Family Peer Support Specialist

POSITION: Family Peer Support Specialist

START DATE: ASAP

Employment Type: 1.0 FTE

Riverview Center For Growth is seeking a Family Peer Support Specialist to work with the family members and caregivers in navigating and feeling supported around the treatment of their child.

A Family Peer Support Specialist works with families and is a parent or guardian with lived experience raising a child with emotional, behavioral, mental health, developmental or other health challenges. The Family Peer Support Specialist's role is to support the family, help them to engage and actively participate in their treatment process, help to make informed decisions that drive the process, provide resources and assistance with accessing services, and empower families to advocate for themselves. The Family Peer Support Specialist uses personal and professional life experience to provide consultation and coaching to increase awareness and improve parent/caregiver-professional partnerships and maximize parent/caregiver voice, choice and involvement. Job duties will be performed in various settings including homes, community space, and at Riverview.

Job Responsibilities:

• Work with families referred by Riverview Center programs, including the Crisis Response Program.
• Facilitate engagement, access and participation; maintain meaningful involvement with the parent/caregiver and their child’s planning process.
• Explore strengths, needs, culture and vision with the child and family.
• Participate in child and family team meetings to ensure access, voice and choice within the child and family team process and support the parent/caregivers connection to the child and family team.
• Encourage the family and team to bring concerns into the open.
• Model effective communication, frame and reframe a concern to facilitate collaboration, patience and strengths-based approach.
• Provide a consistent source of encouragement and hope.
• Provide non-judgmental, unconditional support to parent/caregiver and attend to language and attitudes of all team members to promote family friendliness and avoid blaming and shaming the family or anyone else on the team.
• Maintain connection to the parent/caregiver and family based on the plan and family needs and follow-through on tasks and assignments.
• Model, practice and support family/parent/caregiver to talk about sensitive issues, reframe negative concerns and manage respectful communication.
• Maintain personal and professional boundaries, appropriate to the peer role and to ensure the safety and protection of self and the families served.
• Participate in regular supervision with Peer Supervisor and Program Director.
• Able and willing to accommodate flexibility in work schedule in order to meet family needs – occasional evenings included.
• Represent core agency and program values and principles in all work settings.
• Develop and maintain constructive and positive relationships as a member of a team, demonstrating qualities of dependability, empathy, genuineness, respect as a team member and as a peer.
• Produce and maintain accurate and timely documentation according to the assigned schedule (e.g., scheduled reports, timesheets, progress notes and other paperwork as required).
• Maintain on-site food pantry and clothing closet as shared tasks with peer support team
• Attend staff meetings and scheduled trainings.
• Demonstrate culturally effective sensitivity and responsiveness to varying cultural characteristics and beliefs.
• Maintain strict confidentiality standards according to HIPAA.
• Maintain assigned office and community-based work schedule.

Minimum Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty and responsibility satisfactorily. An emphasis is placed on knowledge and growth from lived experience over formal education systems.

• Personal experience of being the primary caregiver of a child who is consuming mental health/behavioral health/substance abuse services. Demonstrated ability to cope with child(ren)’s diagnosis.
• Must be comfortable working out in the community including private homes.
• Experience working with children and families in a community-based program preferred.
• Knowledge of community resources.
• Ability to work independently and part of a team.
• Ability to work with diverse cultural, religious, racial, educational, socio-economic and alternative cultural backgrounds.
• Commitment to child safety and family stability.
• General knowledge of office machines and telephones
• Must be able to lift 25 pounds
• Must pass a criminal and abuse background check
• Must be able to drive and meet Riverview’s driving requirements.

Preferred Qualifications:

• State Certified as a Family Peer Support Specialist
• Bilingual in Spanish and English

To Apply: Please submit a Cover Letter* explaining your LIVED EXPERIENCE and a Professional Resume to this job post. Additionally, please go to www.riverviewgrowth.org and apply with an application.

*A cover letter is required and needs to answer the following questions:

1. Do you have a valid Driver's License and Person Transportation?

2. It is required that you have personal experience as a PARENT or GUARDIAN of a child who is undergoing or has undergone mental health/behavioral health/substance abuse services. Demonstrated ability to cope with your child(ren)'s diagnosis is REQUIRED. Do you have this lived experience?

3. Are you bilingual: fluent in English and Spanish?

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $42,546.00 - $46,963.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift

Work Location: Multiple locations

Salary : $42,546 - $46,963