Autism Day Treatment Internship Fall 2024

AGENCY AND PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

St. David's Center is regional leader in child and family development. We offer therapeutic, educational, and support services, including mental health and pediatric therapies, autism treatment, home visiting, an inclusive preschool, and disability services. Over 4,000 children and families access these services at our two early intervention centers in Minneapolis and Minnetonka, more than 30 partner sites, and hundreds of homes across the community.

We provide a continuum of relationship-based mental health services for nearly 2,000 children ages birth to adolescence and their families, including those impacted by trauma and early adversity, engaging them at home, in the community, and in center-based treatment programs.

Our Autism Day Treatment Program is an intensive day treatment service for preschool children (ages 2-6) diagnosed with autism or other neurodevelopment disorder, aimed at improving social communication, emotional regulation, and interpersonal interaction. Clients attend the program daily to receive relationship-based group therapy, as well as speech and occupational therapy. All therapies are integrated and work collaboratively within the treatment classroom. Mental health therapists utilize the SCERTS treatment framework as well as the Greenspan Floortime intervention models. Families in the program receive a variety of family support services, including in-home family therapy.

We love to hire our successful interns! St. David's Center has a long tradition of investing in the professional development of our mental health employees, starting with the interns we hire. All post-graduate clinical trainees receive free licensure supervision as part of our benefit package and evidence of our investment in professional development.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES:

There are four internship opportunities within the Autism Day Treatment program. Interns are required to be present within the day treatment classroom a minimum of three days per week, (20 hours per week). Morning and Afternoon shifts available (Hours are 7:30 to 12:30 or 11:30 to 4:30). Students will be matched with a morning or afternoon treatment team, depending on the needs of the program at the time of hire. We do our best to accommodate preferred schedules.

Foundation and Clinical Students will:

· Work alongside a multidisciplinary team of professionals.

· Learn to support, then plan, then facilitate a treatment day.

· Learn therapeutic Interventions that target social and emotional development.

· Co-facilitate in-home therapy with our children and their families in order to support family needs and the generalization of skills.

· Create individualized treatment plans and complete daily and weekly documentation.

· Observe assessments and may attend and/or facilitate family and sibling support groups.

In addition, Clinical Students will have the opportunity to:

·Participate in extended DC 0-5 diagnostic assessments with the program supervisor.

·Collaborate on the development and implementation of individualized treatment plans.

· Attend and co-facilitate in-center or in-home family therapy sessions.

· Learn standard outcome measurement tools (e.g. ECSII, CBCL).

· Learn treatment models such as SCERTS and Greenspan Floortime.

Multidisciplinary learning opportunities may also include:

· Observing occupational and speech therapy sessions.

· Observing outpatient diagnostic assessments.

· Observing typical child development in our Early Childhood Education Program.

· Opportunity for DEI focused work, such as BIPOC reflective group participation, DEI panels and meetings, etc

SUPERVISION AND TRAINING:

Students will receive individual reflective supervision every week and will participate in daily check-ins, weekly clinical consultation meetings, weekly therapeutic day treatment curriculum planning meetings with the team. In addition, students will have the opportunity to participate in program and agency trainings on a wide variety of relevant topics. Students are encouraged to bring in and integrate readings and assignments from their academic courses.

STUDENT QUALITIES DESIRED FOR EFFECTIVE WORK IN THIS PROGRAM:

Master's Level:

· Must be enrolled in a Master's Degree Program for Social Work, Clinical Counseling or Marriage and Family Therapy.

Bachelors Level:

· Must be enrolled in a Bachelor's Program in a related field.

Work or life experience with children. Ability to take direction and work as a team member, strong communication and written skills, ability to establish positive, respectful working relationships with a diverse population of adults and children. Flexibility, creativity and the ability to think on your feet and problem solve. Interns must be able to participate in a fast-paced, physically active classroom setting.

For questions about this internship opportunity, please contact Alyssa Lecy (ALecy@stdavidscenter.org)

***To Apply to this Internship Opportunity, please apply through the "Apply" link