Peer Support Specialist (MIHT) Mobile Intensive Housing Team

Lives Change Here! We are GROWING... Columbia River Mental Health Services provides comprehensive behavioral health and recovery services that transform the lives of children, adults and families in the communities of SW Washington. We are the largest and oldest not-for-profit provider of mental / chemical dependency treatment in southwest Washington with 200 employees and a history dating back to 1942.

Our Mission : Providing behavioral health and recovery services that transform the lives of children, adults, and families in the communities of SW Washington.

Why Work Here?

CRMHS offers AMAZING benefits aside from health and wellness (medical / dental / vision etc.) Work life balance benefits : 12 paid holidays per year, 3 paid floating holidays, accrue up to 24 days of PTO days in the first year that grows year after year. Career development : $325 annual allowance for career development and education with an additional 40 hours of paid time off for career development / education! And so many More!

Summary :

This member of the street multidisciplinary teams has experience as a recipient of mental health or substance use services for severe and persistent behavioral health and is willing to use and share his or her personal, practical experience, knowledge, and first-hand insight to benefit the team and its clients. The peer specialist functions as a fully integrated team member to provide expertise about the recovery process, symptom management, and the persistence required by clients to have a satisfying life. Collaborates to promote a team culture that recognizes, understands, and respects each client's point of view, experiences, and preferences. Responsible to maximize client choice, self-determination and decision-making in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of treatment, rehabilitation and support services. Provides peer counseling and consultation to individual clients, families, and team staff; acts as a liaison with community resources; carries out rehabilitation and support functions; and assists in treatment, substance abuse services, education, support and consultation to families, and crisis intervention under the clinical supervision of staff with professional degrees.

Essential Job Responsibilities :

• Provide peer counseling and support, drawing on common experiences as a peer, to validate clients' experiences and to provide guidance and encouragement to clients to take responsibility and actively participate in their own recovery.
• Provide interventions in the community and support crisis services.
• Serve as a mentor to clients to promote hope and empowerment.
• Act as an interpreter to help non-mental health consumer team members better understand and empathize with each client's unique and subjective experience and perceptions.
• Provide expertise and consultation from a mental health consumer perspective to the entire team concerning clients' experiences on symptoms of mental illness, the effects and side-effects of medications, clients' responses to and opinions of treatment, and clients' experiences of recovery.
• Collaborate with the team to promote a team culture in which each client's point of view, experiences, and preferences are recognized, understood, and respected, and in which client self-determination and decision-making in treatment planning are maximized and supported.
• Help clients identify, understand, and combat stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness and develop strategies to reduce self-stigma.
• Increase awareness of and support client participation in consumer self-help programs and consumer advocacy organizations that promote recovery.
• Serve as the liaison between the team and consumer-run programs such as self-help groups and drop-in centers.
• Provide ongoing assessment, problem solving, side-by-side services, skill teaching, support (prompts, assignments, encouragement), and environmental adaptations to assist clients with activities of daily living.
• Assist clients to find and maintain a safe and affordable place to live apartment hunting, finding a roommate, landlord negotiations, cleaning, furnishing and decorating, and procuring necessities.

Non-essential Job Functions :

Education, Licensing and Experience :

Salary : $325