Broward County Public Schools (BCPS), as part of its Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration grant initiative, Collaborative Internship for All (CIA), is recruiting, training and coaching school counseling interns en route to placing them in high-needs school communities. In its efforts to promote CIA internally and externally, and recruit and retain graduate students, the grant team discovered that there was untapped talent among its interns.
The clinical grant coordinator began to have interns present on a topic of interest or need and identify their interests and talents during their weekly check-in meetings. CIA leadership and interns decided to focus on strategic marketing and communications promoting mental health awareness, resources and services, and CIA itself to help with future recruitment and retention. Specifically, the team planned and developed a periodic newsletter about interns, their work, and better engaging and building family capacities to support the work; and developed three additional resources:
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For more information, visit Collaborative Internship for All. Through its innovative utilization of its mental health interns’ interests and passions, BCPS’ CIA initiative has been able to create a social media presence and better connect with other departments within the district, as well as like-minded stakeholders and organizations who otherwise would not have known about the program. These strategic marketing and communication efforts have also generated interest in placing students in the program from other states. CIA interns have shared that their deeper involvement gives them opportunity to collaborate with other interns and school staff, cross-train, and take on leadership roles in building relationships and rapport with BCPS’ increasingly diverse students, families and communities.
You can also hear and read a news article that highlights this work:
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To hear directly from Sophia Loubeau, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Clinical Grant Facilitator, listen to her episode of In Session where she discusses the Collaborative Internship for All Program: Developing a Graduate Mental Health Internship Program with Sophia Loubeau | National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE)
Sophia Loubeau, LCSW
Clinical Grant Facilitator
Phone: 754-321-1788