West River Mental Health Internship Program

Location: Rapid City with opportunities at satellite clinics in Spearfish and Hot Springs.

WRMH is committed to developing the next generation of professionals in community mental health. Our Internship Program provides master’s level counseling and social work students with valuable opportunities to gain hands on experience in a community behavioral health setting. Through this program, interns build a strong foundation of practical knowledge and skills that extend beyond the classroom and prepare them for successful careers in mental health counseling.

Clinical Experience Opportunities

Individual, couples, and family therapy
Work with children/adolescents, adults, or dual-diagnosis clients.
Exposure to a wide array of mental health disorders.
Carry a caseload of individual clients (with supervision).
Assist with psychoeducational services, group therapy, and support groups.
Participate in assessments, treatment planning, clinical staffing, and community outreach.

Supervision & Training

Clinical Supervisor experienced in trauma treatment, dual diagnosis, high risk teens, and high conflict families.
Skilled in multiple modalities including CBT, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, Solution Focused Therapy, and Structural Family Therapy.
Individual supervision by a licensed provider.
Weekly team case consultations and ongoing training and professional development.
Observation phase leading into building a supervised caseload.

Work Environment

Positive, collaborative, and supportive culture.
Flexibility with scheduling.
Wide range of populations served (varied ages, ethnic groups, diagnoses).
Opportunity to work in integrated care settings alongside medical doctors and other health professionals.

Requirements

Master’s level student in Counseling or Social Work.
Strong decision making and problem solving skills.
Valid driver’s license and insurance.

Compensation & Advancement

Limited paid internships available
Opportunities for full time employment.

Application Process

Submit the following at least 4 months before the start date:

Resume
Letter of Interest

Send Materials To:

Bethany Bloom, Human Resources Director
bbloom@wrmentalhealth.org

Questions?

If you have questions about our Internship program please reach out to us and we will be glad to answer all your questions.

About West River Mental Health

West River Mental Health has been providing behavioral health care in Western South Dakota since 1948 and is the largest, most advanced community mental healthcare facility in the region. The company’s core vision, then and now, is to build positive change among ourselves and the communities where we live, work, and play. West River Mental Health provides exceptional internships for counselors, social workers, and professionals hoping to enter the human service field.

West River Mental Health offers an exceptional Internship Program to provide a community behavioral and mental health internship setting for students who are completing their Master’s level education in Counseling, Social Work, and/or other human service related fields. The worksite setting experience is a fundamental component in the development of a solid basis of knowledge for the intern to move into the professional mental health arena.

With the West River Mental Health mental health internship, the student will benefit from the experience of a professional relationship with a therapist working with West River Mental Health in the student’s specialization through direct, face-to-face supervision for a minimum of one hour per week. Students also gain understanding and appropriate experience related to billing practices utilized by a community mental health center.

Come Intern With Us

West River Mental Health internships for counselors provide a thorough, practical experience that can only be obtained in an agency-based work setting. Our program will provide mental health internship cohorts with the skills necessary to prepare them for the community behavioral health counseling field.

Interns will learn to:

Apply the understanding of general principles and methods of case conceptualization, assessment of mental and emotional status, and diagnostic techniques by integration of technological strategies and applications within counseling processes.
Apply advanced skills, including assessment and theoretical and philosophical bases of counseling, within the professional work setting.
Demonstrate knowledge of prevention techniques and resources applicable to clients served while utilizing the ability to identify and clarify a tentative personal theoretical counseling approach.
Acquire and demonstrate adequate knowledge of available referral sources utilized by West River Mental Health counseling professionals within the regional catchment area.
Gain understanding and appropriate experience in consultation with parents, teachers, families, other community providers, and West River Mental Health representatives.
Document, in order, and clearly communicate to West River Mental Health supervisors the essential factors in each case in a manner that meets the industry documentation standards.
Demonstrate knowledge of how administrative policies, procedures, and clinical practices affect the potential legal aspects and risks to the clinician and to West River Mental Health.

Located in the Black Hills

Questions?

If you have questions about our Internship program please reach out to us and we will be glad to answer all your questions.