Crisis Peer Support Worker

Description

POSITION OBJECTIVES: 

To provide a friendly and professional response to persons experiencing emergent or urgent psychiatric or personal issues and responding to them in-person/onsite as safely appropriate and necessary. To collaborate and coordinate with local law enforcement/EMS/hospital emergency departments/internal Prairie View staff as appropriate and necessary to coordinate care and ensure a safe environment for the patient and staff providing mental health support and assessment.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITES

• Provide crisis intervention services in the office, community, and in patients’ home when a crisis has been identified, based on the philosophies and principles of emphasizing patient’s strengths.

• Initiate problem-solving with person seeking services and/or family to support them in resolving issues/problems or finding options to ensure safety and develop crisis resolution and prevention plans.
• Help those seeking services/families become linked with necessary community services/resources.
• Contact other team members regarding patient’s needs if patient is unsuccessful at resolving crisis.
• Assist staff/clinicians in identifying, providing outreach to, patients in need of crisis intervention services.
• Encounters will be provided as needed, on an ongoing basis, with mobile crisis and crisis case management services deemed medically necessary and will be re-evaluated every 72 hours to determine continued need.
• Provide case consultation services and attend treatment meetings with internal staff and external agencies and organizations, as needed.
• Communicate and coordinate with local law enforcement, EMS, and emergency departments as necessary and appropriate.

• Maintain professionalism and confidentiality at all times in all situations and aspects.
• Engage in the following patient-centered community based activities as needed by each patient/family:

• Highlight patient/family’s strengths and successes to help improve their self-esteem.
• Employ problem solving with patient/family to help them resolve issues and problems.
• Provide effective crisis intervention services to the patient and their family.
• Assess strengths and set goals with the patient/family; review regularly.
• Help the patient/family become linked with necessary community services/resources.
• Provide support and advocacy with various systems on behalf of patient/family to facilitate obtaining needed resources and/or protection of rights.

• Help the service participant to develop a network for information and support from others who have been through similar experiences.
• Articulate what has been helpful and what was not helpful in his/her own recovery.
• Identify beliefs and values a patient holds that work against his/her recovery.
• Discern when and how much of their recovery story to share and with whom.
• Discuss his/her own tools for taking care of himself/herself.

• Assist the service participant with identifying and effective responding to or avoiding identified precursors or triggers that result in functional impairments.

• Ask open-ended questions that relate a person to his/her inner wisdom.
• Demonstrate an ability to participate in “healing communication”.
• Interact sensitively and effectively with people of other cultures.
• Teach other patients to create their own Wellness Recovery Action Plan.
• Communicate with community partners, obtaining proper authorization.

• Complete paperwork tasks within required time frames, including adequate and timely documentation in the clinical record of treatment interventions.
• Attend and regularly participate in clinical and administrative supervision.

• Acknowledges the rights and responsibilities of adult service participants.
• Recognizes the range of needs, both mental and physical, based on an individual’s age.
• Pro-actively makes recommendations regarding specialized services, based on the individual’s age.
• Recognizes and differentiates typical age appropriate.
• Is able to set and maintain appropriate boundaries when working with children, adolescents, and adults.
• QUALITY ASSURANCE AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT (QAPI)
  • Participate in organizational QAPI activities.  Be familiar with QAPI Initiatives and goals in work area.  Annually review the Quality Assurance & Performance Improvement Plan.
• Participate as a member of Prairie View staff in structured meetings.
• Participate in continuing education activities, utilizing internal (Relias) and external resources; and required inservices (such as Infection Control, etc.).

Qualifications

• Minimum Education:  High school diploma or equivalent; certification, or ability to become certified upon being hired, in the State of Kansas to provide the Peer Support Worker service, which includes criminal, abuse/neglect registry and professional background checks, and completion of a state approved standardized basic training program
• Minimum Experience:  Provider must self-identify as a present or former primary client of mental health services
• Must be at least 18 years of age
• Must have excellent communication skills – listening, verbal, and written
• Must be able and willing to be flexible, a self-starter, punctual, and have the ability to maintain a schedule
• Must have a valid Kansas driver’s license, be insurable through Prairie View insurance company, and be willing to provide transportation to patients as needed
• Must have ability to maintain professional boundaries with peers
• Must be proficient at basic keyboarding/word-processing skills
• Must be able to pass Kansas Bureau of Investigation Screen and the Central Registry Screen for both adults and children