Peer Specialist

Job Type

Description

Days Off: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Shift: Day (6:30am - 5:00pm)

Insurance Benefits: Dental, Life, Long-term Disability, Medical (no premiums/payroll deductions for employee coverage)

Other Benefits: Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), ORCA card subsidy, Paid Time Off (34 days per year), Retirement Plan

Union Representation: This position is a part of a union and is represented by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.

About DESC:

DESC (Downtown Emergency Service Center) is a nonprofit organization working to help people with the complex needs of homelessness, substance use disorders, and serious mental illness achieve their highest potential for health and well-being through comprehensive services, treatment, and housing. Our vision is a community where no person is abandoned, ignored, or experiencing homelessness.

As the region's leading provider of services to multiply disabled adults who have experienced chronic homelessness, DESC serves almost 3,000 people each day. Our integrated service model is designed to help people secure and maintain appropriate, safe and affordable housing. DESC is recognized nationally and regionally as an innovator in developing solutions to homelessness.

JOB DEFINITION:

Peer specialists are individuals who self-identify as persons with mental illness. They are well established in their own recovery and provide expertise that professional training cannot replicate. Peer specialists provide consultation to the team to promote a culture in which each client's point of view and preferences are recognized, understood, respected and integrated into treatment, recovery and community self-help activities.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Participate as a member of a multi-disciplinary team providing outreach, engagement and support of on-going case management services to mentally ill adults.
• Integrate personal experience with mental illness into work with program participants.
• Utilize a Recovery based approach to assist consumers to reach their fullest potential.
• Assist case managers in coordinating consumer supports and linkage. This includes: facilitating access to food, clothing, hygiene services, medical care, community resources and services.
• Advocate for clients' access to community resources and services, ensuring that clients' needs are met and rights maintained; consult and collaborate with community providers to ensure continuity of care.
• Plan and facilitate consumer meetings with the purpose of eliciting consumer input regarding mental health program performance and to assure the consumer perspective is well-understood and reported back to the team.
• Participate in crisis intervention and safety management tasks.
• Assist consumers with voicing their interests and goals through a variety of channels including: Goal Plans, Crisis Plans, WRAP and other methods of expressing individual preferences for their recovery goals.
• Participate in the planning, organizing and co-facilitating of self-help and educational group treatment services for consumers served by the mental health program.
• Assess consumers ADL's (Activities of Daily Living), working with other clinical staff to plan for gaps in the consumers' skill base.
• Participate in psychiatric consultation, supervision, program meetings and in-service trainings; participate in clinical reviews and case conferences for consumers as scheduled.
• Comply with the agency's clinical accountability policies and procedures; maintain current and complete clinical and administrative records; participate in quality assurance reviews when assigned.
• Comply with applicable program research and evaluation procedures.
• Promote and maintain positive relationships with the surrounding neighborhood.
• Participate in verbal de-escalation and physical interventions in emergent situations and be willing and able to assist other staff as needed to maintain a safe and secure environment.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Lived experience as a consumer of behavioral health services (mental health and/or substance use treatment) or be the parent or legal guardian of a child who has received behavioral health services.
• Ability to obtain Certified Peer Specialist certification from the Washington State Peer Counselor Training Program within 60 days of employment.
• Ability to meet Washington Department of Health requirements for registration as an Agency Affiliated Counselor (AAC) or any other superseding credential
• Interest in working with clients who are difficult to engage and maintain in traditional mental health/substance use disorder programs.
• Be willing to seek to understand each client's unique circumstances and personal preferences and goals and incorporate them into the crisis response to help the client regain a sense of control.
• Assist clients in accessing internal resources to reinforce the client's ability to resolve crisis on their own.
• Assist clients in identifying unmet needs that may be causing them to have recurrent crisis.
• Have a strong understanding of recovery and resilience, the value of client partnerships and client choice, and the balance between protection from harm and personal dignity.
• Strong knowledge of relevant community resources and methods for accessing them.
• Possess strong communication and writing skills.
• Ability to work flexible hours as required by program and staffing needs.
• Experience working with adults disabled by mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders.
• Interest or experience in working with consumers who are difficult to engage and maintain in traditional mental health programs.
• Knowledge of Recovery focused, strengths based work in mental health.
• Ability to communicate and work effectively with consumers and staff from various backgrounds.
• Ability to work effectively with clients displaying a wide range of unpleasant and/or bizarre behavior.
• Subscribe to the philosophy of cooperation and continuity across programs and of consideration and respect for consumers.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Has current Certified Peer Specialist certification from the Washington State Peer Counselor Training Program. (Applicants who meet this qualification are eligible for a higher pay scale)
• Knowledge of de-escalation skills, crisis intervention & stabilization, and harm reduction strategies, preferred.
• Bi-cultural background/experience is helpful.
• Strong applicants are able to demonstrate the ability to be positive in their empathetic responses to all persons; understand the value of meaningful and deep client engagement; have the potential to acquire the necessary knowledge, attitudes and skills of an effective crisis worker; and value a non-judgmental response to sensitive issues. Candidates should be able to accept feedback and work in a highly collaborative and potentially stressful environment.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee will be required to sit for long periods of time, walk when completing rounds several times a day, move quickly during de-escalations, communicate with other persons by talking and hearing, and lift and carry items weighing up to 25 pounds and to operate computer hardware systems. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER:

DESC is committed to diversity in the workplace and promotes equal employment opportunities for all staff members and applicants. The Agency will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, caste, marital status, or the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability in any employment practice, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification. Minorities and veterans are encouraged to apply.

Salary Description