Job Shadow/Externship, Internship, and/or Volunteer Opportunities
Job Shadow/Externship, Internship, and/or Volunteer Opportunities
Sanilac County Community Mental Health Authority
The agency promotes working in the behavioral health field. To support this belief, the agency encourages and supports providing community members opportunities to job shadow at the agency. This will allow community members to gauge their interest in future careers with the agency and additionally aid the agency in succession planning. This policy serves to outline the requirements to apply for a job shadow experience and outlines the requirements and expectations of an externship/community member job shadow, which will be referred to as externship throughout the remainder of this policy.
Application requirements:
- All externs must be 16 years of age or older.
- All externs must meet with the recipient rights officer or designee prior to the event to receive a brief in-service on confidentiality.
- Each extern will be required to sign the agency confidentiality statement (form #0061). Externs under the age of 18 years must have their parent/responsible party co-sign the statement.
Externships are a form of on-the-job learning that allows interested community members to closely follow, observe, and at times support staff performing the tasks related to their role.
Externs are community members who participate in job shadowing offered by an employer. They are not employees covered by the fair labor standards act (flsa). Community members that participate in an externship with the agency do not receive compensation for their time.
In order for agency staff to participate in this program, they must be in good standing with the agency to be considered for an externship experience. One externship experience may be completed each rolling calendar year. At no time shall an externship be approved beyond a one-week period. Each request will require approval within the program by the supervisor, officer, and hr manager. A meet and greet will be required, along with background screening.
Sanilac cmh will create and allow for experiences for externs, as the department can support. The ability to host externs will be based on many factors, including but not limited to staffing levels, demands within the department, and fit of the extern.
Externs who are approved for an externship with the agency are not guaranteed future employment and will not be compensated or receive benefits. The program will be purely educational. Externs do not have the ability to perform work but may do small office tasks or help with projects.
Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that experiences follow these requirements:
- The training is similar to what would be given in a vocational school or in academic educational instruction.
- The training is for the benefit of the trainees or students.
- The trainees or students do not displace regular employees but work under their close observation.
- The employer that provides the training derives no significant advantage from the activities of the trainees or students, and the employer's operations may be impeded.
- The trainees or students are not entitled to a job at the end of the training period.
- The employer and the trainees or students understand that the time spent in training will not entitle the extern to wages.
The assigned supervisor or his/her designee will be on-site whenever the extern is present.
At no time will externs have access to confidential files or information without a release of information. A meeting where specific individual information is discussed will be strictly forbidden without an appropriate release and prior approval of the immediate supervisor.
Externs are insured through the agency's professional liability policy. Criminal activity, negligence or behavior proven to differ significantly from that likely to be exercised by a reasonable person under the identical circumstances may leave the extern open to personal liability. Supervisors will apprise each student of his/her liability while shadowing at the agency.
At the completion of their experience, a written evaluation of their performance will be completed by their immediate supervisor and placed in the individual's personnel file.
This policy serves to outline the application process for internships held at Sanilac County Community Mental Health Authority for both internal staff and external candidates. To apply for an internship position, applicants must submit the following items to the human resources department a minimum of 30 days prior to the expected start date of the internship:
- A copy of the person's resume.
- A written letter explaining the type of position, their expectations of the position, the start and end dates (approximate) of the internship and the number of hours being requested.
- A copy of the liability insurance policy covering the intern (usually provided through college).
- A statement from the college on the internship requirements (i.e., hours, duties, etc.).
- If an internal employee, then a request for paid time needs to be outlined in the letter explaining the hours and job functions requested for compensation.
- If an internal employee, if a flex schedule or education leave is requested, this must be listed in the request letter, including the number of hours per week to flex and day of week flex will be used/or day(s) off.
In addition, interns will be required to have a criminal background pulled and cleared by hr prior to starting their experience, complete an application that outlines their credentials/work experience and acknowledges/gives consent to background checks, and issue a copy of a tb tested completed within the last year prior to approval. Once the above information is submitted to the human resources department, the information will be reviewed by the human resources manager, program officer, and supervisor of the student. If approved, the name and length of internship will be forwarded to the union chairperson. The candidate will be notified by the human resources manager on their start date. If declined by management, a letter will be sent by hr notifying the candidate of the decision. All interns will be required to meet the agency requirements for all staff. This includes background checks and training requirements. External internship applicants will be unpaid for the full duration of the internship. Current staff requesting an internship will be subject to the following regarding compensation: if the college accepts the current position and Sanilac CMH as a placement site, then Sanilac CMH may also approve as a paid internship. Job duties performed in other departments or job titles will not be considered for compensation. Flex schedules may be authorized for staff to work in different departments for an internship.
Interns will perform duties under the supervision of their site supervisor. When an intern requests and can be credentialed as part of their learning experience, they will have the ability to bill for services under the direct advisement of their supervisor. The ability to be credentialed to bill within the agency is solely at the discretion of the intern if they wish to enhance their learning experience. This allows for experience with our emr and direct face-to-face time. Interns that choose to be credentialed will not replace or affect staffing requirements. Choosing to bill as an intern to enhance a learning experience does not constitute paid worktime. When an intern is not credentialed, they will participate in face-to-face interventions with face-to-face supervision, and the credentialed clinician supervising the intern will bill for the session. This may occur through individual sessions, group therapy sessions and home visits (act clinic services departments). Interns may rotate between positions/duties within multiple departments.
Sanilac CMH supervisors and employees may participate in the internship process. Officers and supervisors may be requested to supervise interns. Supervisors may decline an internship if their workload does not allow the time to supervise an internship effectively. Master's level employees may provide internship supervision if they meet the licensure requirement of the school. The supervisor for the intern will be paid their regular compensation and conduct supervision during business hours. If Sanilac CMH does not have the staff credentials to meet the internship requirements, the intern request will be automatically denied.
Employees that intend to count hours toward CMH worked time or work in another department within Sanilac CMH are required to follow the internship process. Staff that request internships outside of Sanilac CMH will be required to submit an educational leave request when time off or a flex schedule is required.
Interns will be issued an agency e-mail address in order to remain connected with the agency and assist with learning the agency's culture and communication means. The need for a device/laptop will be determined and communicated to IT by the site supervisor. When a device is not issued, interns will have the ability to view email through the online website during off hours should they choose or have access to the computer lab during intern hours. Internships that are clinical in nature will be granted OASIS access and training. Interns that are hosted administratively will be granted access to the correlating jobs systems, i.e., HRIS/payroll/accounting software etc. Access may be restricted situationally/when needed per the supervisor. Interns that are with the agency for more than 30 days will be required to complete Reli