Housing Intern

Community Access was founded in 1974 to provide housing and support for people being discharged from psychiatric institutions. Today, we are one of the leading providers of supportive and affordable housing in New York City, and the originators of an integrated housing model which has become a best practice nationally: affordable housing where families live alongside people living with mental health concerns. Our staff work daily to support thousands of New Yorkers through supportive and affordable housing, peer-driven residential crisis support programs, training, advocacy, supported education, mobile treatment and other healing-focused services.

Department Overview

Community Access expands opportunities for people living with mental health concerns to recover from trauma and discrimination through affordable housing, training, advocacy, and healing-focused services. We are built upon the simple truth that people are experts in their own lives. Participate in an on-the-job training program, which will assist the individual in obtaining skills relevant to work in respective department.

Core Principles

All CA staff, interns, and volunteers alike are responsible for understanding and incorporating certain principles into their work and into their relationships with program participants.  These principles are:

• Program participants’ right to self-determination.
• Respectful communication.
• Services that support recovery and healing consistent with and nurturing each participant’s cultural background, experience, identity, and values.
• Clear professional boundaries to support the limits and possibilities of services.

Internship Overview

Community Access Interns will participate in on-the-job training which will assist in gaining the skills relevant to work in direct social services with individuals who have a history of homelessness, substance use, and have a psychiatric diagnosis. 

• The Intern will learn skills necessary related to assessing and identifying service needs and gaps within assigned programs.
• Internship participants will also provide one-to-one therapeutic support to identified participants, assist program participants in advocating for quality care received from external service providers, including educating providers on special issues, etc.
• An Intern may also be responsible for providing referrals for treatment for psychiatric disabilities, substance abuse, and health problems.
• Harm reduction strategies will be used and implemented when working with individuals engaging in behaviors which may pose risks, including drug and/or alcohol use, sex work/survival sex, violence, arrest/incarceration, etc.

At the conclusion of the internship, we will undergo an assessment geared toward providing the intern with performance feedback, including areas of strengths and areas needing improvement.

This job description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions; it does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

Internship Qualifications

• Establish and maintain polite, professional, and effective working relationships with all contacts during the performance of duties.
• Completion of relevant training
• Good oral and written communication skills.
• Show initiative and be responsible for follow through.
• Ability to maintain confidential information, as related to position.
• Excellent customer service experience.
• Intermediate level computer skills; Microsoft Word and Excel.