Peer Specialist

Community Behavioral Health Treatment Programs

The Jewish Board's Community Behavioral Health treatment programs provide compassionate, high quality, evidence-based services to individuals and families in the communities we serve. Our staff use a culturally competent, person centered approach to help individuals and their families develop skills and resources to improve overall functioning, to instill hope, and to strengthen resiliency. Our programs work closely with community partners to address health disparities in our neighborhoods while also celebrating the strengths and resilience of our communities.

Position Overview

To serve as a role model and advocate for clients receiving ACT services in the community. Assist in the areas of entitlements, self-advocacy and empowerment, daily activities, housing and employment. Teach independent living skills. Function as a full member of the ACT team providing evidenced based interventions as part of the ACT model. The majority of this role is conducted in the community and is not site specific.

Key Essential Functions

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Provide concrete service delivery to clients (i.e. benefits/entitlements), as per program needs.
• Lead and co-lead a variety of recovery groups on issues of self-advocacy, entitlements, daily living activities, housing issues, employment readiness, smoking cessation, substance use disorders and other groups as deemed appropriate.
• Communicate with collaterals and other agency staff on behalf of clients to assist case management staff as needed.
• Participate in team meetings, supervision and discharge planning discussion.
• Appropriately document individual and groups notes in electronic health records.
• Assists in various duties (as needed) for the program
• Maintain resource materials on recovery for client use.
• Conduct weekly in person visits for clients currently residing in homeless shelters and assigned to the ACT program and/or in client's homes or elsewhere in the community where the client is accessible.
• Train consumers in peer advocacy skills, harm reduction skills and affect management skills.
• Escort clients to doctors, court, interviews and other appointments as needed.
• Teach independent living skills such as cooking, laundry, grocery shopping, how to manage medication adherence.
• Complete Relapse Prevention plans with clients.
• Conduct diligent searches for missing clients including outreaches to DHS, hospitals, web searches as well as making in person physical attempts to locate clients.
• May be assigned other tasks and duties reasonably related to their job responsibilities.
• Other duties as assigned

Skills and/or Experience Required

• Relevant life experience preferred.
• Familiarity with NYS Entitlements, Housing and Mental Health Service Delivery System.
• Basic computer skills a plus.

Communication Skills

• Ability to articulate the company's philosophy, mission and goals to a varied audience.
• Ability to author and to present effective and persuasive speeches and presentations to various groups including clients, management and employees.
• Ability to respond to inquiries or complaints, including those of a sensitive and confidential nature, from any of the following, if applicable, under a variety of circumstances, including adversarial situations: clients, consumers, managers, employees, regulatory agencies, arbitrators, union representatives, vendors, or applicants.
• Ability to effectively present information to clients, top management and staff in verbal and written formats.

Mathematical Skills

• Ability to perform basic mathematical skills such as addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.

Reasoning Skills

• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions.
• Ability to work within general guidelines and minimal supervision.
• Ability to organize, prioritize and execute responsibilities in the face of conflicting priorities or unexpected situations.
• Ability to recognize the need for confidentiality of information and to maintain such confidences.

Work Environment / Physical Effort

• Must be comfortable with public transportation, traveling in the community, as this position requires 80% of the time in the field and 20% in the office. This individual must be comfortable walking and standing for long periods of time.

Computer Skills Required

• Prior experience with electronic health records and Microsoft Office a plus

Visual and Manual Dexterity

• The candidate should be able to read paper and electronic documents and perform significant data entry into various computer programs.
• Travel independently using public transportation.
• Able to input data into the Electronic Health Record.
• Limited applications of manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination.

Work Environment/Physical Effort

• Noise level is consistent with levels usually present in an office, education, rehabilitation or health related environment when in office.
• Hazards present are consistent with those common to an office, education, rehabilitation or health related environment when in office.
• To perform the essential functions of this job the candidate must be able to travel within New York City carrying equipment such as a notebook, forms, laptop, mobile hotspot and cell phone weighing up to approximately 10 pounds.
• Risks/hazards associated with the position are those which may be encountered traveling around New York City.

Educational / Training Required

• High School Diploma, GED or some post-secondary education preferred, as is experience with a similar population in a community setting.
• NY Certified or Provisionally Certified Peer Specialist required.

If You Join Us, You'll Have These Great Benefits:

• Generous paid time off in addition to agency holidays and 15 sick days
• Affordable and high-quality medical/dental/vision plans
• Tuition assistance and educational loan forgiveness
• Free continuing education opportunities
• 403(b) retirement benefits and a pension
• Flexible spending accounts for health and transportation
• 24/7 Accessible Employee Assistance Program
• Life and disability insurance
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion working groups that are available for you to join, including Confronting Structural Racism (COR), Coalition Against Anti-Semitism (CAAS), and the LGBTQ Steering Committee

Who We Are:

The Jewish Board delivers innovative, high-quality, and compassionate mental health and social services to over 45,000 New Yorkers each year. We are unique in serving everyone from infants and their families to children, teens, and adults. We are proud to employ and serve people of all religions, races, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. We are committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams to help support our mission, and we strongly encourage candidates from historically marginalized backgrounds to apply to work with us.

More on Equal Opportunity:

We are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.