Peer Support Specialist

Position Summary

The Peer Support Specialist (PSS) is an active member of the Behavioral Health Acute and Residential Program and provides peer support services to clients with serious behavioral illnesses. The PSS functions as a role model to peers, exhibits competency in personal recovery and uses coping skills; serves as a consumer advocate, providing consumer information and peer support for clients in outpatient and inpatient settings. The PSS performs a wide range of tasks to assist individuals in regaining independence within the general population and mastering their own recovery process.

Benefits

• Holiday Pay: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day
• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Health Savings Account
• Dependent Care
• Flexible Spending Account
• Life Insurance
• Short Term/Long Term Disability
• Identity Theft Protection
• Pet Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program and Discount Center
• 401K & Plan Matching
• PTO

Essential Functions

• Aid clients in articulating personal goals for recovery through one-to-one and group sessions.
• Support clients in identifying and creating goals and developing recovery plans with the skills, strengths, support, and resources to aid them in achieving those goals.
• Aid clients in working with their Qualified Behavioral Health Professional and treatment team in determining the steps they need to take in order to achieve their goals and self-directed recovery.
• Utilize tools such as the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) to assist clients in creating their own individual wellness and recovery plans.
• Teach and model the value of every individual’s recovery experience.
• Assist clients in building social skills in the general population that will enhance job acquisition and tenure.
• Inform clients on community and natural support and how to use these in the recovery process.
• Teach and engage in basic problem-solving strategies to support individual clients in self-directed recovery.
• Teach and engage in basic problem-solving strategies to support individual clients in self-directed recovery.
• Model effective coping techniques and self-help strategies.
• Serve as a recovery agent by providing and advocating for any effective recovery-based services that will aid the client in daily living.
• Has the vision to redefine benchmarks for the industry utilizing core values, strong partnerships, effective clinical practices, and innovative healthcare strategies.
• Aid in obtaining services upon release that suit the individual’s recovery needs by providing community resources and groups that may be useful.

Minimum Requirements

• Knowledge of the Recovery process and the ability to facilitate recovery using established standardized Behavioral Health processes.
• Knowledge and skill to teach and engage in basic problem-solving strategies to support individual clients in self-directed recovery.
• Knowledge of the signs and symptoms of behavioral illness (i.e. auditory and visual hallucinations, aggressive talk and behavior, thoughts of self-harm or harm towards others, isolation) and the ability to assist the client to address symptoms using strategies such as positive self-talk.
• Knowledge and skills sufficient to use community resources necessary for independent living and ability to teach those skills to other 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 on their strengths and interests.
• Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPRS)