To maintain a strong school-based mental health workforce that meets the growing needs of students, districts across the country are partnering with local universities to place interns in schools, thereby creating a pipeline of school-based mental health staff. Thoroughly supporting and effectively engaging with these interns is essential to prepare and, ultimately, sustain the workforce.

On this episode of “In Session,” we speak with Dr. Rosie Rincon Hernandez & Gianna Merriam, Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP2019) grant recipients from Tulare County, CA about their effort to build the capacity of and effectively engage school based mental health interns. This conversation is guided by Annie Knowles and Brianna Cunniff.

Visit Tulare County’s website and read their Grantee Highlight for more information about supporting school-based mental health interns. You can also view their helpful diagram of the Overlapping Roles of Support Staff that use that is discussed in the episode.

0:47 - Introductions and their “Why” for doing this work

2:35 - How Tulare County has created a robust internship experience

7:21 - Practices they have implemented to ensure the internship program is quality and sustainable

14:15 - Sustainability for interns

15:27 - Impacts they have seen with the internship program

20:31 - How they have clarified roles and responsibilities

26:11 - Greatest success and lessons learned

32:43 - Closing & takeaways

For all questions or feedback, you can email ncssle@air.org. Thanks for listening!

Please note, the contents of this podcast do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education, nor does it imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.