Peer Specialist

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

6d•$45,000 - $50,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Peer Specialist role focuses on engaging participants and their families through outreach and bridge-building, fostering strong connections within the Harlem/Bronx communities. A key responsibility is combating overdose by training and distributing Naloxone kits. The role involves building authentic relationships through empathy and shared experiences, and embracing creative narratives to understand life experiences like substance use and psychosis. Peer Specialists act as advocates for program participants within the community and the team, and collaborate with participants to co-create support and wellness tools, strengthening life skills and connecting them to community resources. They also aim to positively influence team culture by advocating for clients, promoting a youth-friendly approach, and encouraging recovery-oriented language. Maintaining open communication with the team, reporting concerns, and documenting visits are also essential, with co-collaboration on reporting encouraged.

Requirements

NYCPS Provisional or Certified.
Understand the community in which the team is based with an awareness of available community resources.
Must have made positive and productive progress toward his or her own recovery.
Demonstrate good interpersonal communications skills.
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.
Field work in the community required, i.e., visit clients in their home, meeting clients in the community; 50%.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual English/Spanish is a plus.

Responsibilities

Facilitate engagement by forging strong connections with participants and families.
Undertake outreach activities to promote community awareness of S:US services and encourage help-seeking.
Serve as a bridge between treatment team members and participants when they experience ambivalence about substance use treatment.
Train and distribute Naloxone kits to individuals and their family members to combat overdose.
Develop authentic, meaningful relationships with individuals and families through empathy, sharing experiences, listening, and collaborating.
Understand, share, and discuss multiple frameworks for understanding life experiences such as substance use and psychosis with participants and the S:US team.
Use language intentionally in the service of listening to understand and making space for complex personal stories of recovery and resilience.
Advocate with and for program participants both in the larger community and on the team.
Collaborate with participants to clarify their personal visions and develop their wellness toolkit.
Support participants in strengthening their self-awareness, building life skills, and connecting to resources and community outside of the S:US team.
Positively influence the team culture by advocating for clients, promoting a youth-friendly approach, and encouraging the use of recovery-oriented language.
Help build an environment that operates from a belief in the human potential to grow and an understanding of human diversity.
Maintain open and frequent communication with the team.
Report safety and other concerns to the team.
Keep notes on visits with program participants as required by the provider agency.
Co-collaborate on reporting with the program participant.