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​​Some Job Corps centers have found that a graduate-level intern or extern enhances the Mental Health and Wellness Program. These students are able to provide additional counseling services to students, run programs, and otherwise assist the CMHC.

This webpage provides examples o​f Job Corps centers’ programs to create and maintain a mental health internship/externship program.​


Job Corps Practicum Description

The Job Corps Practicum/Internship Overview provides information about the practicum/internship program and the practicum trainee duties.


Webinar: Creating a Mental Health Internship Program
Handout 1: Due Process; Handout 2: San Jose Job Corps Practicum Description for Students; Handout 3: Practicum Memorandum of Agreement
Mental health practicum and intern programs are a win-win-win: mental health consultants can provide more and varied services to trainees, they will have more time for creative program development, and the graduate students can have a challenging, unforgettable professional training opportunity. This training will help interested participants with the pragmatics of starting up a mental health intern program, including assessing center needs, deciding which services are appropriate for interns, and mapping out a strategy to get started with program development. In addition, Dr. Negley will discuss legal issues and share templates for necessary paperwork, such as MOU’s and Practicum Contracts. Development of mental health consultation teams, using graduate students, will also be presented.
Webinar Date: August 15, 2013


Hubert H. Humphrey: Guidance for Mental Health Externship, Internship and Practicum Programs

The Guidance for Mental Health Externship, Internship and Practicum Programs can help you to develop an externship or practicum training program. The forms, guidelines, and documents have been utilized to create successful programs at other Job Corps centers. Feel free to edit the documents to fit your specific needs. Please note the following forms: Charting Guidelines, Mental Health and Employability Issues, and Orientation Checklist have been updated in 2013 by Humanitas from Dr. Jeff Gottlieb's originals.

Special thanks go to Dr. Jeff Gottlieb, Center Mental Health Consultant, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps Center for their assistance in developing this guide.
  • ​Guidance for Mental Health Externship, Internship and Practicum Programs—This guide can help develop an externship or practicum training program.
  • Externship/Practicum Description—This document should be reviewed first. It should be edited to fit your needs, with special attention to those sections that are bolded and italicized.
  • Externship/Practicum Policy—This document can serve as the foundation for the center's policy regarding externs and practicum students, including undergraduate students that may be used in other departments.
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)—This provides an understanding or agreement between you and your Center Director about some of the basics of the intended externship/practicum program. It can help prevent future headaches by either party.
  • Summary of Externship/Practicum Training Opportunity—This template can be used to describe your externship/practicum program to local colleges and universities, and thus be a tool for attracting candidates.
  • Sample Promotional Material—Externship fairs may be a means for recruiting externs for your site. Click here for a sample marketing tool for your program that can be used at externship fairs.
  • Sample Externship/Practicum Application with Ethics Interview Questions—It is critical to have externs/practicum students that will adhere, both philosophically and in practice, to ethical principles. This template helps will help you interview candidates in this regard.
  • Documentation for Externs/Practicum Students—This document identifies suggested documentation for your human resource department.
  • Orientation Checklist (Revised December 2013) —This template outlines the initial tasks that need to be done with the new extern/practicum student.
  • Externship/Practicum Evaluation Criteria—This document outlines the criteria by which an extern/practicum student on a center will be evaluated. It becomes an essential document in the event of performance difficulties on the part of the extern/practicum student.
  • Extern/Practicum Student Status Notification—In some states, externs/practicum students must clarify their status in writing before providing services. This form can serve as a template; you should revise as needed per your state regulations.
  • Ethical and Liability Considerations—This document highlights some of the ethical and liability considerations for your externship/practicum program.
  • Boundaries with Students—This gives the CMHC an opportunity, in writing, to express views on the extern's/practicum student's use of self-disclosure, physical contact with students, and how to identify oneself.
  • Confidentiality Concerns—This template instructs externs/practicum students on confidentiality concerns with students. It emphasizes some of the differences that exist between the Job Corps setting and the typical community setting for mental health services.
  • Mental Health and Employability Issues (Revised December 2013) —This form prompts the extern/practicum student to identify mental health-related employment barriers in students. It can be used as part of the initial interview.
  • Initial Interview Guidelines—This document provides guidelines on how the extern/practicum student can write the initial interview with a student. You will want to amend this form to fit your supervisory style.
  • Initial Interview Worksheet—Externs/practicum students can use this worksheet as part of an initial interview to be sure that they are asking the necessary questions and gathering essential information.
  • Mental Status Guidelines Exam Form—Use this resource to teach your externs/practicum students how to write a mental status section of a report. Sample mental health status sections are included.
  • Mental Status Guidelines Instructions and Samples—The extern/practicum student can use this form as an alternative to writing a mental status section. You will need to state a preference to the extern/practicum student, (i.e., whether to write a paragraph or use this form).
  • Initial Interview Sample Reports—Here are two sample initial interviews that allow an extern/practicum student to see how the finished documentation might look.
  • Charting Guidelines (Revised December 2013) —This resource will guide the extern/practicum student in how to document interviews and subsequent sessions in a manner appropriate to the Job Corps environment. Documentation of symptoms in the context of employability issues is emphasized.
  • Treatment Plans—This document guides externs/practicum students on how to write treatment plans with an emphasis on how treatment plans at Job Corps will differ from those in other settings.
  • Significant Events—This document helps start a dialogue between you and your extern/practicum student about handling crisis and emergencies.
  • Sample Log—Since you typically have to verify (to a university) that an extern/practicum student completed the required number of hours, a sample log is provided.



Treasure Island: Sample Internship Recruitment Brochure

Treasure Island Job Corps Center has developed an internship program with a local university for counseling, psychology, or psychology residents allowing the Job Corps mental health and wellness program to extend additional services to students with and without mental health disabilities. A recruitment brochure was developed to provide information about this program: Are We The Right Fit For You? Introduction to Practicum at Treasure Island Job Corps Wellness Center.



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