Peer Specialist

Services for the UnderServed; New York (NY); On-site; USD 45,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Services for the UnderServed in New York City is seeking a Peer Specialist to support individuals and families through outreach and advocacy. The ideal candidate will be a Certified Recovery Peer Advocate with strong interpersonal skills and a commitment to substance use recovery.

This role involves significant travel to community settings and shelters, promoting recovery stories, and developing supportive relationships with participants. A competitive salary ranging from $45,000 to $50,000 per year is offered.

Qualifications

• Must be a Certified Recovery Peer Advocate or have Provisional certification.
• Two years of active participation in substance use/mental health self-help.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills and empathy required.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate engagement through outreach and relationship building.
• Train and distribute Naloxone kits.
• Advocate for participants within the community.

Skills

Interpersonal communication skills

Empathy

Crisis intervention

Advocacy

Education

Certified Recovery Peer Advocate (CRPA)

Provisional certification

Job description

Position Overview

The Peer Specialist plays a key role in engaging individuals and families, supporting recovery, and connecting participants to services through outreach, advocacy, and lived experience.

Salary: USD $45,000.00 – $50,000.00 per year.

Essential Job Functions

• Outreach/Engagement/Bridge Building: Facilitate engagement by forging strong connections with participants and families in Brooklyn and surrounding communities. Promote community awareness of S:US services, encourage help‑seeking, and act as a bridge between treatment team members and participants experiencing ambivalence about substance use treatment (including MAT and outpatient SUD treatment).
• Combating Overdose: Certified to train and distribute Naloxone kits to individuals and their family members.
• Relationship Building: Develop authentic, meaningful relationships through empathy, sharing experiences, listening, and collaborating with curiosity and interest.
• Embracing Creative Narratives: Understand, share, and discuss multiple frameworks for substance use and psychosis with participants and the team, using language to listen, understand, and create space for recovery stories.
• Advocacy: Advocate with and for program participants in the community and within the team.
• Co‑Creating Support and Wellness Tools: Collaborate to clarify personal visions, develop wellness toolkits, strengthen self‑awareness, build life skills, and connect to external resources.
• Influencing Team Culture: Positively influence culture by advocating for clients, promoting a youth‑friendly approach, encouraging recovery‑oriented language, and fostering an environment that values human potential and diversity.
• Team Communication: Maintain open communication, report safety concerns, keep visit notes, and co‑collaborate on reporting with participants.
• Additional: Adhere to on‑call cell‑phone system, conduct crisis intervention, and engage in significant travel (≈75%) to shelters and community settings.

Qualifications

• Certified Recovery Peer Advocate (CRPA) or Provisional certification required.
• Clear understanding of community resources where the team is based.
• Positive progress toward personal recovery.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills and empathy with participants in mental health services.
• Minimum two years of active participation in substance use/mental health self‑help, peer support, advocacy, or participant run organizations.
• Willingness to disclose personal recovery story as appropriate.
• Excellent judgment and understanding of boundaries with participants.
• Adherence to on‑call cell‑phone system and readiness for crisis intervention.

Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information and including all other statuses protected by Federal, State and Local laws. S:US is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities, including the use of service animals.