Office of Diversity and Equity Intern
San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services
Office of Diversity and Equity
Internship Program
(Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, until positions are filled)
About San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services
At the County of San Mateo, we take pride in the way our employees bring together their diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to serve our community’s needs. The County is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.
San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) provides a broad spectrum of services for children, youth, families, adults and older adults for the prevention, early intervention, and treatment of mental health and/or substance misuse concerns.
About the Office of Diversity and Equity
The BHRS Office of Diversity and Equity (ODE) advances health equity in behavioral health outcomes of marginalized communities throughout San Mateo County. ODE is dedicated to addressing health inequities and stigma in the areas of mental health and substance misuse and supporting wellness and recovery in San Mateo County. ODE works to achieve these goals by promoting cultural responsiveness, which is rooted in principles of social justice. To learn more about ODE’s work, visit www.smchealth.org/bhrs/ODE.
About the Internship Program
The ODE Internship Program is designed to provide work opportunities and practical learning experience for undergraduate and graduate students to enhance their academic learning and expose them to public service at the county level. For the 2024-2025 internship program, we are looking to extend training opportunities to three interns.
All interns will have the opportunity to support the Office of Diversity and Equity (across programs) and participate in the Health Equity Initiatives. For each program area, sample tasks are listed below.
Culturally & Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) are a set of 14 national standards that strive to improve healthcare quality and advance health equity by establishing a framework for organizations to serve increasingly diverse communities.
Health Ambassador Program (HAP) Assist with outreach, planning and data entry for HAP courses (including evening classes and graduation). Contribute communication content about HAP through blogs, newsletters, social media posts and website updates. Support with family engagement.
Health Equity Initiatives (HEI)
The HEI’s were created to focus on health disparities in access and quality of care for underserved, unserved and inappropriately served culturally specific communities and identify the workforce development needs of staff of these communities. Each initiative plans and implements activities in collaboration with other county staff, community partners, participants, family members and community stakeholders. Activities include educational resources (translated in multiple languages); facilitated training on culturally responsive practices, workshops/support groups and community outreach. Assist with supporting and coordinating our Health Equity Initiatives (HEI). Strengthening evaluation, overseeing logistics and creating supportive documents. Gaining an understanding of our HEI needs and creatively working to provide guidance and solutions. Role will also include supporting other important programs that promote and collaborate with our HEI’s.
Multicultural Organizational Development (MCOD)
MCOD is an organizational change framework focused on building BHRS’s capacity to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) principles in the workplace. BHRS focused on internal capacity development to work effectively and respectfully with diverse cultural, linguistic, and social backgrounds. To accomplish this goal, BHRS is using four levels of organizational change which include personal, interpersonal, cultural, institutional, and structural/systemic. An MCOD Action Plan was developed in 2019 and includes goals, strategies and shorter-term activities and tasks. The MCOD Action Plan is currently being updated and will also include Trauma and Resiliency Informed Systems Initiatives (TRISI).
Parent Project (PP)
The Parent Project® is a 12-week class that gives parents, grandparents, and caregivers the tools to build strong and healthy families. As an intern you will assist with supporting our Parent Project program by strengthening evaluations, data entry of surveys and collected information, supporting logistics of the program and help with creating supporting documents.
Suicide Prevention and Stigma Reduction (SPSR)
These two prevention and early intervention behavioral health programs assist with supporting and coordinating SPSR work including (but not limited to) communications/marketing, trainings and annual observances (May Mental Health Month and September Suicide Prevention Month). Gaining an understanding of the community’s needs and creatively working to provide guidance and solutions. This role will also include opportunities for collaboration with other programs.
Workforce, Education & Training (WET)
Facilitate initiatives pertaining to the advancement of behavioral health workforce development, education, training, internships, recruitment, and retention endeavors, with a focus on macro-level interventions. Collaborate with the director of workforce, education and training, the internship coordinator and/or the training coordinator. Responsibilities encompass promotional and communication strategies, program enhancement, data gathering and analysis, provision of professional development and training avenues, coordination of events and training sessions, and supportive engagement with community stakeholders.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required
To be eligible for this program, you must meet the following requirements:
- Undergraduate students enrolled in an accredited college or university. Recent graduates (up to one year after graduation) are also eligible.
- Available to work 20 hybrid hours per week. This includes the ability to work from home and at the Office of Diversity and Equity (in Belmont, CA) beginning the week of September 2, 2024, to the week of June 23, 2025.
- NOT a current employee of San Mateo County.
- A requirement to work one day at the office and attend mandatory ODE staff meetings, in person, on the 1st and 3rd Friday of each month.
- Acceptance to this ODE internship is contingent upon completing a San Mateo County Human Resource application and passing a criminal background check and medical examination.
Desired
We would strongly prefer a candidate with the following qualities:
- Passion for advancing equity, wellness, and recovery for culturally diverse and marginalized communities.
- Personal experience with or knowledge of inequities related to mental health and/or substance misuse.
- Experience working with culturally diverse and marginalized communities.
- Multicultural and multilingual skills.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Strong organizational and detail-oriented skills.
- Ability to prioritize time-sensitive assignments.
- Ability to work well in teams and independently.
- Ability to offer flexible hours including occasional evenings and weekends.
Term and Stipend
This ODE Internship runs from September to June and is paid through a stipend of $7,000 (before taxes) funded by the Mental Health Services Act. Interns must commit to working 20 hours per week at the Office of Diversity and Equity from the week of September 2, 2024, to the week of June 24, 2025. The stipend distribution ends before the end of the internship. However, interns are required to remain active for the full 20 hours per week in the ODE internship programs and complete the entire term of agreement. The stipend is considered taxable income.
How to Apply
Complete and submit the following required documents to the Internship Coordinator with the Workforce, Education and Training team within the Office of Diversity and Equity, at HS_BHRS_Internships@smcgov.org
- Cover letter
- Curriculum Vitae or Resume
- Application (see page 5)
- Supplemental questions (see pages 6-7)
Only completed applications will be reviewed. Please contact us if you do not receive a confirmation that we received your application. Thank you!
Applications Deadline April 30, 2024