Youth Mental Health & Well-being Internship
Are you interested in helping prevent mental health challenges for teens in Idaho? Do you enjoy working with the community, helping people understand and use data, interacting with teens, and leading small group discussions? We are looking for interns to join the Communities for Youth team as we work together to build the best possible communities for young people.
In this role, you’ll assist with upstream prevention efforts to support youth mental and well-being in communities throughout Idaho. You will assist Communities for Youth with student surveys, data review meetings, focus groups and listening sessions with teens, coalition support, community outreach, and communications.
What You’ll Be Doing
Current examples of projects you might support include:
- Idaho Youth Well-being Survey: Assist with administering the Idaho Youth Well-being Survey to students in Idaho. This can include data cleaning and light data analysis.
- Community Data Walks: Help lead interactive meetings with community members to share key data points from the survey and brainstorm ideas for prevention efforts.
- Youth Engagement: Interact with young people to better understand their experiences and the things in their lives that are hurting or helping their mental health.
- Community Outreach: Raise awareness about Communities for Youth and upstream prevention at community events, and help build support for our initiatives.
- Communications: Create, update, and promote specific resources to targeted groups of students, schools, parents, and community members. This includes website updates and creation of reels and other content for social media.
Depending on your experience and interest, your internship can focus on one of these projects or a combination of these projects.
Minimum Requirements:
- Must be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program in Idaho at the time of application submission.
- Able to work at least one weekday on campus at Boise State University (preferably Wednesdays).
- Able to attend community events on some evenings and weekends.
- Able to commit at least 45 hours during the course of the semester.
- Must have great people skills, be patient in the face of adversity, be outgoing in public settings, and have flexibility and ability to change priorities quickly.
- Preferred fluent Spanish speaker.
What You’ll Bring to the Role
- Organization & Reliability: You are comfortable managing multiple projects and following through on tasks. When you take on a project, our team can trust that you will complete it on time and with your best effort.
- Attention to Detail: You take pride in your work and notice the small details—such as a broken link, a formatting error, or a data-entry mistake—that others might miss.
- Approachability: You enjoy collaborating with others. You are comfortable reaching out to team members for information and providing support, and are comfortable engaging youth and community members in conversations about mental health.
- Accountability: You take ownership of your work. You are comfortable working independently but also enjoy collaborating with others to achieve a common goal.
Why Join Our Team?
This position is designed to be a growth opportunity. We offer:
- Autonomy & Trust: You will be treated as a professional. We provide a supportive supervisor who offers guidance and feedback without micromanaging. The more you demonstrate reliability, the more autonomy you will have in your role.
- Flexibility: We offer a flexible schedule to help you balance your studies.
- Teamwork: We offer a chance to join a team of caring, hardworking, and reliable professionals who have years of experience with youth mental health and upstream prevention.
- Positive Impact on Idaho Youth: The work you do will have a direct impact on youth and how their communities support their mental health and well-being.
- Public Health Experience: You will work with communities to collect data, engage youth, and address risk and protective factors for youth mental health, ultimately helping create and sustain community conditions that support young people. Your work will focus on upstream prevention efforts to prevent youth mental health crises before they arise.
- Community Engagement & Communications Experience: You will build and maintain partnerships with community members, schools, parents, and teens throughout Idaho. You will also get experience in print and media communications and engaging specific audiences.
Compensation and Benefits:
If desired, the internship can provide 1 to 2 credits in the department of your choice (pending department approval).
Application Instructions:
The priority deadline for applications is Friday, September 11, 2026. The final deadline is Friday, September 18, 2026.
Submit the following on Handshake to apply:
- A resume that is targeted towards this job description.
- A cover letter that includes:
- How you heard about us.
- Your availability for the semester.
- Your major.
- The number of course credits you are seeking and in what department.
- How you think you’ll be successful in this role.
- A description of a time you worked with a community to achieve a goal.
- A description of a project you have completed through self-motivation and ability to follow-through on tasks.