Certified Recovery Specialst

St. Luke’s University Health Network; Stroudsburg (Monroe County); On-site; USD 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

St. Luke's University Health Network in Stroudsburg, PA, seeks a Certified Recovery Specialist to support patients with substance use disorders in the emergency department and inpatient units.

You will collaborate with medical staff to provide recovery-oriented care. The CRS will educate patients and families, use motivational interviewing, and help with after-care planning, ensuring confidentiality and adherence to safety policies.

Qualifications

• Must be a CRS or CFRS, or eligible to earn certification.
• Understanding of addiction and recovery concepts.
• Experience with motivational interviewing and stages of change.

Responsibilities

• Engage in relationship building and active listening with patients.
• Utilize motivational interviewing to aid healthcare decisions related to recovery.
• Provide peer-based coaching and encouragement for treatment and recovery.
• Ensure interactions are strength-based, recovery oriented.
• Educate patients to identify relapse symptoms and protective factors.
• Educate families and professionals about substance use disorders and available resources.
• Assist in after-care planning for discharge from medical settings.
• Collaborate with medical staff in team-based care.
• Develop education sessions on recovery and stigma awareness for professionals.
• Document service contacts in case notes per standards.
• Stay current with evidence-based practices in recovery support.

Skills

Active listening

Motivational interviewing

Recovery coaching

Stages of change

Education

CRS or CFRS certification

Job description

St. Luke's is proud of the skills, experience and compassion of its employees. The employees of St. Luke's are our most valuable asset! Individually and together, our employees are dedicated to satisfying the mission of our organization which is an unwavering commitment to excellence as we care for the sick and injured; educate physicians, nurses and other health care providers; and improve access to care in the communities we serve, regardless of a patient's ability to pay for health care. Hours: Full-Time

The CRS has experience with behavioral health services and is willing to use and share lived experiences and first‑hand knowledge to hospital patients, their family members, and staff. The CRS functions as a substance use resource and liaison to Network Emergency Departments, medical inpatient units, and all staff to provide expertise around community resources, the recovery process, symptom management, and the persistence needed by patients/families to have a recovery oriented and satisfying life. The CRS works to identify engagement needs and helps to work with individuals through stages of change. The CRS helps the patient and family identify opportunities from a strength‑based approach about enhancing life domain needs. The CRS works collaboratively with Network interdisciplinary teams to provide education on stigma, resources, and lived experiences.

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Engage in relationship building and active listening with patients receiving treatment in emergency room, medical inpatient units or virtually who have a substance use disorder.
• Utilize best practices such as motivational interviewing and stages of change to assist individuals in healthcare decision making related to substance use disorder recovery.
• Provide supportive (peer‑based) coaching and encouragement to patients contemplating or actively seeking help with substance use treatment and recovery.
• Ensuring that all interactions are strength‑based, recovery oriented and understanding of multiple pathways and definitions of recovery.
• Provide education to enable patients to identify their relapse symptoms or relapse triggers as well as their protective factors (to avoid relapse).
• Engage and provide education to family members, other natural supports, and other professionals regarding substance use disorders and available programs/resources.
• Assist in after‑care planning for individuals discharging from medical setting and help ensure that behavioral health needs are included in care plan.
• Engage in team‑based care and work cooperatively with other medical professionals.
• Engage and develop education sessions regarding recovery and stigma awareness to medical professionals, and other stakeholders.
• Complete appropriate documentation, including to document each service‑related contact in case note according to program standards.
• Keeps current with professional literature and trends in recovery support.
• Attends continuing education trainings, workshops, seminars, or conferences in order to keep current with evidenced based standards of practice and maintain certification.
• Maintains confidentiality of all materials handled within the Network/Entity as well as the proper release of information.
• Complies with Network and departmental policies regarding issues of employee, patient and environmental safety and follows appropriate reporting requirements.
• Demonstrates/models the Network’s Service Excellence Standards of Performance in interactions with all customers (internal and external).
• Demonstrates financial responsibility and accountability through the effective and efficient use of resources in daily procedures, processes, and practices.
• Complies with Network and departmental policies regarding attendance and dress code.
• Other duties as assigned

PHYSICAL AND SENSORY REQUIREMENTS:

• Sitting for up to 5 hours per day, 2 hours at a time.
• Standing for up to 1 hour per day, 1 hour at a time.
• Walking for up to 2 hours per day, 20 minutes at a time.
• Occasionally uses fingers to turn pages.
• Frequently uses hands to write, type, and hold charts.
• Rarely uses the hands or fingers for firm grasping or twisting/turning.
• Frequently uses upper extremities to lift and carry up to 10 pounds.
• Frequently stoops, occasionally squats, rarely reaches above shoulder level.
• Hearing as it relates to normal conversation in person or on telephone.
• Seeing as it relates to general vision, near vision, far vision, color vision, and peripheral vision.

EDUCATION:

• Must be a Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS) or Certified Family Recovery Specialist (CFRS) preferred, or eligible to earn the CRS or CFRS certification, or similar certification.

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:

• Understanding of principals of addiction and recovery.
• Language, Mathematical Reasoning ability needed.

St. Luke’s University Health Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Thank you for your interest in St. Luke's!!

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 23,000 employees providing services at 16 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue in excess of $4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital. SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Premier 13 times total and eleven years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. In 2021, St. Luke’s was identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally. St. Luke’s is the ONLY health care institution in the Lehigh Valley to be named a Top Workplace regionally repeating the exclusive honor for the third year in a row. Also, for the third straight year, St. Luke’s has been a Top Workplaces in the Philadelphia Region by the Philadelphia Inquirer, ranking 9th in the large employer category for 2025 and the only health care system in PA to receive this award. In 2025, St. Luke’s was recognized as a national Top Workplaces by USA Today, three years in a row, including the 3rd best health care system in the nation in 2023 and 2024. Lastly, in 2025, St. Luke’s was named a Top Workplace in New Jersey for the third year in a row.

Learn More Here.