Peer Advocate

South Coast Community Services; Upland (CA); On-site; USD 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

South Coast Community Services seeks a Peer Advocate to provide rehabilitation and case management, mentoring clients with lived experience to support recovery goals.

Role involves community-based work with approximately 50% travel, emphasizing trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices and collaboration with clinicians and teams.

Qualifications

• Bilingual Spanish strongly preferred.
• Experience in mental health services, crisis intervention, or related field preferred.
• Education options align with county requirements for Peer Advocate roles.

Responsibilities

• Provide services to restore, maintain, or teach new client skills.
• Identify and implement resources with clients.
• Facilitate learning of treatment-plan-based skills in sessions.
• Model scenarios to practice skills and reduce impairments.
• Support trauma-informed, culturally sensitive care.
• Conduct one-on-one and group sessions to build self-care skills.
• Advocate for client voices within systems and organizations.
• Travel in the community to meet clients and provide resources.
• Maintain accurate documentation per program standards.
• Coordinate with clinicians to prioritize client needs.

Skills

Bilingual Spanish

Trauma-informed care

Community-based work

Empathy & mentoring

Education

30 sem (45 qtr) units behavioral/social science

60 sem (90 qtr) units incl 15 sem in behavioral science

Bachelor’s degree in behavioral science (qualifying internship)

Job description

Description

POSITION SUMMARY:

South Coast Community Services takes pride in providing our staff with competitive compensation, opportunities for professional growth, access to diverse client populations, clinical autonomy, and a strong support system of seasoned employees. Peer Advocate (PA) provides rehabilitation and case management services as identified by the client’s needs at assessment. The PA is assigned to serve as a mentor to clients offering guidance, empathy, and hope grounded in their own lived experiences. The PA is a supplementary service to the therapeutic goals that have been established with their clinician. The PA may assist the client with socialization, practicing coping skills, grounding techniques, or other skills determined in the treatment plan. The position is community based and the PA travels about 50% of their time.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

General Mental Health (GMH) is a clinic based program that serves primarily Tier III adults with persistent and significant mental health impairments across serval areas of functioning. GMH works to stabilize clients with the goal of titrating to lower level services once stable. GMH uses a Mental Health Recovery, Wellness, and Resilience approach to help the individual to live a healthy, satisfying, and hopeful life according to his or her own values and cultural framework despite limitations and/or continuing effects caused by his or her mental illness.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Education/Experience

1. Must meet one of the following options:
2. Option 1: Thirty semester (45 quarter) units of completed college coursework in behavioral or social science.
3. Option 2: Sixty semester (90 quarter) units of completed college coursework, which includes 15 semester (23 quarter) units in behavioral science. Psych Tech courses and Alcohol and Drug Certification courses are acceptable.
4. Experience: Must meet one of the following options:
5. Option 1: One year of experience providing mental health services, including interviewing and referring clients and performing crisis intervention.
6. Option 2: Three years of experience in a behavioral health department, which involved direct client contact.
7. Option 3: Applicants who have completed a bachelor’s degree in a behavioral science may qualify with six months experience as described in Experience Option I or with completion of a paid, formal internship in the Department of Behavioral Health’s Social Work Intern Program with the County of San Bernardino.
8. Bilingual Spanish strongly preferred
9. Personal, lived experience with mental health or substance use recovery to guide, inspire, and support others facing similar challenges.

Licensure, Registration, Certification

1. Valid CA driver’s license and proof of automobile insurance.
2. Completion of CPR/First Aid/ProACT certification within the first thirty (30) days of employment.

Requirements

JOB DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide services that restore, maintain, or teach the client new skills that will help improve or replace problematic behaviors.
• Work with the clients on the identification and implementation of resources.
• Facilitate opportunities for clients to learn relevant skills as identified in their treatment plan.
• Model and role play scenarios for client to practice learned skills and reduce functional impairments.
• Ensure sensitivity to culture, values and beliefs, and operate from a trauma-informed, strength-based perspective.
• Support the development of effective self-care skills through one-on-one meetings and group sessions, sharing insights from lived experience.
• Advocate within organizations and systems to ensure that policies and practices respect and honor the voice, vision, and lived experience of clients as experts in their own lives and equal partners in their care.
• Travel in the community to meet clients and provide resources
• Maintain proficient and accurate documentation adhering to all program and contract standards.
• Coordinate with the assigned clinician to prioritize the client’s greatest needs.

JOB SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES

Service Delivery

Meeting expectations in Service Delivery Skills encompass the ability of paraprofessional staff to identify and recommend appropriate service types that align with the needs of clients, while staying within the bounds of their training, expertise, and professional role. This competency requires an understanding of the range of services available within the organization and the ability to match those services to the specific needs and preferences of clients.

Crisis Intervention and Safety Planning

Meeting expectations in Crisis and Safety Planning encompasses handling crisis situations effectively, including suicidal ideation, self-harm, and acute psychiatric symptoms, by adhering to established safety protocols and accessing appropriate resources. Participate as needed in the implementation of safety plans in collaboration with clients, their support systems, and the treatment team.

Productivity & Service Billing

Meeting expectations in Productivity and Service Billing skills focus on the ability to hit program productivity expectations on a monthly basis.

CORE COMPETENCIES

Attendance and Reliability

Meeting expectations in the Attendance and Reliability competency encompasses consistent and punctual attendance and a dependable approach to fulfilling professional responsibilities. This is further demonstrated by adhering to scheduled shifts, appointments, meetings, and other work-related obligations, minimizing unscheduled absences, and adjusting work schedule to accommodate program need.

Collaboration and Teamwork

Meeting expectations in the Collaboration and Teamwork competency includes working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams, including psychiatrists, case managers, educators, outside agency providers and other mental health professionals, to coordinate care and provide integrated services. This skill is also demonstrated by communicating effectively with clients' families and caregivers, involving them in treatment planning and facilitating their understanding of mental health issues and interventions.

Interpersonal Communication Skills

Meeting expectations in Interpersonal Communication Skills focuses on establishing rapport quickly, understanding and addressing client’s needs, soliciting and using input from team members and outside agencies, communicating data and information, and facilitating communications among outside agencies are other stakeholders. Communications are clear, concise, respectful, effective, and timely.

Quality of Care

Quality of Care encompasses the ability to consistently deliver work and client care of exceptional quality while ensuring precision, thoroughness, and adherence to established standards and procedures. This competency is essential in maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of organizational processes and services and ensuring clients are receiving the best level of care possible.

Accuracy and Quality Improvement

Meeting expectations in Accuracy and Quality Improvement includes upholding status of a single signer (40% or lower return rate for three consecutive months) by completing accurate documentation with minimal errors. Learning and correctly using Bells AI and its features for progress note completion. Actively participate in departmental and agency-wide quality improvement activities. (For programs who have not yet rolled out Single Signer, the metric will be a return rate of 40% or lower).

Efficiency, Time Management, and Organization

Meeting Expectations in Efficiency, Time Management, and Organization skills encompass the ability to take responsibility for one’s performance by spending time appropriately distributed to ensure that both internal and external client needs are met. Organizes and prioritizes assignments to ensure that newly emerging, urgent issues are resolved, while not losing sight of longer‑time goals. Documentation efficiency skills encompass the ability to submit accurate and complete progress notes or other documentation within 3 days. Crisis notes to be submitted within 24 hours. Collaborative documentation is used with clients regularly.

Cultural Competency

Meeting expectations in Cultural Competency encompasses awareness of personal cultural biases and assumptions, as well as the cultural backgrounds of clients. Staff respect and value the diversity of their clients, including their beliefs, values, traditions, and customs. They recognize that there is no one‑size‑fits‑all approach to mental health and tailor their interventions accordingly.

Professional Development

Meeting expectations in Professional Development consists of demonstrating commitment to continuous learning, skills improvement, and ability to adapt to changes in standards of practice in the field. Participate in both required and voluntary trainings that contribute to professional growth.

Alignment to SCCS Principles and Values

Meeting expectations in this category consists of upholding integrity, respecting others, maintaining a positive attitude, and being empathetic towards both colleagues, clients and customers.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Ability to drive a motor vehicle without restrictions, often in heavy traffic and frequently long distances (one hour or more) to ensure safe transport to client settings and to safely transport clients to appointments as needed.

Senses of vision, hearing and smell sufficient to regularly operate a motor vehicle, to visualize threats in the environment or risks to clients, and to operate safely in the field.

Required to occasionally lift and carry 10-20 pounds.

Regularly required to sit, stand, climb stairs (1 or more flights) and walk while in route to and during family visits.

Regularly required to sit and use computer in office settings.

EOE, INCLUDING DISABILITY/VETS

We are an equal opportunity employer and consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under California law.

Management reserves the right to add, change, delete or rescind duties or responsibilities of positions within the job classification at any time.