May 2025
Practicum students who are interested: please review this form and email your resume to Dr. Kim Decker at kidecker@iu.edu to schedule an interview.
| Organization Name & Mission | The Aldrich Project is managed through the IU School of Nursing which is focused on substance use prevention and mental health promotion in school-age children. |
| Supervisor | Kim Decker, PhD, RN, CNS, Clinical Associate Professor |
| Supervisor’s phone | (317) 919-1614 |
| Supervisor’s email | kidecker@iu.edu |
| Project description | Students will work collaboratively with the IU Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, IU School of Public Health, IU School of Nursing &/or IU School of Social Work students to oversee the implementation (by these IPE students) of an evidence-based substance use prevention and mental health promotion program, called Second Step, in elementary schools & middle schools located in Monroe County as well in schools for a few surrounding counties. |
| Student responsibilities | Students will serve as mentors for the individual students to ensure training implementation, analyze fidelity of the Second Step program, assist in classroom management, and comprehension of learning objectives. They will also implement the Second Step program in the classroom with other IPE students. |
| Work schedule On Tuesdays | For Fall 2025: the training will take place on Tuesday, August 26th and Tuesday, Sept. 2nd. The evidence-based substance use prevention and mental health promotion program implementation in the schools will begin Tuesday, Sept. 9tht through Tuesday, Nov. 11th – snow days dependent. This implementation begins around 8 am and ends at 5:30 pm. |
| Qualifications | A strong ability (willingness) to work with school-age children with excellent interpersonal skills. Teamwork and collaboration are needed to successfully complete the project. |
| Benefits for the student | Students will work directly with an interprofessional health sciences team to potentially prevent substance use and improve mental health in school-age children. The students will gain an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of other health science professionals. In addition, this will afford the opportunity for students to lead an evidence-based practice project. |
| Application process | Please contact Kim Decker at kidecker@iu.edu for further information, along with your resume, to schedule an interview. There is no application process. |
| Other information | The student will need a background check (cost is ~$16) to work with the school-age children in the schools. |