Peer Recovery Specialist II - PIR

Peer Recovery Specialist II - Partners In Recovery

The Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board is seeking a dedicated and empathetic Peer Recovery Specialist II to support individuals navigating mental health and substance use challenges. In this role, you will draw on your lived recovery experience to provide peer support, advocacy, and practical guidance to individuals experiencing symptoms such as isolation, distressing thoughts, or behavioral health crises. You will play a key role in promoting recovery and resilience by assisting individuals with daily living needs, encouraging positive coping strategies, and fostering connections to employment, education, and community resources. As a trusted role model, you will help empower individuals to build meaningful, self-directed lives while supporting their journey toward sustained wellness and community integration.

Since 1971, the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board has provided the highest quality of behavioral health services to residents of the cities of Hampton and Newport News, Virginia, offering a comprehensive array of programs for both children and adults living with mental illness, developmental disabilities, and/or substance use disorders.

Partners in Recovery is the HNNCSB's premier provider of quality comprehensive outpatient counseling, medication management and medication assisted treatment services to adults who are experiencing substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders. Our clinical approach is person-centered and is tailored to address the interaction of the individual's substance use and psychiatric related issues.

As a Peer Recovery Specialist II for Partners in Recovery, you will deliver structured peer support that advances recovery and community stability for individuals experiencing mental health and/or substance use challenges. This role exists to strengthen self-directed recovery, promote wellness, and reinforce skills that support employment, education, and community integration. Key responsibilities include facilitating one-to-one and group sessions; helping individuals define recovery goals and develop actionable plans; supporting coordination with case managers/treatment teams; establishing and sustaining mutual-support groups; using tools such as WRAP and Advance Directives; teaching problem-solving and strategies to address negative self-talk; providing vocational support (applications, interview tips, anxiety reduction); completing required documentation; and maintaining confidentiality.

Required qualifications/skills:

• Registered Peer Recovery Specialist (RPRS) with the VA Board of Counseling
• Completion of DBHDS 72-hour Peer Recovery Specialist Training
• At least one (1) year of Peer Recovery Specialist experience

A typical day follows a consistent Monday–Friday schedule (8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.) and centers on purposeful, recovery-focused connection. You'll spend time listening for where someone is today, noticing changes in presentation, and helping them name what they're experiencing—such as isolation, anxious or aggressive talk, or thoughts of self-harm—so they can use practical coping strategies like positive self-talk. You'll create space for people to share what has helped them, build hope, and recognize strengths, while modeling what personal recovery can look like in real time. Throughout the day, you'll balance planned sessions with outreach and check-ins, use WRAP/Advance Directive conversations to keep wellness plans current, and close out with timely documentation that supports continuity of care.

Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage; Life Insurance; Flexible Spending Account (FSA); Paid Time Off; 11 paid holidays; and participation in the Virginia Retirement System (VRS).

Help individuals move forward with clarity, dignity, and measurable progress.

The selected candidate must successfully pass a criminal history fingerprint background investigation, DMV record check, Child Registry search, drug screening test and employment reference checks.