Peer Support Specialist

Join the VitalCore Team in North Carolina! We're people fueled by passion, not by profit.

VitalCore Health Strategies, (VCHS), an industry leader in correctional healthcare, has an opening for a Peer Support Specialist at Mecklenburg County Detention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina!
Looking for a rewarding career with competitive wages, an annual incentive bonus, and an excellent benefits package?

At VitalCore we pride ourselves on retaining and acquiring hardworking ethical individuals who are committed to providing quality services. Join our team and experience first-hand how VitalCore Health Strategies promotes a positive work environment that is based on respect and appreciation of the hard work and dedication of our staff.

PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST BENEFITS:

• Holiday Pay: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day
• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Health Savings Account
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Life Insurance
• Short Term/Long Term Disability
• Identity Theft Protection
• Pet Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program and Discount Center
• 401K & Plan Matching
• PTO

PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST POSITION SUMMARY:

The Peer Support Specialist (PSS) is an active member of the Behavioral Health Acute and Residential Program and provides peer support services to clients with serious behavioral illnesses. The Peer Support Specialist will function as a role model to peers, exhibiting competency in personal recovery and use of coping skills; and serve as a consumer advocate, providing consumer information and peer support for clients in outpatient and inpatient settings. The PSS performs a wide range of tasks to assist individuals in regaining independence within the general population and mastery over their own recovery process. Recovery resources such as booklets, tapes, pamphlets and other written materials may be utilized by the Peer Support Specialist in the provision of services

PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Assist clients in articulating personal goals for recovery through the use of one-to-one and group sessions.
• During these sessions, the PSS will support clients in identifying and creating goals and developing recovery plans with the skills, strengths, support, and resources to aid them in achieving those goals.
• Assist clients in working with their Qualified Behavioral Health Professional and treatment team in determining the steps they need to take in order to achieve their goals and self-directed recovery.
• Utilize tools such as the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) to assist clients in creating their own individual wellness and recovery plans.
• With assistance from the treatment team members, utilize and teach problem solving techniques with individuals and groups; discussions will be utilized where clients will share common problems in daily living and methods they have employed to manage and cope with these problems.
• As one who has availed themselves to Behavioral Health services, the PSS will share their own experiences and the skills, strengths, support, and resources they use.
• As much as possible, the PSS will share their own recovery story and as the facilitator of these sessions, will demonstrate how they have directed their own recovery.
• Support clients' vocational choices and assist them in choosing a job that matches their strengths, overcoming job-related anxiety by reviewing job applications, and providing interview tips.
• Assist clients in building social skills in the general population that will enhance job acquisition and tenure.
• Teach and model the value of every individual's recovery experience.
• As release ensues, assist the client in obtaining decent and affordable housing of their choice in the most integrated, independent, and least intrusive or restrictive environment by showing them how to work with community agencies who can aid in the transition.
• The PSS models effective coping techniques and self-help strategies.
• Serve as a recovery agent by providing and advocating for any effective recovery-based services that will aid the client in daily living.
• Has the vision to redefine benchmarks for the industry utilizing core values, strong partnerships, effective clinical practices, and innovative healthcare strategies.
• Assist in obtaining services upon release that suit the individual's recovery needs by providing community resources and groups that may be useful. Inform clients on community and natural support and how to use these in the recovery process.
• Community resources may include but not limited to: social security office, Department of Family and Children services, local YMCA, Library, restaurants, clients' service organizations, apartment complexes and other types of housing, etc.
• Assist clients in developing empowerment skills and combating stigma through self-advocacy.
• Through the use of role playing/modeling techniques, the PSS provides opportunities for others to show/demonstrate how they have handled similar problems, how to present themselves in certain situations, or how to handle problems that may arise in interactions with others.

PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• Knowledge of the Recovery process and the ability to facilitate recovery using established standardized Behavioral Health processes.
• Knowledge and skill to teach and engage in basic problem-solving strategies to support individual clients in self-directed recovery.
• Knowledge of the signs and symptoms of behavioral illness (i.e. auditory and visual hallucinations, aggressive talk and behavior, thoughts of self-harm or harm towards others, isolation) and the ability to assist the client to address symptoms using strategies such as positive self-talk.
• Knowledge and skills sufficient to use community resources necessary for independent living and ability to teach those skills to other individuals with severe behavioral illness.
• Knowledge of how to establish and sustain self-help (mutual support) and educational groups by soliciting input from Behavioral Health consumers on their strengths and interests.
• Peer Support Certification required (CPRS)

VitalCore Health Strategies is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive workplace in which all employees have an opportunity to participate and contribute to the success of the business and are valued for their skills, experience, and unique perspectives.

Full-Time