Young Adult Peer Advocate, Safe Options Support (SOS) – South Team

Function: Community outreach on the streets and places where unhoused young adults frequent; coordinating participants' needs before and after moving from street to home, enhancing their daily living skills, accompaniment to appointments, and advocating on their behalf when faced with discrimination or healthcare inequities.

Reports to: Team Leader, Young Adult SOS Team – South
Location: Midtown, Lower Manhattan & Brooklyn

Schedule

Sundays (9am-5pm) & Mondays through Thursdays (1pm-9pm)

Responsibilities

• Sustained outreach and engagement attempts for all individuals who are referred, even if they initially decline services.
• Develop meaningful and lasting partnerships with key community stakeholders and providers including Youth Adult Peer Programs, Safe Horizon, LGBTQIA+ community programs, local hospitals, NYPD, Department of Youth and Community Development, shelter operators and housing providers, to identify those in most need of outreach and care.
• Conduct outreach to areas where unsheltered young adults are known to frequent.
• Provide elements of Positive Youth Development to include an increased focus on youth involvement, skill building, leadership, and community engagement.
• Use shared personal lived experiences to promote clients' recovery, offering support, advocacy, and skill development opportunities.
• Assist young adults with developing a stigma-free approach to wellness, recovery, and/or treatment.
• Assist young adults to identify needs, strengths, challenges, and goals to develop individualized care plans (ICP).
• Hold individual one-on-one peer support sessions focusing on engagement, bridging, and transition support to help increase participants' strengths to navigate systems.
• Continuous assessment of the health and social needs of participants through SOS’s conversational and observational assessments and formalized risk assessment tools for those identified as being at high risk.
• Work in collaboration with the centralized SOS Hub to identify available housing and to support participants through the process. Tasks may include completing HRA 2010e, applying for housing, prepping for interviews, follow-up with housing providers, and assistance with move-in (day of move) with obtaining housing supplies and learning the neighborhood.
• Participate in hospital discharge planning meetings to identify the best community resources for returning patients.
• Collect and report data, as required, and work with team leader, data analyst, and other SOS teams to use data to inform future care delivery.
• Foster relationships with community providers to ensure that recipients are connected with appropriate services as they transition back into the community.
• Escort to appointments when necessary, travel training to assist in community care, and to address barriers to care.
• Facilitate crisis interventions, referrals, and hospitalizations as appropriate.
• Attend and participate in team meetings and supervisory sessions.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Requirements

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Experience working with homeless and/or precariously housed populations preferred but not required.
• Knowledge of treatment, rehabilitation, trauma-responsive services, and community support programs as they relate to recipients/residents, families, and staff.
• Recognize indicators of human trafficking and resources available to assist individuals who have been exploited.
• Ability to develop, evaluate, implement, and modify treatment interventions to meet the needs of individual recipients.
• Ability to prepare accurate and timely reports.
• Computer proficiency in Health Information Technology and Microsoft applications such as MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Knowledge of homeless resources, NYC shelter systems, and MTA transit systems a plus.
• Knowledge of best practices in the fields of mental illness and substance use disorders.
• Knowledge of techniques for identifying, assessing, and preventing potentially violent behavior, including crisis management and de-escalation techniques.
• Methods to support individuals in developing real-world skills and identifying educational/vocational goals preferred.
• Methods to support community inclusion and strengthening of support networks preferred.
• Experience in implementing positive youth development strategies preferred.
• Familiarity with existing homeless outreach teams/programs and temporary housing options preferred.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements:

• Minimum High School Diploma or equivalent or higher.
• New York State Certified Youth Peer Advocate (YPA) preferred or required.
• Completion of an internship or comparable training in peer advocacy; experience in providing advocacy services to people who are mentally ill and/or homeless.
• Past or current participant of behavioral health, substance services, or homeless services preferred.

In New York State, the Youth Power of Families Together in NYS administers the Youth Peer Advocate (YPA) credential. Visit the Families Together in NYS website to learn more about the YPA credential.

Pay

$57,150 plus generous benefits