STAR: Children and Youth Program Intern

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The New York Asian Women’s Center (NYAWC) is the largest Asian American focused domestic violence agency in the country, a premier human trafficking serving organization, and a national demonstration project that provides model services to survivors of sexual assault.

Purpose/Overview: NYAWC’s STAR: Children and Youth program provides counseling to youth who have experienced trauma and helps bridge the gap between parents and children that may stem from discord within the home. The STAR intern would carry a small caseload of individual clients (children and/or teens) and run three groups (parent-child expressive arts and children’s support groups) at the residential houses and community offices.

Supervisor: Sara Zaidi/STAR: Children and Youth Program Manager

Location: Residential houses (locations are confidential until placement is confirmed) and community offices (Elmhurst, Sunset Park, and Chinatown)

Key Responsibilities:

• Run parent-child groups at both residential locations and one community office
• Run a children’s group at the residential locations
• Carry an individual case load of 2-3 clients (children or teens)
• Work with parents to provide parenting support
• Maintain case notes for all groups and cases in our database
• Attend team meetings bimonthly

Schedule: Three days a week, flexible hours. Please note that since children come for counseling after school, evening hours may be required.

Qualifications: Experience in drama, music, and/or art, as well as some experience working with children is helpful. Clinical experience is not required.

Training and Orientation: The intern will be required to attend a full day NYAWC New Volunteer Orientation to learn about agency-specific policies and procedures and gain foundational knowledge if the dynamics of domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual violence. The intern will also receive training from the STAR Program Manager about the impact of trauma on children and families and best practices while working with children.

Support/Continuing Education: The intern will be provided with weekly supervision. S/he will be able to attend the STAR team meetings and learn more about children and teen related work. The volunteer will have the opportunity to participate in additional training sessions as needed and seek peer support from the STAR counselors.

Measure of Success: Feedback will be provided on an ongoing basis. Exit interview/evaluation must be conducted at the end of the internship.

Benefits: The intern will gain professional mentorship and trainings relevant to children’s work. S/he will also learn about counseling with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking with a younger population. This position allows the intern to work with a wide age range: children, teens, and parents. It allows for group work with children alone as well as with families, allowing the intern to observe family dynamics.

There may also be opportunities to network, free lunch, social opportunities, and discounts to events as available to all NYAWC volunteers/interns.

Selection process: Submit a resume to vkapahi@nyawc.org. Selected candidates will be scheduled for an interview. All candidates are subject to a background check prior to start of volunteer position.