Wilderness Health offers a variety of opportunities for students to engage with Wilderness Health from traditional internships, research projects to classroom educational projects.

Internship Opportunities

Public Health Internship

  • Wilderness Health offers a public health internship to support our organizational mental and behavioral health projects and our child and teen checkup initiatives.
  • Responsibilities for this internship include:
    • Promote mental health and substance use disorder care coordination support
    • Support telemental/telebehavioral health projects
    • Support care coordinators across the network through education and resource
    • Promote support for SDoH (housing and homelessness, transportation, childcare)
    • Support marketing and communications around telemental/telebehavioral health and, child & teen checkup care coordination
    • Support community outreach efforts to inform and educate on child & teen checkup
    • Explore models that support care coordination including role of community health workers, library or community resources, social workers in various setting, and integrated behavioral health models

Marketing, Communications, and Design Internship

  • Wilderness Health offers 1-2 student internship opportunities each term to assist and support the organization’s marketing, design, and communication efforts. This internship is an excellent opportunity to experience a broad range of marketing and communication facets while being exposed to the healthcare industry.
  • Responsibilities for this internship include:
    • Design flyers, graphics, brochures, and other marketing material for WH events and activities
    • Support organization communication needs including social media, e-newsletter, press releases, website content etc.
    • Collaborate with staff on new ideas, directions and opportunities for marketing and communications

Current Interns

Auda I.

  • Auda is one of our interns for the marketing, communications, and design internship. She has been a part of Wilderness Health since winter and is continuing throughout spring. Auda is currently a junior at UMD, with a major in Writing Studies and a minor in Art in Media
  • A few of her accomplishments include:
    • Helped develop Wilderness Health's first e-newsletter
    • Multiple different flyers, posters, and infographics

Valencia R. 

  • Valencia is our other intern for the marketing, communications, and design internship. She joined us this spring. Valencia attends UMD with a major in Writing Studies and minor in Art in Media. She has only recently joined us, so her accomplishments are yet to come!

Past Interns

Chance L.

  • Chance was one of our past interns for the marketing, communications, and design internship. He was an intern in the fall of 2022. Chance attended UMD with a major in Writing Studies and a minor in Environmental Science. He now continues to work for Wilderness Health through a full-time job.
  • A few of his accomplishments include:
    • Telehealth process improvement at Lake View Clinic
    • 2023 HRSA Grant assistance
    • Writing several community outreach articles about Mental Health

Ryan T. 

  • Ryan was one of our past interns with an internship we no longer provide: our Accounting/Business Internship. He worked for Wilderness Health in 2020. Ryan attended UMD and had a major in Accounting - he has recently graduated.
  • A few of his accomplishments include:
    • Conducted research studies with interviews to evaluate and assess needs for mental health reimbursement
    • Research and aid in our network needs

Cassie S. 

  • Cassie was one of our past interns for the marketing, communications, and design internship. She was an intern in 2022. Cassie attended St. Mary's University with a major in Digital Media and Public Relations, and a minor in Graphic Design. She has recently graduated and has gotten her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications.
  • A few of her accomplishments include:
    • Aided in drafting Wilderness Health's communication plan
    • Creating promotional TikToks
    • Multitude of designs, posters, flyers, and infographics

Hannah G.

  • Hannah was one of our past interns for the marketing, communications, and design internship. She was an intern during the spring and summer of 2023. Hannah attended UMD with a major in Graphic Design and a minor in Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurship Studies. She has recently graduated and gotten her Bachelor of Arts Degree.
  • A few of her accomplishments include:
    • Flyers, posters, and infographics
    • Helped with developing network-wide communication tools and graphics

Minh P.

  • Minh was one of our past interns for the public health internship. He was an intern during 2023. Minh attends UMD with a major in public health, planning to pursue a Master of Public Health degree after graduating.
  • A few of his accomplishments include:
    • Dug through multiple hospital reports for research, resulting in the ratio of population to mental health providers being 1080:1 in Cook County
    • Researched the social and economic disparities BIPOC communities face in Minnesota

Undergraduate Student Projects

Wilderness Health partners with faculty of post-secondary institutions to provide classroom experiences that support the course curriculum learning objectives, offering students real life experience that support and advance Wilderness Health’s mission and initiatives. Examples of past class projects include:

  • Organization Branding & Imaging
  • Organization Communications
  • TeleMental Health Communication & Marketing Materials
  • Psychiatric Boarding in ER’s and the Impact
  • Mental Health
  • Addressing Social Determinants of Health
  • Preventative Screenings Best Practices for Communication & Outreach

Uyen N., Julia L., Sam W., and Cassidy H.

  • UMD students Uyen, Julia, Sam, and Cassidy broke down research into substance use disorder through a Medical Sociology class, taught by Professor Kim Dauner. The students recognized “patient centered language” as crucial for the dignity of people undergoing treatment for SUDs, and failure to use such language can cause more harm. Yet one study indicates that only 20% of medical research studies adhered to patient-centered language, and 68% were blatantly non-patient centered. This is a major discrepancy.
  • According to Zomi Bloom, Telehealth Program Manager with Wilderness, “Wilderness Health is excited to utilize what we are learning about SUD (substance use disorders) as we embark on our behavioral health care navigation grant journey over the next several years.”

Health Care Research, Equity & Policy Projects

Wilderness Health offers educational experiences for undergraduate and graduate students to conduct research and policy analysis for our health care initiatives. Some examples of past projects include:

  • Mental Health
  • Mental Health Reimbursement Disparities & Gaps
  • Digital Health Literacy
  • Social Determinants of Health

Wilderness Health Network Member Opportunities

Wilderness Health works with nine area health care systems across northeastern MN. To learn more about their student experience and employment opportunities please visit their websites listed below:

 

For questions or more information:

Contact Michelle Hargrave at: michelle.hargrave@wildernesshealthmn.org or at info@wildernesshealthmn.org .