Peer Specialist

Services for the Underserved•New York, NY

17d•$45,000 - $50,000

About The Position

SCOPE OF ROLE: The Peer Specialist facilitates engagement with teams by forging strong connections with participants and families, undertaking outreach activities designed to promote community awareness of S:US services, encouraging help-seeking, and at times serving as a bridge between team members and participants when they experience ambivalence about treatment.

Requirements

Pursuit of Certified Recovery Peer Advocate Certification required; Provisional acceptable
It is preferable that the individual’s lived experience of mental health challenges includes experience with psychosis during youth
Two years of active participation in mental health self-help activities, peer support or peer advocacy programs, or participant run organizations or similar experiences or programs required
Ideally the Peer Specialist is a young adult or that the candidate relates well to young people
The Peer Specialist should understand the community in which the team is based with an awareness of available community resources
The Peer Specialist should also be someone who has made positive and productive progress toward his or her own recovery
Demonstrate good interpersonal communications skills and the ability to empathize with, relate to and effectively work with participants of mental health services
Must possess the ability/ willingness to disclose their recovery story (where appropriate) for the purposes of empowerment
Excellent judgment/ ability to understand boundaries when working with participants of mental health services is required
Adhere to on call cell phone system to facilitate crisis intervention, emergencies and other situations that require immediate action.
Significant travel to visit clients in their home and other settings is required; 75%.

Nice To Haves

Certified Peer Recovery Advocate – Provisional Certification.
Bilingual English/Spanish is a plus.

Responsibilities

Relationship Building: Developing authentic, meaningful relationships with individuals and families through empathy, sharing experiences, listening and collaborating with genuine curiosity and interest.
Embracing Creative Narratives: Peer Specialists need to be able to understand, share and discuss multiple frameworks for understanding life experiences such as psychosis with participants and the rest of the S:US team. Peer Specialists intentionally use language in the service of listening to understand and making space for complex personal stories of recovery and resilience.
Advocacy: Peer Specialists advocate with and for program participants both in the larger community and on the team.
Co-Creating Support and Wellness Tools: Collaborate with participants to clarify their personal visions and develop their wellness toolkit. Along with other team members, Peer Specialists support participants in strengthening their self-awareness, building life skills, and connecting to resources and community outside of the S:US team.
Influencing Team Culture: Whenever possible, positively influencing the team culture by advocating for clients, promoting a youth friendly approach and encouraging the use of recovery-oriented language. S:US Peer Specialists also work actively within the team itself to help build an environment that operates from a belief in the human potential to grow and an understanding of human diversity.