Community Mental Health Navigator Intern

Join Us as a Community Mental Health Navigator Intern!

Center for Innovation in Mental Health (CIMH)

CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy

What Our Center Does: The Center for Innovation in Mental Health (CIMH) is a dynamic team working to increase access to mental health care and information about mental health through the use of an evidence-based strategy called mental health task sharing. Mental health task sharing trains community workers to perform simplified tasks typically handled by clinicians, such as identifying concerns, providing wellness education, and connecting individuals to care. This systemic approach boosts community capacity to support mental health and refer individuals to appropriate resources.

About the Project: Harlem Strong is a multisectoral coalition between CIMH, Harlem Congregation for Community Improvement (HCCI), and Healthfirst Managed Care. We partner with local community-based organizations, primary care, and mental health practices to improve services through community-engaged planning, task-sharing, and coordinated care. Our innovative project, which includes a stepped wedge clustered randomized control study, addresses the community-prioritized needs identified by Harlem community boards, aiming to develop a sustainable model for task-sharing mental health care. The project aims to bridge the gaps in mental health care, closing the treatment gap, and reducing socioeconomic disparities exacerbated by COVID-19, mental health issues, and systemic racism. 

The Role: The Community Mental Health Navigator Intern will help clients navigate complex systems, such as by providing support in accessing and attending mental health care and providing information, referral and support in locating services and supports. The position is ideal for students or professionals who can commit to a year of Mental health task sharing implementation and are seeking valuable community and research experience. Interns will be trained for three months and assigned to a site where they would be expected to work on site 2-3 days/week.

The mode of work for this position will be hybrid. Please Note: This is NOT a remote engagement. Interns will be provided with metro card for their travel to recruitment sites. A minimal stipend will be provided during the implementation phase, contingent upon meeting the specified requirements following the completion of training.

Trainings provided by our Center:

Training in Mental Health Task-Sharing

·               Community outreach

·               Providing mental health education

·               Identifying folks who can benefit from additional support

·               Determining level of risk

·               Brief, evidence-based stress management counseling

·               Care coordination and navigation (connecting folks to appropriate resources)

Training in Community Intervention Research

·               Supporting implementation and quality improvement

·               Data collection, data cleaning, data management

·               Participant recruitment

·               Data analysis

·               Presentation/Report Writing

·               Opportunity to present in conferences.

Community Mental Health Navigator Responsibilities: 

Interns will have the opportunity to engage in various activities and will work closely with the HS Program Manager and the Community Coordinators to identify relevant deliverables. These activities include:

·      Delivering mental health support including Outreach, Screening, Psychoeducation, Care Navigation (referrals and coordination of care), Stress Management Education and Counseling 

·      Conducting community outreach and health education initiatives to engage and inform the community.

·      Assisting in the recruitment of participants for the study.

·      Collecting data from a variety of sources to support research efforts.

·      Entering data accurately into designated databases to ensure data integrity.

Eligibility:

·      Enrolled in MPH, Psychology, Mental Health Counseling or a similar program, preferably having completed the first year. Community intervention experience in place of education may be considered. If you are interested, we encourage you to apply

·      Interest in receiving training and implementing MH task-sharing and navigation (screening, psychoeducation, referral, stress management, and coordination of care skills) 

Commitment:

·      1-year commitment

·      12-15 hours/week in-person.

·      Availability to attend in-person events, trainings and online meetings

·      Navigators will be assigned to serve at a specific site. This would be client facing and an in-person engagement.

Interns that are not affiliated with CUNY must have an SSN or TIN to be eligible.

To apply, please submit CV and graduate transcript(s) to program manager Srividhya Sharma (Srividhya.Sharma@sph.cuny.edu) and copy Administrative Assistant Allen Mena (allen.mena@macaulay.cuny.edu).