Research Internship(Fall 2026)

Site Description

Children’s Research Triangle (CRT) is a mental health non-profit that seeks to provide therapy to children and families in underserved communities. CRT has also been in the forefront of many issues related to maternal substance abuse in pregnancy, the outcomes of children prenatally exposed to alcohol and drugs, the child welfare implications of substance abuse in families, as well as the treatment of youth who have been exposed to trauma. The staff at CRT has written articles that have been published in Pediatrics, The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Research in Developmental Disabilities, and numerous other leading medical and psychological journals.

Intern description

The CRT research team is offering part-time unpaid research internships to qualified undergraduates in the Chicago area. Most of the work is remote; however, interns are expected to come into the office at least once a week in order to help with tasks on site. The fall cohort typically starts mid-August and goes through mid-December, although scheduling can be flexible. Interns will be involved in multiple ongoing projects, such as:

• ongoing evaluation of the Trauma Treatment Program
• evaluation of a grant program providing training in Youth Mental Health First Aid
• the development of a database about children 0 to 18 who have participated in psychological evaluations at CRT
• evaluation of the Youth MIND program, which provides trauma-informed screening, assessment, and therapy to youth and families in the Chicago area
• evaluation of a gun violence prevention program being implemented in schools around the city

Interns will be actively involved in most aspects of the research process including searching for relevant literature, putting together research materials, interviewing families, inputting and cleaning data in Excel and IBM SPSS, and helping with data management and analysis. This internship does not provide any clinical experience, i.e., direct contact with children, but is geared for students who would like to learn more about the research/program evaluation work at a non-profit organization.  Students will receive the necessary training to do these tasks on these projects and will receive supervision from research team members led by a licensed clinical psychologist. Interns are expected to work at least 6 hours per week, but more hours can be accommodated. Internships can be set up for up to 3 semesters.

Qualified Applicants will be undergraduate students who have:

• Completed at least one introductory course in psychology, behavioral science, child development, or social work with a grade of B or above, or enrolled in a pre-medical course of study,
• Demonstrated merit in their undergraduate studies up until the present time,
• Expressed an interest in pursuing future careers or further education in empirical research or medicine, and
• Displayed the ability to work well with other people in a team-oriented atmosphere.

Compensation

Interns may be offered authorship on submitted papers to which they have contributed substantially.

To Apply

The Research Team interviews candidates throughout the year, but it is typically divided into three cohorts: Spring, Summer, and Fall. Interested candidates should fill out the job links for their intended cohort. If there are any questions, please email Lorenz Cabe, the Research Internship Manager, at lcabe@cr-triangle.org.

Application Deadline

Applications for the fall cohort must be submitted by June 1st.

Interviewing Timeline

Interviews for our cohorts typically start two months before the cohort begins, based on the availability of space for new interns. Interviews for the Fall cohort will take place from June 1st-July 30th of the year in which you are applying.