behavior Technician Preselect

How do I prepare?

  1. Research companies and positions. Review their Handshake profiles, websites and social media accounts.  Rather than spending time asking employers questions that have easy-to-find answers, focus on discussing how your skills and experiences match what they are looking for.
  2. Check out the next Senior Season: Job Search Lab on May 9th from 11:30am – 1:30pm.  Register here via Handshake.
  3. Prepare your elevator pitchAn elevator pitch is a 30-60 second introduction that should summarize who you are, what you do, and why you would be a perfect candidate.
  4. Update your resume with our Peer Career Coaches – check out Zoom Drop-In Coaching.
  5. Practice!  Schedule an appointment with a Career Advisor to ask questions, practice interview questions and prepare yourself for Senior Interview Day.
  6. Check out the great resources in our Career Library!

Should you have any questions and/or concerns, please contact Donyiel Crocker at dcrocker4@depaul.edu.

Internship Opportunity – Essentially You Counseling and Wellness Services

Essentially You Counseling and Wellness Services currently has an internship opening for 2023-2024. The intern would obtain their hours primarily at the Bloomingdale location, but would also have the opportunity to obtain some hours at the Bolingbrook location as well.

Interested students should submit a resume, cover letter, and letters of recommendation to Kelly McCauley at  kellymccauley@essentiallyyoucounseling.com.

Internship Opportunity – Project STRIDE

Project STRIDE: Grant Supported School-Based Internship Opportunity

 

Dear all second-year students entering Practicum/Internship next year, 

We wanted to let you know of an exciting opportunity for those of you who are going on to practicum/internship starting in the Fall. STRIDE is a US Department of Education funded joint project between the Counseling Program and the Department of Psychology. As you can see in the flyer, the program provides training, tuition support and a stipend to eligible trainees who wish to serve students in high-need elementary/middle schools in Chicago. We plan to hold an information session via Zoom on May 17th at 12pm. Please attend if you are eligible even if you already have an internship placement. Thank you!

 

You may complete the STRIDE trainee application found here before the info session: STRIDE Trainee Application 2023_24 AY. If you plan to attend, please email us at projectstride1@gmail.com.

 

More information can be found here: PROJECT STRIDE 5.5.23