Peer Specialist

PURPOSE: The Jewish Boards 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 OVERVIEW:The Peer Specialist provides PROS program participants with supportive psychiatric rehabilitation services that facilitates their full integration into the community. The program aims to help each participant achieve their chosen life goal related to housing work education and/or building their socialization skills. The services are provided using a recovery-oriented person-centered strengths-based approach with the goal of empowering individuals to improve their quality of life achieve personal life goals as they take a more active role in their community. The Peer Specialist will draw on their lived experience with mental illness to model the recovery process for program participants by supporting them to articulate their goals for recovery learn and practice new skills and monitor their progress in effectively overcoming mental health barriers. KEY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:Provide concrete service delivery to clients as per program and co-lead a variety of recovery-oriented groups especially on topics of self-advocacy work and entitlements daily living skills independent housing skills prepare participants for employment and support their ability to maintain employmentMeet individually with participants as needed to provide additional support facilitate problem-solving and implementation of tasksCommunicate with collaterals and other agency staff to support consistent and effective service deliveryParticipate in team meetings supervision Initial Case Conferences and discharge planning meetingsComplete all documentation for services provided outreach efforts and collateral communications within program implement coordinate and monitor a range of client-centered activitiesDevelop and maintain a Participants Resource Manual of community based recovery a leading role with the Consumer Advisory Board to train model and support program participants to develop and practice their own peer advocacy be assigned additional tasks and duties as needed for the program and participants service needsAbility to articulate the programs philosophy mission and goals to a varied audience via presentations and meeting sound judgment and good decision-making skills to reasonably manage unexpected eventsAbility to effectively present information to clients and staff in verbal and written trainings meetings case conferencesOther duties as assignedCORE COMPETENCIES for the position include:Ability to work within program guidelines with the support and guidance of a supervisor Ability to recognize the need for confidentiality of information and to maintain such confidencesAbility to travel independently using public transportationEDUCATIONAL/TRAINING REQUIRED:GED/HS Diploma EXPERIENCE REQUIRED/LANGUAGE PREFERENCE:Lived experience with a mental illness and recovery preferredFamiliarity with NYS entitlements OMH housing services and mental health services COMPUTER SKILLS REQUIRED: Experience working with electronic medical records and proficient with use of Microsoft OfficeVISUAL AND MANUAL DEXIERITY:The candidate should be able to read paper and electronic documents and perform significant data entry into various computer ENVIRONMENT/PHYSICAL EFFORTWhile the offices of the Jewish Board are accessible in accordance with the ADA the sites to which staff may need to travel may or may not associated with the position are those which may be encountered traveling around New York City