Peer Specialist

Position: Peer Specialist

The Peer Specialist plays a critical role in creating a welcoming and supportive environment for individuals seeking behavioral health and substance use disorder services at our Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). The Peer Specialist is often the first person a service recipient encounters when entering the clinic, helping to foster connection, hope, and engagement from the very beginning of treatment.

Essential Duties:

• Welcome and greet service recipients entering the CCBHC, helping to create a warm, respectful and recovery-focused environment.
• Build trusting relationships with individuals through the use of lived experience, peer support principles, and recovery-oriented engagement strategies.
• Provide peer support services including Outreach, Advocacy, Mentoring, Recovery Support Services.
• Assist individuals in navigating behavioral health, substance abuse, medical, and community-based services.
• Support engagement and retention in treatment by maintaining regular contact with participants and encouraging participation in recommended services.
• Advocate for individuals’ needs. Preferences, and recovery goals within the treatment process.
• Provide education on recovery resources, wellness strategies, and community supports.
• Participate in Outreach activities designed to identify and engage individuals who may benefits from CCBHC services.
• Assist with linkage and referrals to community resources, self-help groups, recovery supports, housing, employment, and other services as appropriate.
• Distribute and provide education regarding overdose prevention resources, including Narcan.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary team members to support person-centered care planning and service delivery.
• Provide transportation assistance to service recipients when appropriate and in accordance with agency policies.
• Drive agency vehicles, including the Outreach minivan, as needed.
• Complete required documentation in a timely and accurate manner.

Minimum Requirements:

• High School Diploma/GED and 2 years’ work or volunteer experience in a recovery-orientated setting.
• OMH – New York Certified Peer Specialist – Provisional (NYCPS-P) or New York Certified Peer Specialist (NYCPS).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Lived experience with and knowledge of the challenges pertaining to substance use and/or mental health conditions.
• Clean driving record.

Monday - Friday: 8:00am - 4:00pm