Peer Support Specialist (53053)

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Peer Support Specialist uses lived experience with mental health and/or substance use recovery to engage and support individuals served by the Wisconsin Mobile Mental Health Unit. As a member of the treatment team, the Peer Support Specialist promotes hope, self-determination, recovery, and connection to services; assists with crisis stabilization; provides peer mentoring and recovery-focused support; facilitates groups; helps individuals navigate community resources; and supports successful engagement in ongoing behavioral health care. The role provides services from a peer perspective while maintaining appropriate boundaries and working within the scope of peer support practice. Essential functions include those listed below.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Use lived experience purposefully and appropriately to build rapport, instill hope, reduce stigma, and support individuals experiencing behavioral health concerns or crises.
• Provide peer mentoring, emotional support, recovery education, advocacy, and practical assistance from a strengths-based and person-centered perspective.
• Support individuals during and following crisis stabilization by reinforcing coping strategies, recovery goals, safety plans, and connection to ongoing services.
• Assist individuals in identifying personal strengths, natural supports, wellness strategies, recovery goals, and self-directed next steps.
• Help individuals navigate behavioral health, substance use, medical, housing, benefits, transportation, employment, and other community resources.
• Provide warm handoffs and follow-up support to reduce barriers to treatment and improve engagement with recommended services.

• Facilitate or co-facilitate peer-led, recovery-focused, wellness, and skill-building groups as assigned and within the scope of the role.
• Conduct community outreach and engagement activities, including outreach to individuals who may be reluctant or unable to access traditional services.
• Assist with transportation and accompany individuals to approved services or appointments when appropriate and authorized.
• When qualified and authorized, assist with operation of the Mobile Mental Health Unit in accordance with organizational driver and safety requirements.
• Recognize and promptly communicate changes in an individual's presentation, safety, or support needs to the appropriate clinical team member; do not independently perform functions outside the peer role.
• Maintain timely, accurate, objective, and recovery-oriented documentation of peer contacts, services, referrals, follow-up activities, and outcomes.
• Participate in team meetings, case consultation, supervision, training, quality-improvement activities, and community coordination efforts.
• Maintain professional peer boundaries, protect confidentiality, and follow organizational privacy, ethics, safety, incident-reporting, and emergency procedures.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of local behavioral health and recovery resources and collaborative relationships with community partners.
• Conduct psychosocial, functional, and service-needs assessments and identify immediate barriers to safety, stabilization, treatment, and recovery.
• Assist the clinical team with crisis stabilization activities and implementation of individualized safety, service, and follow-up plans.
• Develop, implement, monitor, and update individualized service plans in collaboration with the individual, treatment team, family or natural supports when appropriate, and community providers.
• Provide case management, care coordination, brief supportive interventions, education, advocacy, and problem-solving assistance within the scope of the position.

• Must Embrace and embody the mission, vision, guiding principles, clinical vision, and goals of WestCare Foundation; and
• Perform all other duties as assigned.