Residential Compliance Intern

The Residential Compliance Internship provides graduate social work students with hands-on experience in regulatory compliance related to behavioral health treatment and out-of-home placement, quality assurance, documentation review, and youth rights/protections within a residential treatment environment.

Responsibilities

• Assist in monitoring compliance with Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) rules applicable to Behavioral Health Services and Residential Facilities.
• Review internal policies to ensure alignment with state, federal, and accreditation standards.
• Review documentation and existing procedure to assess and provide feedback on quality and compliance improvement.
• Participate in audits of environment-of-care walkthroughs.
• Support and use logs, dashboards, and data for effective reporting of compliance results.
• Assist in youth rights activities such as discussing rights with clients, responding to concerns, and advocating for youth voice and choice in the program.
• Attend team and treatment meetings as relevant to duties and projects.
• Provide support to supervisors and frontline staff by communicating compliance updates and clarifying expectations.
• Assist in the creation or revision of training materials, checklists, and process guides.

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s or Master’s level Social Work program or an Associate degree internship program.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work cooperatively with other team members following The Centers' values system.

Learning Objectives

This internship will provide opportunities to develop competencies in:

• Regulatory and licensing requirements for residential treatment.
• Quality improvement methodologies.
• Ethical decision-making and professional boundaries in youth care.
• Trauma-informed residential practices.
• Documentation accuracy and confidentiality.
• Interdisciplinary communication and systems-level thinking.
• Organizational policy evaluation and development.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

• Internship takes place in a Youth Residential facility with regular interaction with youth, staff, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Occasional exposure to behavioral escalation or crisis situations (training and supervision provided).

Supervision & Support

• Supervision will be provided by a licensed social worker or designated supervisor meeting field education standards.
• Interns receive structured onboarding, access to training opportunities, and ongoing feedback to support skill development.

Schedule

Typically 16–24 hours per week, depending on university requirements. Semester or academic-year placements available.