Your time at CARE will be filled with meaningful work experience that will help translate into your professional career. Below you will find examples of some of the projects you will be working on.
Creating Intake Packets
When clients first come to CARE there is a series of important paperwork that needs to be completed either before or during their first session. It is important to familiarize yourself with the documents included in the intake packets as clients may have questions. You will be responsible for making copies of the paperwork and compiling all necessary documents together for the intake packets.
Faxing Intake Paperwork
When clinicians have met with their clients for the first time some of the intake paperwork comes back to us and needs to be sent over to our billing department. You will learn how to properly check over filled out documents to make sure everything is documented correctly and will learn to utilize the fax machine.
Refilling Assessments
Our clinicians use multiple resources available to them in order to help diagnose as well as track how well their client is doing throughout their time in therapy. These assessments will run low every now and then and will need to occasionally need to be stocked up. You will learn where to access these assessments, print them out, and file them away in the correct location for easy access for clinicians to find.
Labels
Every new client that comes to CARE gets their own file, these files will contain intake paperwork, assessments, and anything else that is went over in session between themselves and the clinician. Every file needs a label that the clinician will put on their file associated with that specific client. Label requests will come in via email and it will be your responsibility to print out labels and distribute to clinicians’ mailboxes.
Closing Files
After clients are finished being seen at the clinic, their file needs to be properly checked over and filed away in the basement. You will be responsible for checking over the closed cases for any missing information and sending it back to the clinician if information is missing or incorrect. Once all of the information in the file is in the right order and filled out correctly you will need to date the back of the file. Once a file is termed it must be kept for a minimum of 10 years. It is essential that you date them correctly and then proceed to file them away in alphabetical order in the basement file cabinets.
Phone Calls & Emails
When you are working at the front desk at CARE one of your many duties will be managing the phones. Clients will call for various reasons: scheduling an appointment, paying a bill, canceling or rescheduling an appointment and it will be your responsibility to be well versed in helping our clients. Being familiar with clinicians and their titles, and specialties will help. Also understanding how insurance works, what insurance companies we are in network with and which clinicians accept certain insurances over others will also help you when taking an intake phone call. You will also learn how to properly document all interactions you have with clients. You will also be responsible for maintaining the CARE Counseling’s information box, which will be responding to emails, in the appropriate manner.
Marketing Projects
You will be taking the lead on various marketing projects throughout your time here, it is essential that you stay on top of scheduling meetings with your supervisor on a daily to weekly basis to check up with progress being made, as well as receive feedback on current projects. We have been working hard to make our website more accessible to our clients and all of their needs. You will be responsible for creating content and designing our web pages to make everything more client friendly. The opportunity to take the lead on a project while still communicating effectively as a part of a team environment will help you develop your leadership and communication skills even further. Additional projects will come up throughout the time that you spend here, and it is up to you to make sure that you make expected deadlines and communicate effectively with the team.
Community Outreach
CARE Counseling works closely with The Dignity Center an organization dedicated to the efforts of enhancing the lives of individuals living in poverty. Part of your time as an intern here at CARE you will also be spending some of your time at this organization helping with their efforts. This organization offers students the ability to experience hands-on learning as you will learn about their intake and assessment process and help connect members of the community with local resources. You will be responsible for helping to manage the participants referral sources and following up with them regarding services that you have referred to them. Homelessness directly correlates with various mental health disorders; our goal is to help connect these individuals with the appropriate mental health services.
Referral Directory Project
CARE is dedicated to making connections within the community. Counseling is a complex business and many times we lean on community partners to ensure our clients or prospective clients get the best services possible. We are currently working on compiling a directory of resources available to our clients in Minnesota. This list will continue to grow, and change overtime and you will be responsible for compiling new resources to add to this list as well as make any necessary changes when needed.
Learning Experiences
You may have the opportunity to sit in on a clinician’s session with their clients and learn more about the process of therapy. Shadowing a clinician will give you great insight on what the what a therapy session consists of, different therapy techniques used, and greater insight on diagnosing and maintaining treatment plans. Take advantage of the opportunity to speak with the clinicians that work for CARE and ask them questions, they are always open to having a conversation with you! Various training sessions occur at least once a month and it is highly encouraged that you attend.