ACSU Peer Support Specialist

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide peer counseling and support using lived experience; provide guidance and encouragement to clients to take responsibility and actively participate in their own recovery.
• Collaborate with the team to promote a team culture in which each client’s point of view, experiences, and preferences are recognized, understood, and respected.
• Help clients identify, understand, and combat stigma and discrimination associated with mental health and substance use disorder and develop strategies to reduce self-stigma.
• Increase awareness of and support client participation in consumer self-help programs and consumer advocacy organizations that promote recovery.
• Provide a warm hand off for consumers transiting between the Crisis Hub Services and outpatient treatment.
• Assist in intake and triage process by completing initial paperwork necessary for initiation of treatment.
• Facilitate delivery of telehealth services through assisting with technical needs on-site and providing needed information to providers off-site.

Qualifications: ACSU (Adult Crisis Stabilization Unit) Peer Support Specialist is a person who has experience as a recipient of mental health services and/or recovery services and is willing to use and share his or her personal, practical experience, knowledge, and first-hand insight to benefit the team and its consumers. Must be certified or registered and have completed approved peer support training for discipline. Submit to and pass a criminal background check and a drug screening test.

Hours: 40 hours per week. Other times may be required with the job or adjusted by your supervisor.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide peer counseling and support using lived experience; provide guidance and encouragement to clients to take responsibility and actively participate in their own recovery.
• Collaborate with the team to promote a team culture in which each client’s point of view, experiences, and preferences are recognized, understood, and respected.
• Help clients identify, understand, and combat stigma and discrimination associated with mental health and substance use disorder and develop strategies to reduce self-stigma.
• Increase awareness of and support client participation in consumer self-help programs and consumer advocacy organizations that promote recovery.
• Provide a warm hand off for consumers transiting between the Crisis Hub Services and outpatient treatment.
• Assist in intake and triage process by completing initial paperwork necessary for initiation of treatment.
• Facilitate delivery of telehealth services through assisting with technical needs on-site and providing needed information to providers off-site.

Required Job Skills:

• Willing to work flexible hours and to travel within the region served.
• Ability to work with families from diverse cultural, religious, racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
• Demonstrate flexibility and problem-solving skills - ability to deal with situations that arise.

Additional Responsibilities:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable the individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physically able to reach, push, pull, stoop, bend, stand, walk and lift up to 20 pounds
• Possess a valid Driver’s License and maintain a safe driving record if required for job performance.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations must be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee occasionally works in outside weather conditions, may be off-site from normal office location or placed at a Residential Program.

The noise level in the work environment is mild to moderate.

Environmental Data and Job Hazards:

• Hours of work are structured 7.5- 8.0 hour blocks of time but may be subject to irregular and/or flexible hours based on needs or demands.
• Position may require duties to include routine or reasonable anticipated tasks or procedures where there is a degree of actual or potential exposure to blood or other infectious materials.
• All staff are required to participate in yearly trainings regarding infection control and safety in the environment including hazardous waste and blood borne pathogens.
• All new staff must attend training regarding handling physical, verbal threats, acts of violence or other escalating and potentially dangerous situations including when police need to be summoned.
• All staff must be certified in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation within one month of employment and maintain the certification, if providing direct care. First Aid training may be required.

Required Job Performance:

• Successful Performance Evaluation rating of 3 or above. A Performance Improvement Plan will be initiated on all scores below a 3 rating. An employee will be terminated if the Performance Improvement Plan is viewed as unsuccessful after 2 attempts.