Internship Program

Emerge Pediatric Therapy welcomes prospective therapy students to complete an internship. As a teaching clinic, we use state of the art equipment, evidenced based practice, highly trained clinical therapists, and a well developed program to provide quality experiences, beneficial to the prospective student’s experience, prior to applying to and entering a graduate program.

Please note, Emerge is unable to provide the 100 hours of shadowing/clinical fieldwork required for SLPA licensure. 

Goals of the Internship Program:

The Emerge Pediatric Therapy Internship Program is designed to:
  • Provide opportunities for observation of individual therapy sessions. Within the internship program, you will be able to follow the same clients week-to-week in order to build relationships with current Emerge clients and learn about therapeutic progression. This opportunity will further allow prospective graduate students to gain required observation hours.
  • Provide interns with the opportunity to be an integral part of Emerge Clubs, which offers clients the opportunity to work on generalizing their individual therapy goals within a group setting. 
  • Give interns exposure to a fast paced, dynamic, and collaborative outpatient therapeutic environment, learning about this type of setting by sharing space with therapists and their clients. 
  • Educate interns on Neurodiversity-Affirming care and other clinical skills central to therapeutic practice at Emerge.  

Important Information Regarding the Internship Program:

Emerge interns are assigned within each of the following semesters: 
  • Spring – January – April 
  • Summer – mid-May – August 
  • Fall – mid-August – December 

Emerge has partnered with UNC Chapel Hill’s Human Development and Family Students (HDFS) department in order to provide internship opportunities to current students in the Fall and Spring semesters. This means that internships that are not affiliated with the UNC HDFS program will be offered during the summer only. All summer internship applications are due the January prior (by January 31st). 

Steps to become an Emerge Intern:

If you are part of UNC’s HDFS program, express your interest in completing an internship at Emerge Pediatric Therapy to the university’s current program/internship coordinator. All Fall and Spring internships through the UNC HDFS department are coordinated directly with the university.

  1. If you are interested in completing a summer internship at Emerge Pediatric Therapy, please  complete the following steps:
  2. Email our internship coordinator, Laura Strenk, at laura@emergepeds.com to express your interest. Provide a copy of your resume in this email. Of note, all summer internship applications are due the January prior (by January 31st).
  3. Laura will respond that she has received your resume within 1 week following your email.
  4. The first week of February, Laura will reach out to you in order to schedule a 30-minute interview.
  5. Once all interviews have been completed, Laura will contact you with a final decision. Final decisions for summer internships will be completed by the February prior to the summer internship position interviewed for.
If you are interested in completing a summer internship at Emerge Pediatric Therapy, please note the following:
  • Emerge is unable to offer financial compensation for an internship, but will partner with universities to provide class credit. 
  • Interns must commit to 15-25 hours a week with required availability in the late afternoons and evenings (~2-6pm) Monday-Thursday in order to assist with Emerge Clubs.
Intern Dress Code Policy:

When visiting Emerge, please follow the following dress code requirements:

  • Khakis/chinos, scrubs, or dark-wash jeans are acceptable pants. Please refrain from wearing distressed jeans, exercise pants, leggings, shorts, dresses, or skirts.
  • Collared shirts or simple tops and blouses are acceptable. Please refrain from wearing low cut tops and graphic t-shirts.
  • Only minimal jewelry, if any, should be worn. Nothing that a child could potentially pull off of you.
  • Wear shoes that can slip on and off easily. Socks are optional.
  • Emerge is a scent/smoke free facility. Refrain from wearing perfume or scented lotions.
  • Dress comfortably, while adhering to the above requirements.

 

Emerge Observation Hours Policy:

As an intern at Emerge, you (the student) are responsible for tracking all observed sessions and requesting a signature from therapists in a timely manner. Hour logs can be signed at a later date, but need to be completed within a month of your internship experience.