DESCRIPTION:

       School staff have the greatest efficacy in positively impacting student outcomes. With national staffing shortages, schools are struggling to maintain their greatest assets, particularly in specialized areas. As a four district consortium located in rural south central Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Well Be’s is a recipient of the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant. We recruit, hire, and train graduate school counselor students through paid internships. Learn about our project including the implementation of high-quality onboarding, training plans (recruiting methods, contracts, professional development, ongoing coaching), how interns support the work of school-based mental health plans, and tips for working with university and community partners. Take away ready-to-use insight and resources specific to rural communities, and most importantly, hope, so you can implement a similar project no matter what your size or budget.

Participants will take away:

• Framework to employ student interns

• Tools to onboard and provide ongoing coaching to interns

• Marketing strategies, job descriptions, contracts, and MOU samples

• Tips for leveraging work as a consortium

• Hope to implement this in your rural school/community