Certified Peer Specialist On-Track

Access: Supports for Living; City of Middletown (NY); On-site; USD 27,552 - 30,307; Full time

Job summary

Access: Supports for Living is seeking a Peer Specialist in Middletown, NY to support adolescents and young adults with psychosis. You will use your lived experiences to inspire hope and assist in recovery journeys.

This position requires a commitment to outreach, community engagement, and relationship building, ensuring effective support for participants as part of a dedicated team. NYS certification as a Peer Specialist is required or to be obtained within a year.

Qualifications

• Preferably a member of the local community.
• Experience with mental health challenges is a plus.
• Knowledge of recovery-oriented supports.

Responsibilities

• Connect with community and program participants.
• Build meaningful relationships with participants.
• Create self-care and awareness tools with participants.
• Facilitate group learning and support.
• Collaborate as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

Skills

Interpersonal communications skills

Empathy towards participants

Understanding of youth culture

Ability to relate to peers

Education

NYS certification as a Peer Specialist

Job description

Overview

Do Work That Matters. In a Culture That Means It. Be part of a team that values connection, accountability, and real impact.

Location: Middletown, NY

Hours: Monday- Friday (40 hours a week) 9:00 am to 5 pm (plus late shifts each week ending at 6:30 pm).

Rate of pay: $20 (No Cert) $21 Provisional and $22 Full Certification

OnTrackNY is an innovative treatment program that serves adolescents and young adults with psychosis. The Peer Specialist will work as part of the OnTrackNY team with program participants, family and community members, and all other team members. The Peer Specialist serves a unique role on the team, instilling hope in participants and families by drawing on their own lived experience of overcoming challenges with a psychiatric label. Walking alongside participants on their recovery journeys, the Peer Specialist uses a non-clinical approach to support, empower, and advocate for young people as they contend with the difficulties and uncertainties of early psychosis.

The Peer Specialist uses their lived experience and unique perspective to contribute to treatment planning for each participant, remaining youth-driven and facilitating the team’s development and maintenance of a culture of respect and shared decision making. The Peer Specialist can provide an essential framework for highlighting the potential that each participant has for achieving a successful recovery trajectory. In addition to attending team meetings, Peer Specialists work directly with other team members to provide support and assistance to program participants. Under the supervision of the OnTrackNY Team Leader, they provide direct peer support services to program participants in any setting that would be helpful – at the OnTrackNY program site, in the community, or in the hospital.

Responsibilities

1. Outreach & Engagement: Connecting with both the community and participants and families about OnTrackNY and offering hope and support around the possibility of recovery
2. Relationship Building: Forming meaningful partnerships with program participants
3. Embracing Creative Narratives: Expanding the understandings of the experience of “First Episode Psychosis”
4. Co-Creating Tools for Success: Partnering with participants and families to support development and creation of self-care and self-awareness tools
5. Supporting and Partnering with Families: Working closely with a participant’s family of choice
6. Making OnTrackNY Better: Supporting the growth and development of OnTrackNY through creation and support of a feedback loop between participants and the team
7. Bridge Building: Connecting participants and their families to needed community-based supports
8. Group Facilitation: Creating spaces and opportunities for participants to learn together and support one another
9. Community Mapping: Learning about and connecting to community-based supports and resources
10. Influencing Team Culture: Utilizing lived experience and non-clinical approach to support the understandings of team members
11. Team Communication & Collaboration: Working as an essential member of a multi-disciplinary team, documenting their interactions collaboratively and communicating back to the team
12. Ongoing Professional Development: Continuing to develop and hone skills to support this work

Qualifications And Attributes

• It is preferable that the individual’s lived experience of mental health challenges include experience with psychosis during his or her youth.
• If not a young adult, then the Peer Specialist should have an understanding of youth culture and a respect for the self determination of young people.
• Preferably, a member of the local community, and if not then having an awareness and understanding of the culture of the area.
• The Peer Specialist should be someone who has engaged in the meaning making process for themselves.
• Demonstrated interpersonal communications skills and the ability to empathize with, relate to, and effectively work with participants of mental health services.
• Active participation in mental health self-help activities, peer support, peer advocacy programs, participant-run organizations, or similar experiences.
• Ability/ willingness to disclose about their experiences of mental health services for the purposes of empowerment.
• Willingness to work outside of office setting, in the community and homes of participants
• Excellent judgment and ability to understand boundaries when working with participants of mental health services.

Education And Experience

• NYS certification as a Peer Specialist or an ability to obtain certification within one year of hire
• Knowledge of local community resources and recovery-oriented supports.

Physical Characteristics

These physical demands are representative of the physical requirements necessary for an employee to perform the job's essential functions successfully. Reasonable accommodation can be made to enable people with disabilities to perform the described essential functions of the position, which are reviewed in each case.

• Must be capable to access all rooms in a 2-story home
• Able to work in open space floor plan
• Must be capable to move throughout work day
• Occasional lifting of > 25 pounds

An Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and Veterans