Mental Health App Alongside Welcomes 15 Teen Interns to Help Develop AI-enabled Features
A national cohort of high school students will be paid to work with Alongside’s team of clinicians on new product features and improvements
SEATTLE (June 11, 2024) – Alongside, a clinician-powered and AI-enabled mental health solution, today announces its 2024 paid summer internship cohort: 15 selected high schoolers across nine states and Puerto Rico. Student interns will directly inform upgrades to the mental health app’s content and functionality, core to the Alongside mission of developing solutions for teens by teens.
“Mental health is such a personal thing and so interconnected with your identity. It can be difficult for adults to understand the full picture of how to help,” said Niku Sedarat, former Alongside intern and current youth consultant at Alongside. “When you think of it that way, we as teens have a lot of insight we can share in helping shape a product that’s going to help our peers—that’s the opportunity you have as a student intern at Alongside.”
The fully remote internship will run from June 17 to August 9 for 20 hours per week. Interns will complete three different rotations throughout the program, working on projects such as creating a prototype for a new app feature, improving the AI-supported chatbot, and developing videos that provide education about mental wellness. As the culminating project, the student interns will be planning and hosting an online panel discussion with Alongside’s clinicians on August 7 titled “Inside Out: Clinicians and Interns Flip the Script on Youth Mental Health.”
2024 interns include budding mental health advocates like Haleigh Bledsoe from Fayetteville, NC who is working on a project that aims to create a safe space for foster kids in her community; Maya Morales from Elmhurst, IL who volunteers to provide support for immigrant families in the Chicago area; and Priya Anthony from Saint Louis, MO who recently started her own non-profit that focuses on the impact of art and mental health that is “for kids by kids.”
The full Alongside 2024 Summer Intern Cohort includes:
- Aditya U., Age 17, San Ramon, CA
- Amber J., Age 17, Fayetteville, NC
- Brianna S., Age 17, Palatka, FL
- Caroline K., Age 17, Hoboken, NJ
- Haleigh B., Age 16, Fayetteville NC
- Jessica B., Age 18, Seattle, WA
- Jessica F., Age 16, Fayetteville, NC
- Kiven N, Age 15, Carolina, Puerto Rico
- Levi N., Age 17, Oceanside CA
- Maya M., Age 16, Elmhurst IL
- Nevval O., Age 16, Edison, NJ
- Nola H., Age 14, Tijeras, NM
- Priya A., Age 16, Saint Louis MO
- Roy S., Age 17, Grand Prairie, TX
- Veda K., Age 14, San Ramon, CA
Previous interns at Alongside have made a lasting impact on the app’s design and usage. For example, the mood tracker feature, which allows students to record and track their moods over time, was originally pitched by interns in the inaugural 2023 program and is now a live feature on the app. Further, all current chat modules have been reviewed and edited by teen interns.
“We are thrilled to welcome this new cohort of high schoolers and with it, fresh student voices passionate about facilitating our work in destigmatizing and supporting the mental health of their peers,” said Dr. Blanca Jaure, LPCC, LADAC, who directs the intern program and serves as clinical research and development manager with Alongside. “We know that our work would not be as effective without their direct input, and we’re proud to collaborate with—and learn from—teens on one of the biggest issues facing their generation: the global youth mental health crisis.”
Learn more about Alongside’s student interns here as well as register for Inside Out: Clinicians and Interns Flip the Script on Youth Mental Health, the intern-organized webinar on August 7.
About Alongside
Alongside is a web-based mental health app that provides tier 1 mental health prevention and early intervention support to secondary school students. Alongside is self-directed and available 24/7 in 36 languages, allowing students to get the help they need when they need it. Students can learn over 125 clinical strategies that are foundational for building mental health resilience across social, emotional, and behavioral domains. In addition, students receive immediate support through engaging with Alongside’s chatbot and in-app resources, created by a team of doctoral mental health experts and directly informed by evidenced-based clinical models.. The founders of Alongside previously founded Actively Learn, a K-12 digital curriculum company which was acquired by McGraw Hill in 2021. Learn more by visiting www.alongside.care.
Media contact
Margot Toppen, Director of Marketing at Alongside
margot@alongside.care
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