Clinical Internship Opportunities
Gain valuable real-life experience in a range of clinical settings.
Interning at Columbia River Mental Health Services gives you comprehensive training at a high-level treatment facility.
What we offer clinical interns
Columbia River provides high-quality, evidence-based behavioral health services. We offer community behavioral health options for children, youth, families and adults, plus innovative outpatient opioid treatment at our NorthStar facility.
As a Columbia River intern, you will be learning to treat the whole person. Our focus is on healthy families and a healthy community.
Our licensed clinical training staff will provide supervision as you work closely with our therapists, clinicians, and support personnel to master therapeutic skills in community behavioral health.
Your internship includes training in:
Commitment: 10 to 20 hours per week , 6 months to 1 year
For a mental health internship, you must be currently enrolled in a Master’s degree program in counseling, social work, or a related field. For Substance Use Disorders (SUD) internships, you must be working on an AA or BSA degree. For nursing internships, you need to be currently enrolled in a nursing degree program.
Join our team as an intern!
Internship Placement Options
We have the opportunities for interns to work with clients from ages 5 to 65+. When you apply please specify if you want to be assigned to Adult Outpatient, Child and Family, Options (ages 14-24) or adult SUD programs.
The mental health challenges our clients face range from mood disorders to serious and persistent mental illnesses. Assignments will be based on a mutual agreement between intern and supervisor to ensure a good fit with student’s skill level and professional goals.
Getting started with your internship
Please email your résumé along with what type of internship you are interested in (Adult Outpatient, Child and Family, Options and/or Substance Use Disorders) to: Jenny White at jwhite@crmhs.org.
Questions?
Contact Jenny White
Clinical Training Manager
DO NOT SEND RECORDS REQUEST TO THIS EMAIL
Clinical Internships FAQ
Per CRMHS policies and procedures, CRMHS employees or volunteers desiring to receive services will not be admitted to or provided services in CRMHS programs to ensure successful therapeutic relationships and protection of Individual privacy. If a staff member or volunteer is seeking services within the agency, the staff member will be provided a list of other resources in the community and strongly encouraged to seek services at another agency.
Yes, every applicant will have three reference checks completed as well as an extensive background check.
Please email your résumé along with what type of internship you are interested in (Adult Outpatient, Child and Family, Options and/or Substance Use Disorders) to: Clinical Training Manager Jenny White at jwhite@crmhs.org.
This depends on which program you are assigned to. For a placement in Adult Outpatient, you will be working with clients aged 18 and over. The Child & Family program serves children aged 5-18. The Options program serves youth and young adults aged 14-24. The clinical issues our clients face range from mood disorders to serious and persistent mental illnesses. Assignment of clients will be based on a mutual agreement between intern and supervisor to ensure a good fit with the student’s skill level and professional goals.
Individual supervision requirements for mental health interns is one hour per week, but students can also attend group supervision weekly if needed (CBT and/or DBT). SUD interns are supervised weekly for their first 50 hours or as directed by the approved clinical supervisor.
10 to 20 hours per week (16-20 highly encouraged) and at least two days per week. Scheduling can be flexible.
1 year commitment preferred, no less than a 6 month commitment accepted.
We offer a limited number of unpaid internships for Masters Students in counseling, social work, or other related fields in our Adult Outpatient, Child & Family, Options, and SUD programs. We have internships for Nursing students in our NorthStar SUD program. These internships can be tailored to meet your school’s requirements.
For a mental health internship, you must be currently enrolled in a Master’s degree program in counseling, social work, or a related field (however, our openings for MSW students are extremely limited). For an SUD internship, you must be working on an AA or BSA degree.
You will:
- Learn to identify and define your theoretical orientation in your work with clients, while engaging with other professionals and learning different approaches to case conceptualization;
- Develop critical thinking skills that help you choose the most effective interventions and tailor them to a clients’ needs;
- Enhance your understanding of professional ethics and boundaries;
- Develop your individual, group therapy, and crisis intervention skills;
- Gain experience in working with diverse populations including but not limited to age, race, gender, sexual orientation and culture, which may include working with interpreters;
- Learn organizational skills that will help you manage your caseload;
- Learn how to complete required documentation using an Electronic Medical Record System, such as progress notes, treatment plans, and treatment reviews;
- Learn about resources in the community that support our clients and how to coordinate care with outside providers;
- Develop a better sense of both your clinical strengths and limits;
- And last but definitely not least, become part of one of our highly skilled, highly committed, CRMHS teams!!
