Peer Support Specialist

VitalCore Health Strategies • Racine, WI

4d • Onsite

About The Position

VitalCore Health Strategies is hiring a full-time Peer Support Specialist at Racine County Jail in Racine, Wisconsin. The Peer Support Specialist is an active member of the Behavioral Health Acute and Residential Program and provides peer support to clients with serious behavioral illnesses. The role serves as a model of personal recovery and effective coping, advocates for clients, and shares consumer information and peer support in outpatient and inpatient settings. The specialist helps individuals regain independence and take greater control of their recovery, using recovery resources such as booklets, tapes, pamphlets, and other written materials.

The position supports clients in setting and pursuing self-directed recovery goals, developing wellness and recovery plans, learning problem-solving and coping strategies, and accessing vocational, housing, and community resources. The specialist draws on personal experience with behavioral health services and recovery to support and encourage clients, including through individual and group sessions and role modeling. Work is scheduled Monday through Friday.

Requirements

• Knowledge of the recovery process and ability to facilitate recovery using established standardized behavioral health processes.
• Knowledge and skill in teaching and engaging clients in basic problem-solving strategies that support self-directed recovery.
• Knowledge of signs and symptoms of behavioral illness, including hallucinations, aggressive talk or behavior, thoughts of self-harm or harm to others, and isolation, and ability to help clients address symptoms using strategies such as positive self-talk.
• Knowledge and skills to use community resources that support independent living, and ability to teach those skills to individuals with severe behavioral illness.
• Knowledge of how to establish and sustain self-help (mutual support) and educational groups by soliciting input from behavioral health consumers about their strengths and interests.
• Peer Support Certification (CPRS) required.

Responsibilities

• Help clients articulate personal recovery goals through individual and group sessions.
• Support clients in identifying goals and developing recovery plans based on their skills, strengths, support, and resources.
• Help clients work with their Qualified Behavioral Health Professional and treatment team to determine steps toward their goals and self-directed recovery.
• Use tools such as the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) to help clients create individual wellness and recovery plans.
• With treatment team members, teach and use problem-solving techniques with individuals and groups.
• Share personal behavioral health and recovery experiences, including skills, strengths, supports, and resources used in recovery.
• Support clients’ vocational choices, help match jobs to their strengths, address job-related anxiety, review applications, and provide interview tips.
• Help clients build social skills that support job acquisition and retention.
• Teach and model respect for each individual’s recovery experience and demonstrate effective coping and self-help strategies.
• Help clients identify affordable housing and work with community agencies to support transitions after release.
• Advocate for effective recovery-based services that assist clients with daily living.
• Provide information about community resources and support groups suited to clients’ recovery needs, and explain how to use community and natural supports.
• Help clients develop empowerment and self-advocacy skills and combat stigma.
• Use role-playing and modeling to give clients opportunities to practice handling problems and interactions with others.
• Facilitate recovery using established behavioral health processes and support clients in recognizing and addressing behavioral illness symptoms.

Benefits

• Holiday pay for New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
• Medical insurance.
• Dental insurance.
• Vision insurance.
• Health Savings Account.
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account.
• Life insurance.
• Short-term and long-term disability coverage.
• Identity theft protection.
• Pet insurance.
• Employee Assistance Program and Discount Center.
• 401(k) with plan matching.
• Paid time off (PTO).
• Annual incentive bonus.
• Competitive wages.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Education Level: No Education Listed