Peer Specialist - DBHC

Days Off: Saturday, Sunday

• Shift: Day (8:00PM - 4:00PM)
• Insurance Benefits: Medical (no premiums/payroll deductions for employee coverage) , Dental, Life, Long-term Disability
• Other Benefits: Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), ORCA card subsidy, Paid Time Off (34 days per year), Retirement Plan
• Union Representation: This position is a part of a union and is represented by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.

About DESC

Recognized nationally as an innovator and leader in developing solutions to homelessness, DESC is a social services organization, supportive housing operator, and licensed behavioral health treatment provider focused on meeting the needs of people experiencing long-term homelessness and living with complex behavioral health and other medical conditions. Approximately 3,000 people are actively receiving services from DESC at any given point in time. Our vision is a community where all people are shown compassion, treated with dignity, and everyone has a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.

DESC operates five shelter/emergency housing programs,19 permanent supportive housing facilities with over 1,750 units, several hundred additional scattered site apartments, and a range of behavioral health services including outpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatment, residential crisis stabilization, street outreach, mobile crisis response, and treatment for opioid use disorder.

JOB DEFINITION

The Peer Specialist/Counselor at DESC's Pioneer Square Clinic is responsible for running the Lew Middleton Drop-In Center for individuals experiencing severe and persistent mental illnesses in partnership with two other Peer Specialists, community volunteers, client volunteers and a Peer Supervisor. The position carries a caseload of 15 clients and partners with multi-disciplinary teams, both internally and externally, to support client care and recovery work.

Peer specialists/counselors are individuals who self-identify as persons with mental illness, substance use disorder or lived experience with their own recovery. They are well established in their own recovery and provide expertise that professional training cannot replicate. Through shared understanding, respect, and mutual empowerment this position will help people become and stay engaged in the recovery process and focus on reducing the likelihood of relapse. Peer specialists/counselors provide consultation to the team to promote a culture in which each client's point of view and preferences are recognized, understood, respected and integrated into treatment, recovery and community self-help activities.

Peer Counselor is a temporary position available to qualified individuals who have not yet obtained Washington State Peer Counselor certification. The goal for each individual hired into this position is to complete the Washington State Peer Counselor Training and obtain certification within 1 year of employment at DESC. Meeting this goal will enable Peer Counselors to move into the Certified Peer Specialist position.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assist with monitoring and day-to-day operations of the Lew Middleton Drop-In Center.
• Participate as a member of a multi-disciplinary team providing outreach, engagement and support of on-going case management services to housed and homeless adults experiencing severe and persistent mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders.
• Integrate personal experience with mental illness into work with program participants.
• Utilize a recovery-based approach to assist consumers to reach their fullest potential.
• Assist case managers in coordinating consumer supports and linkage. This includes facilitating access to food, clothing, hygiene services, medical care, community resources and services.
• Plan and facilitate consumer meetings with the purpose of eliciting consumer input regarding mental health program performance and to assure the consumer perspective is well-understood and reported back to the team and the Recovery Plan Review Group.
• Participate in the Bar Review Committee, crisis intervention and safety management tasks.
• Assist consumers with voicing their interests and goals through a variety of channels including Goal Plans, Crisis Plans, WRAP and other methods of expressing individual preference for their recovery goals.
• Participate in the planning, organizing and co-facilitating of self-help and educational group treatment services for consumers served by the mental health program. These could be located at the drop-in or in housing program sites.
• Travel locally to outreach consumers in their homes, shelters, and in the community.
• Work with the case manager to stabilize and maintain consumers in housing. This encompasses a range of skills including modeling, teaching, coaching and assisting the consumer in the upkeep of their apartment.
• Work with case managers, employment staff, and clients, providing a role model and support for those clients interested in gaining and maintaining employment.
• Assess consumers ADL's (Activities of Daily Living), working with the case manager and other providers to plan for gaps in the consumers' skill base.
• Participate in psychiatric consultation, supervision, program meetings and in-service trainings; participate in clinical reviews and case conferences for consumers as scheduled.
• Comply with the agency's clinical accountability policies and procedures; maintain current and complete clinical and administrative records; participate in quality assurance reviews when assigned.
• Comply with applicable program research and evaluation procedures.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Current Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPSS) or Certified Peer Support Specialist Trainee (CPSS-T) credential through the Washington State Department of Health or ability to gain certification within 60 days of hire.
• Proof of successful completion of the Washington State Health Care Authority's Certified Peer Support Specialist Training prior to hire.
• Lived experience as a consumer of behavioral health services (mental health and/or substance use treatment) or be the parent or legal guardian of a child who has received behavioral health services.
• Ability to drive an agency or personal vehicle to conduct agency related business. A current Washington State driver's license and insurable driving record are required.
• Interest in working with clients who are difficult to engage and maintain in traditional mental health/substance use disorder programs.
• Knowledge of Recovery focused, strengths-based work in mental health.
• Ability to communicate and work effectively with consumers and staff from various backgrounds.
• Subscribe to the philosophy of cooperation and continuity across programs and of consideration and respect for consumers.
• Tolerance of unusual or unpleasant behavior.
• Support for harm reduction approaches.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• One or more years' experience in community based behavioral health services or like industry serving a diverse client/participant population.
• Two or more years’ experience leveraging personal peer story as a peer specialist.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee will be required to sit for long periods of time, walk when completing rounds several times a day, move quickly during de-escalations, communicate with other persons by talking and hearing, and lift and carry items weighing up to 25 pounds and to operate computer hardware systems. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

DESC is committed to diversity in the workplace and promotes equal employment opportunities for all staff members and applicants. The Agency will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, caste, marital status, or the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability in any employment practice, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification. Minorities and veterans are encouraged to apply.