Community Mental Health Navigator Intern / Community Engagement Research Intern

Join Our Team — Two Internship Opportunities

Center for Innovation in Mental Health (CIMH)

CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy

What Our Center Does

The Center for Innovation in Mental Health (CIMH) works to increase access to mental health care and information through mental health task sharing — an evidence-based strategy that trains community workers to perform simplified tasks typically handled by clinicians, such as identifying concerns, providing wellness education, and connecting individuals to care.

About the Project: Harlem Strong

Harlem Strong is a multisectoral coalition between CIMH, Harlem Congregation for Community Improvement (HCCI), and Healthfirst Managed Care. We partner with local community-based organizations, primary care, and mental health practices to improve services through community-engaged planning, task-sharing, and coordinated care. The project includes a stepped wedge clustered randomized control study to address community-prioritized needs identified by Harlem community boards. It aims to build a sustainable model for task-sharing mental health care and close gaps in care exacerbated by COVID-19, mental health issues, and systemic racism.

We are recruiting for two internship roles this semester:

1a. Community Mental Health Navigator Intern

Navigators help clients navigate complex systems — providing support in accessing and attending mental health care, and offering information, referrals, and support in locating services. Ideal for students or professionals who can commit to a year of mental health task-sharing implementation and want valuable community and research experience. Interns are trained for three months, then assigned to a site where they work on-site 2–3 days/week.

Training Provided

•    Community outreach and mental health education

•    Identifying individuals who could benefit from additional support

•    Determining level of risk; brief, evidence-based stress management counseling

•    Care coordination and navigation

•    Community intervention research: data collection, cleaning, and analysis

•    Participant recruitment, presentation/report writing, and conference opportunities

Responsibilities

•    Delivering mental health support: outreach, screening, psychoeducation, care navigation, and stress management counseling

•    Conducting community outreach and health education initiatives

•    Assisting with participant recruitment

•    Collecting and entering data accurately to support research efforts

Eligibility & Commitment

•    Enrolled in MPH, Psychology, Mental Health Counseling, or a similar program (first year preferred); 3 years of community intervention experience may be considered in place of education

•    Applications encouraged from individuals representing African American and Spanish-speaking communities

•    1-year commitment; 12–15 hours/week, in-person

•    Assigned to a specific site — client-facing, in-person engagement

•    Applicants not affiliated with CUNY must have an SSN or TIN to be eligible

1b. Community Engagement Research Intern

This role supports community outreach, participant recruitment, data collection, data entry, and quality assurance. Ideal for students seeking fieldwork and capstone experience alongside valuable community and research experience. We recruit ten fieldwork students each semester.

Training Provided

•    Mental health task sharing and community intervention research

•    Community outreach and participant recruitment

•    Conducting consent procedures and administering surveys

•    Data collection, cleaning, and quality assurance

•    Presentation and report writing

Responsibilities

•    Conducting community outreach and health education initiatives

•    Assisting with recruitment of study participants

•    Collecting data from a variety of sources to support research

•    Entering data accurately into designated databases

•    Performing quality assurance checks on data entry

Eligibility & Commitment

•    Enrolled in an MPH or similar program (first year preferred); exceptions may be considered

•    Excellent attention to detail; able to work in a fast-paced environment

•    Willing to travel within NYC to recruitment sites at participating CBOs/Gateway Sites

•    10–12 hours/week, in-person, plus availability for online team meetings

•    Assigned to a specific site — client-facing, in-person engagement

•    Applicants not affiliated with CUNY must have an SSN or TIN to be eligible

Both positions are unpaid, hybrid roles (not remote); interns are provided a metro card for travel to recruitment/program sites.

How to Apply

Submit your CV and graduate transcript(s) to Dr. Vidya Sharma, Senior Project Manager, CUNY Center for Innovation in Mental Health:

Srividhya.Sharma@sph.cuny.edu (please cc CIMH@sph.cuny.edu)

Please indicate in your application which role you are applying for (Navigator or Community Engagement Research Intern). Applications submitted via LinkedIn will not be considered.