Senior Peer Support Specialist

JobSpace; Auckland; On-site; NZD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Co-Learning sessions

Professional development Kia Mataara

Employer KiwiSaver top-up

5 weeks annual leave

Wellbeing days

HealthNow card

Perk & Perk Plus app

Holiday programme assistance

Income protection insurance

Job summary

Pathways is building a new peer-led, community-based acute alternative to hospital in Central Auckland. We seek a Senior Peer Support Specialist to lead shifts, role model peer values, and support Peer Support Specialists to grow and reach their potential.

You will mentor teams, foster recovery, wellbeing and innovation, and work with Te Whatu Ora, PHOs and the wider community to deliver high-quality peer support within a rights-based care framework.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership in peer work settings.
• Ability to model and promote peer values.
• Experience guiding teams to deliver recovery-focused care.
• Strong collaboration with health and community services.

Responsibilities

• Oversee shift operations and rostering across 3 permanent full-time roles.
• Provide coaching and mentorship to Peer Support Specialists.
• Model core peer competencies and promote recovery and wellbeing.
• Collaborate with Te Whatu Ora, PHOs and community partners to deliver care.

Skills

Leadership

Coaching

Mentoring

Peer support

Communication

Networking

Education

Level 4 Certificate in Health & Wellbeing

Recognised Peer Support Training

Job description

Jora New Zealand will close on 16th September 2026. Thank you for being with us, we are cheering you on as you continue your career journey.

Draw on your lived experience to inspire, support, and mentor others in a senior peer support specialist role within a new acute mental health service based on a WHO-recognised peer support model. Kia ora, Tālofa lava, Mālō e lelei, Bula Vinaka, Fakalofa lahi atu, Kia Orana, Sastrikal, Namaste, Salam and warm Pacific greetings to you. It's not the journey or the destination its the company you keep. Pathways as a leading mental health and addiction service in Aotearoa, believes in the power of lived experience and the impact of the peer workforce. We have well established and effective peer workforce infrastructure which supports you in your mahi. Our collective mahi is to empower individuals to live full lives in their communities. We foster strong whānau connections.

We are building an exciting, new peer-led community-based acute alternative to hospital within the Central Auckland Te Toka Tumai region. This is an opportunity for you to step into an exciting Senior Peer Specialist role. The service will be staffed by lived and living experience kaimahi who are trained to deliver inspiring peer services alongside other clinical kaimahi. You will role model and support our kaimahi to use recovery tools, models, and practices to inspire resilience, hope, and wellbeing. The service will be delivered in partnership with other mental health and addiction providers and will be informed by a rights and values-based approach to care. You'll be reporting to a Team Coach and working with the support of your wider team.

The benefits include access to monthly Co-Learning (Peer Supervision sessions) and coaching, professional development opportunities including our targeted peer training programme Kia Mataara, increased Employer Kiwisaver contribution, fifth week of annual leave, paid wellbeing days (2 days a year), HealthNow Payment Card - $250 per year to support Health and Wellbeing for you and your whanau, Perk & Perk Plus discount app, holiday programme assistance, and income protection insurance.

We need an inspiring Senior Peer Support Specialist to provide leadership, coaching, and support within our peer team. Drawing on your knowledge of the core peer competencies and peer values, you will oversee the running of shifts, role model core peer values, and support Peer Support Specialists to grow and reach their full potential. You will foster a culture of recovery, wellbeing, continuous improvement and innovation, while ensuring high-quality peer support practice. Through authentic leadership, coaching, and mentoring, you will empower kaimahi to achieve their personal best and provide meaningful support to the people we serve.

We have 3 permanent full-time positions available based in Central Auckland; Sunday - Thursday, 7:00-3:30pm Tuesday- Saturday, 3:00pm- 11:30pm Friday- Monday, rotating am/pm role.

We are seeking experienced peers who can lead, inspire and support others while ensuring practice reflects peer values and principles. As well as having great leadership and people skills, you will have a demonstrated ability to work well with other services such as Te Whatu Ora, PHOs and the wider community sector. You will thrive on the challenge of helping to establish and grow a new team in an innovative new service.

Skills and experience include a working knowledge of the peer workforce competencies and have completed recognised Peer Support training, completed Level 4 certificate in Health and Wellbeing or equivalency or intention to commence training within three months, able to speak to your lived and living experience and journey to wellbeing, proven networking skills, knowledge of, and demonstrable commitment to, the principles of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Applications close: Monday, 5th October 2026. This role may close early if a suitable candidate is found.

Pathways is committed to healthy lifestyles and actively supports a smoke free environment. We encourage people with lived and living experience of mental illness and addictions to apply.