Internship

ICBC has nonclinical unpaid internships for graduate students in psychology, social work, and related fields.    


Alzheimer's Internship

This internship requires visiting nursing homes with licensed Alheimer's/dementia units, and other nursing homes with significant numbers of residents with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia.  Interns meet residents, families and staff.  They identify what services the facility provides, what education and training the staff have, and inquire about where family members and staff see current regulatory requirements as indequate or even hampering quality care.   In facilities with family councils, it is possible that students would also be doing ongoing support of a council, such as helping to write a family council newsletter or attending family council meetings.

Skills and Experience Required  

Student must  have analytic skills, good interpersonal and observational skills, and the ability to speak and write clearly and simply.  It would be helpful, but is not essential, to have had some experience in a nursing home.  This doesn't mean working in one; rather, having had a family member or other person living a nursing home, and having visited.  It would also be helpful to have some familiarity with people with Alzheimer's or other dementias, and be comfortable being around them.

 

Nursing Homes Housing Persons with a Serious Mental Illness Internship

This internship entails identifying services and facility staff skills/background/training in nursing homes licensed to care for persons with a serious mental illness; comparing the services and staff skills to those required by Illinois law; identifying where residents and staff see current quality as inadequate, or even hampering quality care, including with respect to preparing residents for moving from a nursing home to a community setting. 

(Note:  The Illinois Department of Public Health will be publishing proposed rules for some of these facilities.  Depending on when the proposed rules are published, and when comments on the proposed rules are due, the project may include doing comments on the proposed rules, based on the intern's observations.)

Skills and Experience Required 

Students must have good analytic skills, good interpersonal and observational skills (including the ability to be assertive without being rude,) and the ability to speak and write clearly and simply.  It would be helpful, but is not essential, to have had some experience in a nursing home.  This doesn't mean working in one; rather, having had a family member or other person living a nursing home, and having visited.  It would also be helpful to have some familiarity with people with a serious chronic mental illness, and be comfortable being around them.

 

If you are interested in becoming an ICBC intern, send your resume to Amber Williams at ambericbc@core.com.