Adult Peer Support Specialist

Job Title: Adult Peer Support Specialist

Qualifications: Must have good oral and written communication skills. The peer specialist may have a college degree in a human services field, high school diploma. Have experience as a recipient of mental health services and/or substance abuse services and is willing to use and share his or her personal, practical experience, knowledge, and first-hand insight to benefit the team and it’s consumers. Submit to and pass a background check and drug screen.

Summary

The Certified Peer Support Specialist functions as a fully integrated team member to provide expertise about the recovery process, symptom management, and the persistence required by consumers to have a satisfying life. The Certified Peer Support Specialist collaborates to promote a team culture that recognizes, understands, and respects each consumer’s point of view, experiences, and preferences. The Peer Support Specialist is responsible to maximize consumer choice, self-determination and decision-making in the planning, delivery and evaluation of treatment, rehabilitation and support services. Provides peer counseling and consultation to individual consumers, families, and team staff; acts as a liason with community resources; carries out rehabilitation and support functions; and assists in treatment, substance abuse services, education, support and consultation to families, and crisis intervention under the clinical supervision of staff with professional degrees. When the Certified Peer Support Specialist has appropriate professional credentials, he or she may perform professional duties and clinical supervision.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Provide peer counseling and support, drawing on common experiences as a peer, to validate consumers; experiences and to provide guidance and encouragement to consumers to take responsibility and actively participate in their own recovery.

Serve as a mentor to consumers to promote hope and empowerment.

Act as an interpreter to help non-mental health consumer team members better understand and empathize with each consumer’s unique and subjective experience and perceptions.

Provide expertise and consultation from a substance abuse consumer perspective to the entire team concerning consumers’ experiences on symptoms of mental illness, the effects and side-effects of medications, consumers’ responses to and opinions of treatment, and consumers’ experiences of recovery.

Collaborate with the team to promote a team culture in which each consumer’s point of view, experiences, and preferences are recognized, understood, and respected, and in which consumer self-determination and decision-making in treatment planning are maximized and supported.

Helps consumers identify, understand, and combat stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness and develop strategies to reduce self-stigma.

Help other team members identify and understand culture-wide stigma and discrimination against people with mental illness and develop strategies to eliminate stigma within the team.

Collaborate with the team to ensure the protection of consumers’ rights in order to help consumers to improve their knowledge of consumer rights and grievance or compliant procedures.

Collaborate with the team to help consumers learn about pertinent grievance procedures and support consumers with filing, mediating, and resolving complaints.

Increase awareness of and support consumer participation in consumer self-help programs and consumer advocacy organizations that promote recovery.

Serve as the liaison between the team and consumer-run programs such as self-help groups and drop-in centers.

Shared duties in the provision of treatment and substance abuse services.

Provide an average of 50% direct billable time per month as established by the Agency.

Additional Responsibilities

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 will be made to enable the individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physically able to reach, push, pull, stoop, bend, stand, walk and lift up to 20 pounds.
• Possess a valid Driver’s License and maintain a safe driving record if required for job performance.

Required Job Skills

• Willing to work flexible hours and to travel within the region serves. Good communication and writing potential, with the ability to communicate and relate well to parents, children, and professionals, including ability to listen well, to negotiate, and to remain objective.
• A non-judgmental attitude toward mental health & substance abuse consumers.
• Ability to work with families from diverse cultural, religious, racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Demonstrate flexibility and problem-solving skills-ability to deal with situations that arise.
• Personal characteristics that include commonsense, ability to adhere to policies, procedures and code of ethics, healthy boundaries, enthusiastic, team player, willingness to learn, open minded, ability to transfer leadership in an empowering way.

Work Environment

The work environment characteistics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations must be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee occasionall works in outside weather conditions, may be off-site from normal office location or placed at a Residential Program.

The noise level in the work environment is mild to moderate.

Environmental Data and Job Hazards

• Hours of work are structured 7.5-8.0 hour blocks of time but may be subject to irresgular and/or flexible hours based on needs or demands.
• Position may require duties to include routine or reasonable anticipated taske or procedures where there is a degree of actual or potential exposure to blood or other infectious materials.
• All staff are required to participate in yearly trainings regarding infection control and safety in the environment including hazardous waste and bloodborne pathogens.
• All new staff must attend training regarding handling physical, verbal threats, acts of violence or other escalating and potentially dangerous situations including when police need to be summoned.
• All staff must be certified in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation within one month of employment and maintain the certification, if providing direct care. First Aid training may be required.

Psychiatric Treatment and Dual Diagnosis Substance Abuse Services

Assist in the provision of ongoing assessment of consumers’ mental illness symptoms and consumers’ response to treatment. Suggest appropriate changes in treatment plans to ensure that immediate and appropriate interventions are  provided in response to changes in consumers’ mental status or behavior in which put consumers’ mental status or behavior in which put consumer at risk (e.g., suicidality)

Assist in the provision of direct clinical services to consumers on an individual, group, and family basis in the office and in community settings to teach symptom-management techniques and promote personal growth and development by assisting consumers to cope with internal and external stresses.

Assist in the provision of individual and group treatment in the office and in community settings in a stage based treatment model that is non-confrontational, considers interactions of mental illness and substance abuse, and has consumer-determined goals.

Shared duties with clinical and support staff in the provision of rehabilitation services.

Structuring Time and Employment

Perform mentoring, problem solving, encouragement and support on and off the job site.

Provide work-related supportive services, such as assistance securing necessary clothing and grooming supplies, wake-up calls transportation.

Activities of Daily Living Services

Provide ongoing assessment, problem solving, side-by-side services, skill teaching, support (prompts assignments, encouragement), and environmental adaptations to assist consumers with activities of daily living.

Assist consumers to find and maintain a safe and affordable place to live, apartment hunting, finding a roommate, landlord negotiations, cleaning, furnishings, decorating, and procuring necessities (telephone, furniture, utility hook-up).

Assist and support consumers to organize and perform household activities, including house cleaning and laundry.

Assist and support consumers with personal hygiene and grooming tasks.

Provide nutrition education and assistance with meal planning, grocery shopping and food preparation.

Ensure that consumers have adequate financial support (help to gain employment and apply for entitlements).

Teach money-management skills (budgeting and paying bills) and assist consumers in accessing financial services (e.g., professional financial counseling, emergency loan services).

Help consumers to access reliable transportation (obtain a driver’s license, car and car insurance, arrange for cabs, use public transportation, find rides).

Assist and support consumers to have and effectively use a personal primary care physician, dentist, and other medical specialists as required.

Social and Interpersonal Relationships and Leisure Time

Provide side-by-side support, coaching and encouragement to help consumers socialize (going with a consumer to community activities, including activities offered by consumer-run peer support organizations).

Assist consumers to plan and carry out leisure time activities on evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Organize and lead individual and group social and recreational activities to help consumers structure their time, increase social experiences, and provide opportunities to practice social skills.

Support

Provide practical help and supports, mentoring, advocacy, coordination, side-by-side individualized support, problem solving, direct assistance and supervision to help consumers obtain the necessities of daily living including medical and dental health care; legal and advocacy services; financial support such as entitlements (SSI, SSDI, veterans’ benefits); housing subsidies (HUD Section 8); money-management services(e.g., payee services); and transportation.

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