Peer Specialist

Services For The Underserved, Inc. • New York, NY

15d • $40,000 - $50,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Essential Job Functions:
• Outreach/Engagement/Bridge Building: Helping to facilitate engagement by forging strong connectionswith participants and families residing in Harlem/Bronx and surrounding communities. Undertakingoutreach activities designed to promote community awareness of S:US services, encouraging help-seeking, and at times serving as a bridge between treatment team members and participants when theyexperience ambivalence about substance use treatment (including Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)and outpatient Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment).
• Combating Overdose: Peer Specialists will be certified to train and distribute Naloxone kits to individualsand their family members.
• Relationship Building: Developing authentic, meaningful relationships with individuals and familiesthrough 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 multipleframeworks for understanding life experiences such as substance use and psychosis with participants andthe rest of the S:US team. Peer Specialists intentionally use language in the service of listening tounderstand 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 andon the team.
• Co-Creating Support and Wellness Tools: Collaborate with participants to clarify their personal visionsand develop their wellness toolkit. Along with other team members, Peer Specialists support participantsin strengthening their self-awareness, building life skills, and connecting to resources and communityoutside of the S:US team.
• Influencing Team Culture: Whenever possible, positively influencing the team culture by advocating forclients, promoting a youth friendly approach and encouraging the use of recovery oriented language. S:USPeer Specialists also work actively within the team itself to help build an environment that operates froma belief in the human potential to grow and an understanding of human diversity.
• Team Communication: Peer Specialists maintain open and frequent communication with the team. Thisincludes reporting safety and other concerns to the team. Peer Specialists will also keep notes on visitswith program participants as required by the provider agency. In the spirit of peer support, co-collaborating on reporting with the program participant is encouraged.
Hybrid Schedule Opportunity

Requirements

• Certified Recovery Peer Advocate (or Provisional) Certification required.
• Ideally the Peer Specialist is a young adult or that the candidate relates well to young people
• The Peer Specialist should have an understanding of 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
• Two years of active participation in substance use/mental health self-help activities, peer support or peer advocacy programs, or participant run organizations or similar experiences or programs required
• 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 substance use/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 engage clients at shelters, in their community and other settings is required; 75%.

Responsibilities

• Outreach/Engagement/Bridge Building: Helping to facilitate engagement by forging strong connectionswith participants and families residing in Harlem/Bronx and surrounding communities. Undertakingoutreach activities designed to promote community awareness of S:US services, encouraging help-seeking, and at times serving as a bridge between treatment team members and participants when theyexperience ambivalence about substance use treatment (including Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)and outpatient Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment).
• Combating Overdose: Peer Specialists will be certified to train and distribute Naloxone kits to individualsand their family members.
• Relationship Building: Developing authentic, meaningful relationships with individuals and familiesthrough 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 multipleframeworks for understanding life experiences such as substance use and psychosis with participants andthe rest of the S:US team. Peer Specialists intentionally use language in the service of listening tounderstand 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 andon the team.
• Co-Creating Support and Wellness Tools: Collaborate with participants to clarify their personal visionsand develop their wellness toolkit. Along with other team members, Peer Specialists support participantsin strengthening their self-awareness, building life skills, and connecting to resources and communityoutside of the S:US team.
• Influencing Team Culture: Whenever possible, positively influencing the team culture by advocating forclients, promoting a youth friendly approach and encouraging the use of recovery oriented language. S:USPeer Specialists also work actively within the team itself to help build an environment that operates froma belief in the human potential to grow and an understanding of human diversity.
• Team Communication: Peer Specialists maintain open and frequent communication with the team. Thisincludes reporting safety and other concerns to the team. Peer Specialists will also keep notes on visitswith program participants as required by the provider agency. In the spirit of peer support, co-collaborating on reporting with the program participant is encouraged.

Benefits

• Join a team of employees who care about the wellbeing of others.
• We believe in fostering a culture built on our core values: respect, integrity, support, maximizing individual potential and continuous quality improvement.
• From health and wellness resources to generous PTO, professional development, and more, explore all that we offer on our Benefits Page and see how S:US invests in you.
• We believe in fostering a culture built on our core values: respect, integrity, support, maximizing individual potential and continuous quality improvement.
• All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information and including all other statuses protected by Federal, State and Local laws.
• S:US is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities, including allowance of the use of services animals.
• To request reasonable accommodation or if you believe such a request was improperly handled or denied, contact the Leave Team at [email protected].

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees