Youth ACT Queens - Youth Peer Advocate

Essential Functions

• Provide peer support services to youth and young adults based on lived experience, recovery principles, and the values of hope, empowerment, and self-determination.
• Build authentic, supportive relationships with youth to promote engagement, trust, and continued participation in services.
• Support youth in identifying personal strengths, recovery goals, interests, and meaningful next steps.
• Aid youth in skill-building in areas such as communication, coping, problem-solving, self-advocacy, emotional regulation, daily living, social connection, and navigating systems.
• Offer coaching, mentoring, and encouragement related to school, work, relationships, community involvement, and independent functioning.
• Help youth prepare for, participate in, and follow through with appointments, meetings, and other important life activities.
• Support youth during transitions, including transitions between levels of care, school settings, living situations, hospital/community re-entry, and movement into adulthood.
• Facilitate connections to natural supports, pro-social activities, and community resources.
• Model effective coping strategies, wellness practices, and recovery-oriented problem solving.
• Participate in outreach and engagement efforts in the community, including home visits, school/community visits, and accompanying youth to appointments or activities, as appropriate.
• Collaborate with family members/caregivers, when clinically appropriate and consistent with the youth’s preferences, to support engagement and recovery goals.
• Collaborate closely with the interdisciplinary Youth ACT team, including psychiatry, nursing, therapists, care managers, family peer, and other staff, to support coordinated care.

Minimum Qualifications

• A high school diploma or equivalent required.
• Lived experience relevant to the role and ability to use that experience appropriately and effectively in supporting youth.
• Credentialed Youth Peer Advocate (YPA-C) preferred; provisional status or eligibility to pursue credentialing may be considered consistent with program and regulatory requirements.
• Experience working with adolescents, transition-age youth, or young adults with behavioral health needs strongly preferred.
• Strong engagement and relationship-building skills with youth from diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to work effectively with youth who may have significant mental health needs, trauma histories, substance use concerns, school difficulties, family conflict, justice involvement, or housing instability.
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Strong communication, organizational, and time-management skills.
• Basic computer skills and ability to complete documentation in an electronic health record.
• Ability to work flexible hours, including some evenings, as program needs require.
• Ability to travel in the community throughout Manhattan and surrounding areas as needed.