PEER SPECIALIST

Fairbanks Native Associ

About The Position

The Peer Specialist will provide mentorship, peer counseling, crisis response, and recovery navigation services for project participants and their families under a Recovery Community Services Grant that centers Alaska Native and American Indian values. Grounded in the Athabascan Recovery Model, this position supports individuals from intake through sustained recovery, integrating traditional values such as love for children, strong family relationships, self-sufficiency, care and provisioning for family, the practice of Native traditions, respect for elders and lived wisdom, and spirituality, and community sharing and caring. As part of a collaborative treatment team, the Peer Specialist will serve as a liaison between participants, families, and clinical staff to ensure culturally resonant behavioral health care. Duties include providing mentorship through lived experience, helping participants develop coping skills, strengthening family stability, and connecting individuals and families with community-based services. The Peer Specialist promotes recovery and wellness through a culturally grounded, relational approach that honors Alaska Native and Native American traditions and healing practices.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent.
One (1) years’ experience working with AN/AI population and experience providing culturally specific services.
Lived experience as a caregiver of a child who has experienced a mental health episode.
One year’s experience working in the mental health field.
Ability to complete Traditional Peer Support Training within one year and then seek State of Alaska Peer Support Specialist Certification.
A combination of experience, education, and training that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities may substitute for degree requirements.

Nice To Haves

Peer Support certification.
Associates’ degree in behavioral health, human services, or related field.
Experience working with adults 18+ who experience SUD and/or MI.

Responsibilities

Facilitates Talking Circles using evidence-based family training in traditional ways aligning with treatment schedule. Groups are youth, adults, and family members.
Oversees community services activities.
Shares lived experience with consumers and families.
Shares experience with navigating mental health system.
Provides consumers with recovery support in the Recovery Center.
Provides linkage to housing and/or recovery housing.
Provides trauma-informed care and care navigation to culturally specific services.
Supports consumers during their treatment experience providing positive feedback and hope.
Ensures adherence to data collection requirements and enters accurate and timely data into the Electronic Health Record (EHR).
Develops billing records.
Oversees safety and security of consumers in Recovery Center.
Attends mandatory position training that provides training in risk factors as designated by Project Manager and/or Clinical Supervisor.
Maintains consumer confidentiality in accordance with 42 CFR Part 2 and HIPPA.
Attends all required staff meetings.
Performs other job-related duties as assigned.