Peer Recovery Specialist (or Peer Advocate) - Housing

The Peer Recovery Specialist provides a relationship to vulnerable persons that can help keep an unmotivated or poorly organized client connected to services and maintain housing placements. The approach in peer recovery has key differences to the approach taken by a treatment provider. The Peer Recovery Specialist has responsibility for integrating the lived experience into clients’ treatment goals and services by practicing a strengths-based and harm reduction approach to recovery and wellness.

Key Role Responsibilities

• Through service provision and regularly scheduled visits, build relationships that models wellness and recovery with assigned clients that results in improved engagement with services.
• With supervisory guidance, use motivational and coaching strategies to help ambivalent clients better engage in care. Provide supports necessary for engagement. Supports can include reminder calls, warm hand-offs and escorting.
• Coordinate with team members regarding housing, health care, behavioral health, and entitlement related treatment goals and carry out specific tasks with the client to help promote goal attainment.
• Help clients identify and secure housing placements.
• Provide in-home or community teaching/coaching on activities of daily living. This can include coaching on basic housekeeping, escorts for laundry, grocery or other shopping and representative payee budgeting and check distribution.
• Assist the individual in identifying support systems.
• Triage clients coming in for walk-in services and assist with making necessary connections.
• Complete documentation within the client’s electronic health record in a manner that is easy to understand and in accordance with established formats and required timeframes.  

Key Agency Responsibilities 

In addition to role responsibilities, every staff member has the following responsibilities as a part of their employment:

• Models and reinforces the core values of dignity, authenticity, hope, justice, passion, and balance.
• Actively participates in performance improvement and advocacy activities that support the mission 
• Protects clients’ personal health information by maintaining compliance with HIPAA and other relevant health care-related IT security regulations
• Performs other duties on an as needed basis.

Knowledge, Experience, and Skills 

Formal Education and Training

• High school diploma, GED or equivalent.  AA degree in Human Services preferred 
• Must be certified as a Peer Recovery Specialist or obtain the CPRS credential within 6 months of employment 
• Personal vehicle and valid Maryland driver’s license required

Experience  

• At least two years of experience in connecting individuals to essential services including healthcare, mental health, and addiction services
• Experience working in a health care setting preferred
• Personal experience with homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness, HIV or incarceration required

Skills

• Knowledge of Baltimore City community resources for addiction, social services and mental health
• Willingness to adopt Harm Reduction and Housing First principles and apply them to work with clients
• Approaches change with a positive, open-minded attitude
• Demonstrates personal integrity and has well-developed interpersonal skills necessary to engage clients and promote positive relationships with other community agencies and providers
• Able to be flexible and work as part of an interdisciplinary team
• Able to take initiative and problem solve
• Able to work with ill, disabled, emotionally upset, and sometimes hostile clients

Health Care for the Homeless is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to racial equity and inclusion. We make a particular effort to recruit and promote Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) for open positions. BIPOC, LGBTQIA individuals, people with disabilities, and people with other marginalized identities are encouraged to apply.

This is an essential onsite position primarily based at an agency location.