Peer SupportSpecialist

Founded in 1965, Telecare is a rapidly growing mental health care company dedicated to making a difference for our clients, the community, and our employees. We offer an array of mental health services to adults with serious mental illness. We partner with public sector entities and behavioral health organizations, and have over 125 programs and over 3,680 employees across the country. And we're growing all the time! When you work at Telecare, you help to empower thousands of individuals every day in their journeys of recovery.

Telecare’s newest program in Santa Maria, California will provide traditional short-term crisis residential services for up to 10 adults. Agnes Avenue is a recovery-focused learning environment where residents have opportunities to improve symptom self-management, community living and interpersonal skills and make lasting connections to family, community-based mental health services and other community supports

Employment Status: Full-Time, Part-Time, Short-Hour (2 day/week, also have on-call and other part-time openings)

Shift:  PM, 3:00 pm to 11:30 pm

Days:  Wednesday & Thursday 

Minimum Compensation: $13.08 Hourly

Top of 1st Quartile: $14.42 Hourly

Peer Support Specialists engage, inspire, and facilitate meaningful conversations with members served that assist the person to explore, create, and meet their own recovery goals. Peer Support Specialists provide consultation to the team to promote and reinforce Telecare’s Recovery Culture as defined by the Telecare Recovery Centered Clinical System (RCCS), in which each member’s point of view and preferences are recognized, understood, respected, and integrated into services and self-help programming. Additionally, Peer Support Specialists respond to critical situations with high level engagement and de-escalation skills which support a least restrictive environment for individuals experiencing an emergency related to a mental health/addiction challenge.

Required:

• High School Diploma or GED required

• Successful completion of Peer Support Training / Certified Peer Specialist or Peer Employment Training within one (1) year of hire

• Experience as a beneficiary of the Behavioral Health system of care

• Must be at least 18 years of age

• Must be CPR, Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), and First Aid certified on date of employment or within 60 days of employment and maintain current certification throughout employment

• All opportunities at Telecare are contingent upon successful completion and receipt of acceptable results of the applicable post-offer physical examination, 2-step PPD test for tuberculosis, acceptable criminal background clearances, excluded party sanctions, and degree or license verification. Position requires driving, valid driver’s license, a motor vehicle clearance, and proof of auto insurance is required at time of employment and must be maintained throughout employment. Additional regulatory, contractual, or local requirements may apply.

Preferred:

• Bilingual a plus

• Bicultural background/experience preferred

• Demonstrates the Telecare mission, purpose, values, and beliefs in everyday language and contact with internal and external stakeholders

• Draws upon own personal recovery experience with mental health/addiction challenges as a basis for engagement with members as a peer, and to validate members’ own lived experiences

• Assists members with voicing their strengths, interests and goals throughout their services including: goal plans, crisis plans and other methods of expressing individual preferences

• Utilizes a comprehensive resource guide and educates members served about local community supports and resources

• Supports members served in developing strategies to reduce self-stigma

• Engages and communicates with a wide range of members served especially those who are struggling to be active in their own recovery

• Assists members served in all needs including Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)

• Actively participates in multidisciplinary team meetings

• Participates in verbal de-escalation and physical interventions in emergent situations and is willing and able to assist other staff as needed to maintain a safe, healing environment for all

• Travels locally to provide outreach to members served in the community (program specific)

• Must assist with restraint of members served in the event of assaultive behavior and pass assault crisis/crisis prevention training

Duties and responsibilities may be added, deleted and/or changed at the discretion of management.