Peer Support Specialist

Summary: As a Peer Support Specialist, you will draw on your valuable lived experience to work alongside a multidisciplinary team, foster client engagement, provide advocacy, and connect clients with resources. You will offer hope, understanding, and authentic support while helping clients navigate their recovery and healing journey.

Primary Duties: Orients clients and their identified supportive individuals in the client's life, to the mental health, medical, crisis, and social services systems. Apply a strength-based and recovery-oriented approach to help clients identify and build on their personal strengths, develop effective coping skills, overcome barriers to wellness and treatment engagement, increase hope, and enhance overall well-being. Supports clients in identifying and pursuing self-directed recovery goals through shared decision-making and person-centered planning. Promotes client self-advocacy, empowerment, and informed choice in all aspects of recovery. Facilitates individual peer support sessions and peer-led groups. Provides coaching and skill-building in daily living activities including budgeting, shopping, cooking, housekeeping, and using public transportation as tools to strengthen independence and resilience. Models hope, recovery and resilience by building mutually respectful, nonjudgmental connections and appropriately sharing lived experience to foster engagement, inspire hope, and support clients' recovery while maintaining professional boundaries. Uses trauma-informed, person-centered, motivational interviewing, and harm reduction approaches to support client engagement and recovery. Assists clients in accessing mental health, medical, housing, and community resources; accompanies clients to appointments as needed; and promotes self-advocacy when navigating healthcare and social service systems. Consults with supervisor on client care decisions, service coordination, safety concerns, and program planning. Collaborates with the multidisciplinary team by communicating client progress, strengths, challenges, and potential safety concerns, and partners with team members during crises to support safety planning, conflict resolution, and ongoing engagement. Provides the perspective of lived experience to inform treatment planning and promote recovery-oriented care within the multidisciplinary team. Engages community members through outreach activities, workshops, and community events to increase awareness of agency services and reduce stigma related to mental health and recovery. Maintains timely and accurate documentation in accordance with agency policies, contractual requirements, and applicable regulations. Participates in supervision, team meetings, staff meetings, and ongoing professional development to strengthen peer support knowledge, skills and competencies. Performs other related duties as assigned in support of clients, program operations, and agency initiatives.

Position Requirements: High School Diploma or equivalent. Certified as a Peer Support Specialist through the successful completion of a qualifying training program. Minimum of one year of work experience in any field, demonstrating the ability to communicate effectively, maintain professional boundaries, follow established procedures, and manage responsibilities reliably. Experience in behavioral health, peer support, or human services is preferred but not required. Have lived experience of mental health, substance use recovery, and/or navigating behavioral health or other human service systems and have demonstrated personal progress in recovery, with the ability to appropriately draw upon lived experience to inspire hope and support others in their own recovery journeys. Additional lived experience relevant to the population served (e.g., suicide recovery, homelessness, parenting of child with mental health challenges or other specialized populations) may be required for specific program assignments. Working knowledge of peer support services, peer-led groups, recovery resources, and community-based supports. Specialized programs may require knowledge of population-specific resources and services. Demonstrate basic advocacy skills and a holistic, recovery-oriented approach to supporting clients in navigating behavioral health, physical health, and community resources. Ability to provide services in a variety of settings, including outpatient, community, and field-based locations (e.g., homes, schools, and other community settings), and travel between agency sites as needed. Support the values and mission of Didi Hirsch as related to employment and demonstrate commitment to team objectives. Knowledge of Agency policies and procedures, HIPAA, policies and documentation guidelines, and county, state and federal regulations relating to service programs for individuals and families that are served at Didi Hirsch. Skills to present ideas, information, and viewpoints clearly, both verbally and in writing. Ability to complete timely and accurate service documentation, including client presentation, goals, interventions, progress, and plans. Experience with Medi-Cal billing requirements and related documentation standards preferred. Able to efficiently use the personal computer to include Microsoft Office Suite and Electronic Health Record. Adapt to changing needs by acquiring new skills and knowledge, as needed. Current California driver's license, car insurance, and a driving record acceptable to the Agency's insurance carrier.

Our Vision: A future where everyone has equitable access to care and is empowered to achieve optimal mental health and well-being.

Our Mission: Didi Hirsch provides compassionate mental health, substance use, and suicide prevention services to individuals and families, especially in communities where discrimination and injustice limit access. CORE VALUESExcellence: We are constantly innovating, learning from the communities we serve, and applying the latest research to advance best practices. We uphold the highest ethical standards to ensure we are providing compassionate and excellent care.

Diversity & Inclusion: We value diversity of background, experience, and ideas. We celebrate differences and prioritize creating a sense of belonging.

Equity: We are dedicated to promoting health equity in our communities, and we work to dismantle disparities and discrimination within both systems of care and society. Well Being: We are devoted to the well-being of our staff, volunteers, and communities, and believe healthy teams lead to healthy clients. Advocacy: We advocate across all levels of government and use our voice to reduce barriers to care with the goal of access to high quality, integrated healthcare for all. Community Engagement: We build partnerships in the community and across sectors to create a more inclusive and responsive mental health ecosystem and enhance greater accessibility to care and support.