Safe Ride Crisis Specialist

Frontline outreach worker deployed along the CTA Blue Line between Forest Park and Austin. This field-based role involves working on trains, platforms, and in stations to engage with people in distress, providing immediate, skilled, and compassionate response. Operates under the supervision of a Clinical Lead and alongside a small outreach team, with real-time telepsychiatry backup from WOVEN Clinics for high-acuity encounters. Structured supervision, clinical support, and staff wellbeing are core program priorities.

About the Role

We are looking for individuals with direct experience in street outreach, harm reduction, peer support, mobile crisis, or community health work. Ideal candidates understand the realities of this work and have:

• A record in street outreach, harm reduction, peer support, mobile crisis, or community health work
• Familiarity with how mental health crises present and how to engage without escalating situations
• Lived experience of homelessness, substance use, mental health challenges, or the criminal legal system
• The ability to build trust with individuals who are often skeptical of help
• Cultural groundedness in the communities along the corridor and comfort engaging across lines of difference
• Steadiness under pressure

Responsibilities

Direct Outreach & Crisis Response

• Conduct proactive outreach to individuals on CTA trains and platforms, initiating contact in a non-threatening, trauma-informed, and dignity-centered manner
• Respond to rider-submitted reports via the program’s dispatch system, locating individuals on the correct train car and providing timely, appropriate attention
• Conduct initial assessments of individual needs, including immediate safety, behavioral health status, substance use, and basic needs
• Apply de-escalation techniques to defuse situations involving agitation, distress, or behavioral crisis in public transit environments
• Facilitate warm referrals to clinical services, including real-time escalation to the Clinical Team Lead or WOVEN Clinics’ telepsychiatry team for high-acuity encounters
• Connect individuals to Mile Square Health Center for SUD treatment, methadone services, and pharmacy access, and to other community partners for housing, food, benefits, and basic needs
• Provide harm reduction information and supplies as appropriate, including naloxone/Narcan, in accordance with program protocols

Relationship Building & Follow-Up

• Build longitudinal relationships with individuals encountered repeatedly along the corridor, maintaining continuity of connection across multiple outreach interactions
• Support the development of consent-based encounter profiles by contributing accurate, timely documentation of each interaction
• Follow up with individuals who have been referred to services, serving as a bridge between the transit environment and the care system

Documentation & Team Collaboration

• Document all client encounters accurately in the program’s case management and tracking systems, within required timeframes and in compliance with HIPAA and applicable confidentiality requirements
• Participate in daily team huddles, post-encounter debriefs, and weekly supervision with the Clinical Team Lead
• Communicate actively with team members during shifts, supporting a coordinated and safe field operation
• Contribute to program evaluation by providing qualitative feedback on system performance, community needs, and encounter trends

Requirements

• Minimum 2 years of experience in street outreach, peer support, harm reduction, mobile crisis, community health work, or a related field
• Demonstrated ability to engage individuals in crisis or acute distress in a calm, non-judgmental, and effective manner
• Comfort working in unstructured, unpredictable, and physically demanding field environments including transit stations and train cars
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust quickly with people who may be guarded, in distress, or resistant to help
• Ability to work as part of a team and communicate clearly under pressure
• Basic proficiency with mobile technology for documentation and dispatch

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, Psychology, Public Health, Human Services, or a related field — or equivalent life and work experience
• Peer Support Specialist certification or Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) in Illinois
• Experience working with individuals experiencing homelessness, with knowledge of Chicago’s shelter, housing, and social service landscape
• Familiarity with motivational interviewing, trauma-informed care, or harm reduction frameworks
• Lived experience with homelessness, substance use, mental health challenges, or the criminal legal system — recognized as genuine professional expertise
• Bilingual English/Spanish strongly preferred
• Experience working in transit, emergency, or other non-traditional outreach environments

Required Training

All training is provided and paid for by Street Samaritans. The following must be completed prior to or within 90 days of hire:

• CPI Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® — requires travel
• Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) or equivalent
• Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) — Adult
• Narcan/naloxone administration certification
• DCFS Mandated Reporter (Illinois) — required prior to client contact
• HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2 confidentiality training
• All Chicago HMIS onboarding (as applicable)
• CTA required training onsite (3 days)

About Street Samaritans

Street Samaritans is a 501(c)3 grassroots nonprofit that provides direct support and resources for transition for Chicago’s homeless population through human connection, technology, and partnerships. Learn more at www.streetsamaritans.org.