Adult Peer Support Specialist

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 recovering consumer’s 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.

Help 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 improve their knowledge of consumer rights and grievance or complaint 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 recovery services. Provide an average of 50% direct billable time per month as established by the Agency.

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.

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 behaviour that put consumers 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 use disorder, and has consumer-determined goals. Shared duties with clinical and support staff in the provision of rehabilitation services.

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, and transportation.

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 counselling, 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.

Provide side-by-side support, coaching and encouragement to help consumers socialise (going with a consumer to community activities, including activities offered by consumer-run peer support organisations). Assist consumers to plan and carry out leisure time activities on evenings, weekends, and holidays. Organise 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.

Provide practical help and supports, mentoring, advocacy, coordination, side-by-side individualised 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.

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

Required Job Skills: Willing to work flexible hours and to travel within the region served. Good communication and writing potential, with the ability to communicate and relate well to parents, children, and professionals, including the ability to listen well, negotiate, and remain objective. A non-judgmental attitude toward mental health.