Activity Summary 1

My first 100 hours interning under Healthy Minds Fairfax within the Department of Family Services has taught me various applications of my degree. As an intern, many of my duties include researching methods of improving services under Healthy Minds Fairfax such as the Short Term Behavioral Health program, developing a recruitment method for black/brown mental health providers for the program, and researching evidence-based practices that could be utilized by Healthy Minds Fairfax. The Short Term Behavioral Health program is focused on providing mental health services for youth in Fairfax County. 

I predominantly look at the referrals to determine what populations are underserved and work with my coworkers and preceptors to determine what we can improve on in regards to the services that the population has. I also attend meetings on behavioral health plans in order to determine if the services that Healthy Minds Fairfax and the department of Family Services is effective in the population in Fairfax County getting access to mental health services. Given that my work is predominantly looking at data reports and the main purpose of my position is to contribute in meeting the goals of Fairfax County’s children behavioral health plan, my internship is focused on health policy, health equity, community health, and the overall healthcare delivery system. 

Many of the knowledge and skills I have gained are looking at multiple factors on why certain populations cannot get access to services despite the service being funded by a County agency. What I found was looking at the different stakeholders that are also important within the program and seeing if there are common factors within them. For example, FCPS (Fairfax County Public Schools), Health Department, Community Service Board, and the Child Services Act are all stakeholders for the Short Term Behavioral Health program. I also learned a lot regarding the system used by the county to keep track of cases as well as the Community Policy Management team which is meant to lead the way to effective services to children already at risk of experiencing emotional/behavioral problems, especially those at risk or in need of out-of-home placements and their families.

Activity Summary 2

For my remaining 100 hours, I focused on looking at the referring staff data from the STBH program as well as researching evidence-based practices for Fairfax County to implement for youth services. I also attended multiple training courses related to trauma-informed care and its importance in providing mental health services that was hosted by Greater Richmond SCAN.

While I continued to look at the referrals of the populations that are underserved for the STBH program, I also reviewed the referring staff that sent out the referrals to see what their process was referring youth to the program. I also reviewed the ’23-’24 academic year data from the population that were referred to but did not attend an appointment. A finding from the data that we found that the program improved significantly within the ’22-’23 academic year and the ’23-’24 academic year.

I also had the opportunity to attend my second CPMT meeting which focused on developing community policies that are catered to mental health services under the Child Services’ Act. I had the opportunity to connect with leadership under the health Department, county executive, the director of the Department of Family Services, and the program manager for the Child’s Services Act. We had a discussion on how to improve the out-of-state residential facilities for the youth to minimize incidents within the facility.
Another task I was given as an intern was to research behavioral health evidence-based practices. I reached out to providers that practice specifically Family Check-Up and Brief Strategic Family Therapy. I also discussed this practice with the Youth Advisory Council to determine which practices will cater to their needs.

Most of the knowledge and experience I gained this time was regarding health services research as well as community outreach and engagement. I had to connect with multiple different stakeholders in order to determine what services we can use and what would fit in with our short-term behavioral health program. I also learn that direct stakeholders such as the school system can directly impact the quality of care that we provide as well as how effective the program is in getting youth access to services.