Internships and Practicums

Interning with VR is an excellent opportunity to gain knowledge, skills and insights into the field of Vocational Rehabilitation. We invite Rehabilitation Counseling (or related field) students or Sign Language Interpreting students to apply for internships with experienced vocational rehabilitation professionals.

Sign Language Interpreting Internships

Vocational Rehabilitation welcomes student interns from Sign Language Interpreting programs.

Things to Know

The steps involved in being a VR intern takes time. Begin this process the semester prior to needing your internship.
Unpaid internships and practicums may be available for those who are graduate or undergraduate level students in interpreter training programs.
All internships and practicums require approved background check and fingerprinting for the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) and Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
Frequently Asked Questions

How Interested Student Get Started:

Complete a State of Florida Application. Do not leave any blank fields including current and previous positions.
Complete a Staff Interpreter Questionnaire.
Complete a Volunteer Application.
Email your resume and three completed forms to Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deafblind VR Administrator Cecil Bradley at: Cecil.Bradley@vr.fldoe.org.

How Interested Universities Get Started

Have your student complete the State of Florida Application, Staff Interpreter Questionnaire and Volunteer Application
Contact Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deafblind VR Administrator Cecil Bradley at: Cecil.Bradley@vr.fldoe.org to start drafting an agreement between the university and VR.

VR Counseling Internships and Practicums

Unpaid internships and practicum opportunities are available. Undergraduate or graduate-level students may be required to take a practicum as an additional credit course in order to meet degree requirements, generally 10 hours per week. A practicum is a hybrid between an actual credit course and an internship. The practicum combines standard classroom coursework with real world experience within their field of study, while earning credit hours toward their degree. The practicum allows the student to master skills learned in the classroom.

In some cases, a graduate student may do one semester as a VR practicum student volunteer, and then the next semester work as a paid VR intern. In these cases, the student transitions from a volunteer placement to an OPS employee depending upon available OPS funding.

There may also be times when a student requests a VR internship but may choose for it to be unpaid, or if the VR internship program has spent the annual budget allocation for paid VR internships. In these situation, the student could work as an unpaid intern volunteer.

For VR's purposes, we define unpaid internships and practicums as unpaid volunteer work. Volunteers do not participate in state group health insurance or the state retirement system.
No unpaid intern volunteer or practicum student volunteer can begin working until the background screening has been approved by the FDOE Office of the Inspector General.

Things to Know

The steps involved in being a VR intern takes time. Begin this process the semester prior to needing your internship.
Limited paid internships may be available for master's level interns from Florida universities along with unpaid internships. Practicums are always unpaid.
All internships and practicums (paid or unpaid) require an approved background check and fingerprinting.
Frequently Asked Questions

How Interested Students Get Started:

Complete a State of Florida Application. Do not leave any blank fields including current and previous positions.
Complete an Internship Questionnaire.
Email your resume and completed Internship Questionnaire to Lindsay Rassoull at:Lindsay.Rassoull@vr.fldoe.org.

How Interested Universities Get Started:

Have your student complete the State of Florida Application and Internship Questionnaire.
Contact Lindsay Rassoull at: Lindsay.Rassoull@vr.fldoe.org to start the agreement between the university and VR.