Peer Specialist

Make a bigger difference

At The Jewish Board, we don’t just make a difference – we make a bigger difference as we serve 45,000 New Yorkers every year. Join our dedicated team that’s been helping communities across New York City for almost 150 years and see just how big of a difference you can make.

Reasons you’ll love working with us:

• If you have a particular age range or population you’re interested in working with, you can find your niche here.  Our clients and staff are as diverse as the city we work in, and include people of all cultures, religions, races, gender expressions, and sexual orientations.

• We’re committed to supporting your career development by encouraging mobility and advancement across different program types and jobs. 

• With 70 locations throughout the five boroughs, you can work close to where you live. 

• Generous vacation time and 15 paid holidays will help you achieve a healthy work/life balance. 

• We offer an excellent benefits package with affordable, high-quality health and dental insurance with low co-pays. 

• You’ll receive ongoing support through high-quality supervision, specialized trainings from our Continuing Education team, and an education benefit. 

How you can make a bigger difference: 

PURPOSE:

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 resiliency of our communities.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Peer Specialist engages participants in peer-based services to identify and overcome barriers to engagement in treatment and community integration. The Peer Specialist supports client linkage and engagement with identified onsite providers and community providers and ensures that the client’s support networks are sufficient to meet their needs. The Peer Specialist utilizes a peer relationship to foster connection, trust, understanding and validation.

KEY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

RESPONSIBILITIES include but are not limited to:

• Individual sessions with clients may include helping them deal with issues associated with (but not limited to) substance abuse, mental health treatment, family and social relationships; stress and symptom management; activities of daily living; medication management; and independent living or supported housing
• Provide emotional and practical support to clients as they engage in treatment
• Foster and maintain cooperative and collaborative relationships with onsite multidisciplinary team as well as community providers
• Advocate with and for program clients to achieve personal goals and address barriers such as fear, stigma and communication disparities with providers and community supports
• Attend and participate in weekly interdisciplinary team meetings and supervisory sessions
• Work with client and multidisciplinary team to assist client toward achieving their treatment plan goals
• Monitor and record client’s progress and modify plan according to needs and preference
• Comply with all required in-service training and staff development
• Document and track resources and client progress
• Meets all deadlines for progress/informational notes in electronic health record, fidelity reports, and other documentation obligations
• Perform other related duties as assigned

CORE COMPETENCIES for the position include:

• Demonstrated ability to effectively use one’s personal story and role model recovery in a way that promotes personal growth and empowerment
• Knowledge of behavioral health systems, substance use disorders legislation and regulations, and health conditions
• Ability to manage multiple projects and ask for help when needed
• Ability to participate on a team to accomplish tasks
• Serve as a role model to clients, staff, and stakeholders
• Ability to work with all stakeholders: clients, providers, and families in a caring and respectful manner, and with due understanding of and consideration for cultural differences
• Knowledge of treatment, rehabilitation, and community support programs as they relate to clients and their families
• Knowledge of techniques for identifying risk for relapse, risk of harm to self/others, including crisis management techniques

EDUCATIONAL/TRAINING REQUIRED:

• High school diploma or equivalent. Certification as a Recovery Peer Advocate (CRPA) or Provisional Certification as a Recovery Peer Advocate required. Experience providing advocacy services to people who have substance use disorders. Past or current participant of substance use disorders services.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED/LANGUAGE PREFERENCE:

• Bi-lingual Spanish a plus but not required.
• Lived experience with substance use, work or volunteer experience with clients struggling with substance use issues

COMPUTER SKILLS REQUIRED:

• Must be able to document notes in electronic health record.
• Must be able to be proficient in computer skills to use Outlook for reading and sending e-mails, setting up appointments, utilize Microsoft TEAMS for meetings virtually.

VISUAL AND MANUAL DEXIERITY:

• Must be able to travel throughout NYC on public transportation, carry laptop and MIFI, be able to type using a laptop and/or stationary computer.

WORK ENVIRONMENT/PHYSICAL EFFORT

• Majority of the work is out in the community. Some of the work will be office based. Need to be able to travel throughout NYC via public transportation. Physical effort may include ascending or descending stairs for subways and to residences.

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.

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