Peer Support Specialist - Walk-In Centers

Job Description

Job Description

Location: Derry, NH
Employment Type: Part-Time, up to 25 hours per week
Pay: $18.00 per hour, paid biweekly

Hiring Immediately

Current Opening

On the Road to Wellness is currently seeking a part-time Peer Support Specialist to join our Derry walk-in center team.

This position offers up to approximately 25 hours per week, with scheduling based on program needs, employee availability, and the needs of the people we serve. Our Peer Support Specialists work within a unique, non-clinical environment where relationships, lived experience, hope, mutuality, and human connection are at the center of the work.

About On the Road to Wellness

For more than 35 years, On the Road to Wellness (OTRTW) has provided free Peer Support Services to adults ages 18 and older who are navigating mental health recovery, wellness, and life challenges.

We operate walk-in centers in Manchester and Derry, New Hampshire, where individuals can access support without insurance, identification, a referral, or an appointment. Participants are welcome to walk in, connect with others, attend a support group, meet one-on-one with a Peer Support Specialist, participate in an activity, or simply spend time in a welcoming and supportive community.

Our work is rooted in the belief that recovery is strengthened through connection, choice, dignity, hope, self-determination, and meaningful community.

What Is a Peer Support Specialist?

A Peer Support Specialist is a trained professional with lived experience of mental health and/or substance use challenges who intentionally uses that experience to inspire hope and support others along their own wellness journey.

Peer support is different from traditional clinical care. We do not diagnose, treat, or direct another person's recovery. Instead, Peer Support Specialists walk beside people as equals, offering acceptance, encouragement, practical support, shared understanding, and opportunities for connection.

Your lived experience does not need to look like anyone else's. What matters is having developed enough perspective and stability within your own wellness journey to use your experiences thoughtfully and appropriately in support of others.

About Our Walk-In Centers

Our Manchester and Derry walk-in centers provide multiple ways for adults to connect with free peer support throughout the week.

Participants can attend approximately six peer support groups each day focused on mental health, recovery, wellness, coping, self-understanding, connection, and personal growth. Groups are facilitated through a peer support approach rather than a clinical or therapeutic model and are also available through Zoom for individuals who may not be able to participate in person.

One-on-one peer support is available by request for participants who would benefit from speaking privately about challenges, identifying goals, exploring resources, strengthening wellness, or simply connecting with someone who understands.

Our Practical Actions Towards Harmony (PATH) Program provides more structured, ongoing one-on-one support with an assigned Peer Support Specialist. Participants develop personalized wellness goals grounded in the eight dimensions of wellness and work toward changes that are meaningful to them.

Our Derry location is also home to our Holistic Wellness Program, which offers practices such as meditation, breathwork, movement for all bodies, Reiki, sound bowl healing, and other wellness-focused services.

Beyond the centers, participants have opportunities to take part in community activities, outings, events, and social programming designed to strengthen connection and belonging. OTRTW also provides complimentary transportation to and from our walk-in centers within our established service area, helping reduce transportation as a barrier to accessing support.

What You May Do in This Role

The work of a walk-in center Peer Support Specialist can look different from day to day. You may spend part of your shift providing one-on-one peer support, facilitating or co-facilitating groups, welcoming participants into the center, connecting someone with community resources, assisting with PATH wellness planning, or participating in community outreach and off-site programming.

You may also assist with events, activities, and outings; help maintain a welcoming and recovery-oriented environment; complete documentation associated with peer support services; and work collaboratively with other Peer Support Specialists and organizational leadership.

Most importantly, your role is to help create an environment where people feel seen, heard, respected, accepted, and connected.

What We’re Looking For

Successful candidates will demonstrate:

• A strong commitment to personal recovery, self-care, and wellness
• Lived experience that can be used appropriately within a peer support relationship
• Compassion, patience, curiosity, and respect for others
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Reliability, accountability, and a strong work ethic
• The ability to consistently report to scheduled shifts on time and prepared to work
• Respect for individual choice, dignity, boundaries, and different pathways to recovery
• An understanding of peer support as a mutual and non-clinical relationship
• Comfort working with adults from a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and abilities
• The ability to work independently while also contributing to a collaborative team
• A willingness to continue learning and developing professionally
• A willingness to complete training to become a Certified New Hampshire Peer Support Specialist within one year of hire

Previous professional experience in behavioral health or human services can be helpful, but lived experience, reliability, interpersonal skills, and alignment with peer support values are central to this work.

Employment Requirements

Candidates must be able to successfully complete required pre-employment screening and onboarding requirements, including:

• BEAS Registry screening
• New Hampshire Department of Safety background screening
• Required employment references
• Additional onboarding requirements associated with the position

Previous justice involvement is not automatically disqualifying. Our staff are informed by a wide range of lived experiences, and we recognize the insight, compassion, and perspective those experiences can bring to peer support work.

Compensation & Benefits

• $18.00 per hour, paid biweekly
• Part-time employment of up to approximately 25 hours per week
• 12 paid holidays
• Paid day off for your birthday
• Required training provided by the organization
• New Hampshire Peer Support Specialist training
• No-cost educational and professional development opportunities
• Employment with a Recovery Friendly Workplace

Why Join On the Road to Wellness?

This work is about more than filling a shift.

It is about helping create a place where people feel seen, heard, respected, and supported during times when meaningful human connection can make a tremendous difference.

Some days that may mean facilitating a meaningful group. Other days it may mean sitting with someone one-on-one, helping someone identify a community resource, supporting someone in developing a wellness goal, or simply being present when another person needs connection.

Our Peer Support Specialists are not here to tell people how to live, diagnose what is wrong, or determine what recovery should look like for someone else. We are here to walk alongside people, share hope, build connection, and support individuals in identifying what wellness and recovery mean for them.

For more than three decades, OTRTW has worked to create spaces where people experiencing mental health challenges can come without judgment and without having to prove that they belong.

If you are dependable, compassionate, grounded in your own wellness, and interested in using lived experience to support others, we encourage you to apply.

Apply today and become part of something bigger.

What to Expect After Applying

Applicants can generally expect to be contacted within 2–3 business days of applying. Our hiring process begins with a preliminary phone screening, followed by an in-person interview for selected candidates.

Once selected and all required pre-employment screenings and onboarding requirements are completed, new employees are generally able to begin working within approximately two weeks.

Thank you for considering a career with On the Road to Wellness!