The
Illinois Department of Public Health
Office
of the Director-Community Public Health Outreach
Internship
Opportunity (unpaid)
Brief
Organization Description: The mission
of IDPH is to promote health through the prevention and control of disease and
injury. IDPH has programs to deal with persistent problems that require
continued vigilance – infectious diseases, food borne and communicable
diseases, vaccine preventable diseases, lead poisoning, lack of health care in
rural areas, health disparities among racial groups, sexually transmitted
diseases, tobacco use, violence and other conditions associated with high-risk
behaviors. In addition, IDPH has been charged with handling the state's
response to the threat of bioterrorism. IDPH is organized into six Offices,
each of which addresses a distinct area of public health.
Internship
Information: IDPH is looking for an
intern(s) to support the implementation of a state-wide summit focusing on
trauma-informed sports-based youth development. Trauma-informed care and
services is a strengths-based framework that is grounded in an understanding of
and responsiveness to the impact of trauma, that emphasizes physical, psychological,
and emotional safety for both service providers and survivors, and that creates
opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.
(Hopper, Bassuk, & Olivet, 2010). There is a growing body of knowledge that
has found a high prevalence of childhood trauma, stress, and maltreatment as
well as an association between this and health and well-being later in life.
Furthermore, studies have also found that health care and service provision
environments can be retraumatizing to victims. Sport-based youth development
programs promote life skill acquisition (e.g., leadership, self-control) with
the goal of facilitating positive outcomes in youth participants’ social and
academic environments. Researchers call this “transfer of life skills” (i.e.,
the idea that physical, behavioral, and cognitive skills youth learn in sport
can be applied in non-sport settings to promote healthy development). Given
this, it’s befitting that we increase the capacity and number of sports-based
youth development programs that are trauma-informed.
The summit
will bring a broad array of stakeholders and experts together to share
knowledge and best practices with the goal of making a greater impact on the
health and wellness of program participants for a lifetime. Intern(s) must be
able to travel and attend the one-day summit in central Illinois tentatively
scheduled for late April 2020.
Location:
The work will take place at the IDPH
offices located at 69 W. Washington, 35th floor, Chicago.
Interested students should send a resume/CV along with cover
letter to:
Juana
Ballesteros, BSN RN MPH (UIC SPH alum) at juana.ballesteros@illinois.gov
Contact
Information:
Juana
Ballesteros, BSN RN MPH
Manager,
Community Public Health Outreach
Illinois
Department of Public Health
69 West
Washington, 35th floor
Chicago,
IL 60602
