GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH IN KENYA
COMMUNITY-DRIVEN MENTAL HEALTH, FROM SOCIAL DETERMINANTS TO SYSTEMS AND ADVOCACY
Intern in Kenya with GEI's full-time in-country team. A career-aligned internship in your field, four to eight weeks with a host organization in community mental health or social services, standalone or with U.S. academic credit through Hamline University, GEI’s school of record.
AT A GLANCE
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Track: Global Mental Health
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Destination: Kenya
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Programs: Internship
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Dates: January, Summer
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Credit: 4 to 8 U.S. credit hours through Hamline University, GEI's school of record
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Eligibility: Any field and level of study
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
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ACADEMICS
A structured field course, taught in the field: six themed modules (foundations, social determinants, community-engaged interventions, systems and advocacy, trauma and resilience, applied project development), a community-engaged learning project with a module host organization, and assignments that build the competencies of global change leaders.
A cohort working inside a GEI flagship initiative, not a placement. Your cohort joins one of GEI's international development initiatives, works in one interdisciplinary team with local student peers, and sees its project through to completion. Global Mental Health students carry the core of the project: taking a school through a mental fitness assessment, whole-school awareness work, staff training with mental health specialists, and the responses the assessment calls for, handed over as a written plan the school keeps. The initiative continues after you leave.
Swahili, three to four classes a week with a local language school, plus field activities from market visits to a cooking lesson with a host family. Runs alongside the Independent Study Project.
Four kickstart days on methods and ethics, then your own project on a question that matters to a local organization, supervised by a local faculty member. A weekly Capstone Seminar with your cohort, a research paper, and a final presentation of your project and your Capstone portfolio. In the Global Mental Health track, projects typically work with a community mental health program, a school, or a social service organization on a question it needs answered.
Your Capstone runs through the whole program. You collect the work that shows your development across your courses, from field assignments to project findings, into a digital portfolio and present it at the end of the program. The portfolio is a requirement for the certificate.
A supervised internship with a host organization in one of the Global Mental Health fields: community mental health programs, social service and family support organizations, and psychosocial support NGOs, in areas from school and youth programs to family services, community outreach, and advocacy. You are matched to a host by your level of study, skills, and preferred field, with a placement description agreed before you arrive. Placements are non-clinical: interns support programs and people within the host's rules and their own scope of practice, and do not provide treatment. The course opens with four orientation days and adds three professional development site visits across the country's mental health and social services landscape, three cultural activities, a weekly meeting with your supervisor, a reflective journal, and a placement report.
There are no prerequisites for the study abroad programs. Students can be enrolled in any major or minor and at any level of university study. GEI tries to place students in cohorts with similar levels of study, which is not always possible. The Internship Program is generally open to sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students who have a theoretical foundation in their field, or by consent of the faculty sponsor. The Global Mental Health track suits social work, counseling, psychology, and human services students in particular.
GEI programs follow U.S. academic culture and standards. The pace is accelerated, the workload demanding, and the U.S. grading scale of A to F applies. What you hand in depends on your courses.
- Global Field Engagement: 6 module assignments in small groups, active participation in the community-engaged learning project, a weekly reflective journal, blog, or vlog, and a project report.
- Global Practicum: Active participation in the initiative, a weekly reflective journal, blog, or vlog, and a project report.
- Summer Program: In addition, a Capstone portfolio presented at the end of the program.
- Semester Program: In addition, the Language Intensive Course assessments, and in the Independent Study Project a research paper and a final presentation of your project and your Capstone portfolio.
- Internship Program: A minimum of 40 hours a week at your host organization, a weekly meeting with your supervisor, a weekly reflective journal, blog, or vlog, and a placement report with two or three work products.
Each study abroad course carries 180 contact hours and 4 U.S. credit hours (about 8 ECTS): 4 credits for the Short-Term Program, 8 for the Summer Program, and 16 for the Semester Program. The Internship Program carries 4 or more U.S. credit hours depending on its length. Credit is awarded through Hamline University, GEI's school of record, which issues the transcript, unless you receive credit via your home institution. The Summer Program leads to the Certificate in Global Mental Health and the Semester Program to the Certificate in Global Engagement with a concentration in Global Mental Health. Check with your academic advisor how many credits your degree program accepts.
All courses are taught in English. In the Semester Program you also study Swahili in the Language Intensive Course.
UNIQUE EXPERIENCES
Fieldwork in Kenya's mental health landscape
Students engage directly with Kenyan mental health practice: community mental health programs, social service and family support organizations, psychosocial support NGOs, and the professionals who work in them, seeing how a community cares for its own wellbeing.
A placement matched to you
Your host organization is chosen for your level of study, skills, and interests, with a placement description agreed before you arrive. GEI's in-country team supports you from orientation to your final report, and your supervisor meets you every week.
Students engage directly with Kenyan mental health practice: community mental health programs, social service and family support organizations, psychosocial support NGOs, and the professionals who work in them, seeing how a community cares for its own wellbeing.
A placement matched to you
Your host organization is chosen for your level of study, skills, and interests, with a placement description agreed before you arrive. GEI's in-country team supports you from orientation to your final report, and your supervisor meets you every week.
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HOUSING & MEALS
Housing is included in the program fee for the full length of your program. GEI Kenya offers different options, subject to availability:
Students in guesthouses, apartments, and residence halls cover their own meals outside course meals. More in the blog post: Accommodation – What to expect.
- Guesthouses: Shared double rooms, shared bathroom, no kitchen; breakfast is usually provided
- Homestays: Typically single rooms, shared bathroom, access to a kitchen and living room; host families usually provide breakfast and dinner
- Serviced apartments: Single or shared double rooms, shared bathroom, kitchen and living room
- University residence halls at GEI's partner universities: Shared double rooms, shared bathroom, no kitchen
Students in guesthouses, apartments, and residence halls cover their own meals outside course meals. More in the blog post: Accommodation – What to expect.
DATES, FEES, AND HOW TO APPLY
Application deadlines
Scholarships
KENYA
STAFF
GEI's full-time team in Nairobi hosts and supervises every cohort.
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