Peer Support Advocate

HCRS (Health Care & Rehabilitation Services of Southeastern Vermont); Brattleboro (VT); On-site; USD 32,000 - 34,000; Full time

Job summary

HCRS (Health Care & Rehabilitation Services of Southeastern Vermont) seeks Peer Support Advocates to connect with people in emotional distress and guide them toward empowering resources. You will work to foster autonomy and well-being, drawing on lived experience and training, to support individuals within the agency, system, and community.

The role emphasizes mutual support, collaboration with teams, and advocacy in diverse settings, including hospitals and community centers, with training

Qualifications

• Commitment to mutual support, disability justice, anti-racism, and choice.
• Lived experience supporting people in crisis or related contexts.
• Ability to connect with people in emotional distress and work collaboratively.

Responsibilities

• Connect with and support community members experiencing emotional distress/crisis in the community and/or at a peer support center.
• Provide ongoing one on one support to individuals who want peer support services.
• Support community members in accessing internal and external resources to navigate crises.
• Support the development of mutual support networks and connections.
• Facilitate peer support groups as needed.
• Help maintain a welcoming, inclusive environment in spaces for emotional support.
• Advocate with individuals in various settings, including hospitals and meetings, as needed.
• Participate in data collection and documentation as needed.
• For experienced advocates: provide training and support to staff and community guided by disability justice movements.

Skills

Relational skills

Communication skills

Perspective taking

Handling distress

Team player

Tools

MS Word

Zoom

Slack

Job description

The pay for this position is between $23 and $25 per hour.

The below duties or working procedures describe the chief functions of the job. They are not considered a detailed description of every duty of the job. The job description is intended to be dynamic in nature, subject to addition or deletion as required by programmatic changes and needs.

Whenever the term “crisis” is used in this document it is meant as a shorthand way of referring to situations or experiences that are identified as such by the individual(s) experiencing it (though they may choose to use other language) and isn’t meant to imply a universal concept of what crisis means or what it looks like.

Position Purpose

Peer Support Advocates use their lived experience and training to connect with people who are looking for support and to make changes within the agency, system, and community that are conducive to the rights, autonomy, and well-being of people who experience emotional, mental, and/or social crises.

Principal Responsibilities And Duties

• Connect with and support community members experiencing emotional distress/crisis in the community and/or at a peer support center


• Provide ongoing one on one support to individuals who want peer support services


• Support community members in accessing internal and external resources to be able to navigate current and future crises


• Support the development of mutual support networks and connections


• Facilitate peer support groups as needed


• Help maintain a welcoming and inclusive environment when working in spaces designed for emotional support


• Advocate with or on behalf of individuals for their expressed interests. This may occur in emergency department or hospital settings, in multi-disciplinary team meetings, with administrators, or with external entities.


• Participate in data collection and documentation as needed


• For more experienced Peer Support Advocates: Provide training and support to the broader community and HCRS staff to improve conditions and resources for psych survivor/neurodivergent/mad/disabled/mentally ill and other marginalized people, guided by the disability justice and psychiatric survivor/mad pride movements. This may include activities such as:




• Facilitating Intentional Peer Support trainings and/or coreflections


• Providing support and consultation to providers and/or community members to inform the way that they support someone


• Giving feedback and offering other perspectives in meetings, trainings, and conversations within the agency and with community partners as needed


• Speaking or writing publicly about issues affecting psych survivor/neurodivergent/mad/disabled/mentally ill people

Key Knowledge, Skills and Abilities to successfully perform this job:

• Excellent relational skills


• Strong communication skills


• Ability to see multiple perspectives


• Ability to participate in difficult or heavy conversations and be in proximity to people experiencing various kinds of distress


• Ability to be a supportive and collaborative team member


• Microsoft word, Zoom, and Slack (training provided but familiarity is helpful)

Relationships

Peer Support Advocates are supervised by the Peer Support Manager and are part of the Peer Support Team.

Qualifications

Minimum

• Commitment to the values of mutual support, community, disability justice, anti-racism, and choice.


• Lived experience of marginalization and/or trauma that supports the ability to connect and relate to people in emotional and social crisis. This could include various kinds of trauma and marginalization, including madness, neurodivergence, institutionalization, homelessness, incarceration, family separation, loss, addiction, etc.


• Personal or professional experience supporting people in crisis.

Preferred

• Training in Intentional Peer Support (IPS), restorative/transformative justice, de-escalation, group facilitation, harm reduction, or other related areas


• Experience in peer support, harm reduction, community organizing, or other related work


• Familiarity with the psychiatric survivor, mad pride, neurodivergent, harm reduction, transformative justice, and/or disability justice movements

Working Conditions

Some locations may include stimulating environments in terms of sounds, smells, and quantity of interaction with people. Fluorescent lighting and fragrances may be used in some buildings. Some driving will be required and the amount will vary depending on what role the Peer Support Advocate is playing within the team and the needs of the people being supported. Visits to inpatient hospitals or emergency rooms may be required to support individuals in those settings.

Applicants will be subject to criminal background checks prior to beginning such employment with HCRS. We acknowledge that various life experiences sometimes result in the existence of a record, and strongly encourage those with this experience to discuss any concerns you have with the hiring manager or HR. The existence of a record alone will not prevent an otherwise qualified applicant from moving forward, though specific charges may be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and subject to the approval of HCRS HR and grant funding entities as needed. HCRS and the hiring committee will hold this information in the strictest confidence, and no information will be released to an outside entity without the applicant’s consent.