Part-Time Peer Specialist

Description

Days Off: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Schedule: 18.75 hours per week (.5 FTE)

Shift: Day

Insurance Benefits: Dental, Life, Long-term Disability, Medical (no premiums/payroll deductions for employee coverage)

Other Benefits: Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), ORCA card subsidy, Paid Time Off (34 days per year), Retirement Plan

About DESC:

DESC (Downtown Emergency Service Center) is a nonprofit organization working to help people with the complex needs of homelessness, substance use disorders, and serious mental illness achieve their highest potential for health and well-being through comprehensive services, treatment, and housing. Our vision is a community where no person is abandoned, ignored, or experiencing homelessness.

As the region's leading provider of services to multiply disabled adults who have experienced chronic homelessness, DESC serves almost 2,000 people each day. Our integrated service model is designed to help people secure and maintain appropriate, safe and affordable housing. DESC is recognized nationally and regionally as an innovator in developing solutions to homelessness.

JOB DEFINITION:

Peer specialists are individuals who self-identify as persons with mental illness. They are well established in their own recovery and provide expertise that professional training cannot replicate. Peer specialists 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.

CSC Member PERKS:

• Nationally recognized program –innovative
• Exciting, fast-paced. No two days are the same!
• Opportunities for growth
• No long-term case load 
• Paid Training and Learning Occurs at your Own Pace
• Learning environment
• Licensure Reimbursement
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness from the Federal Government
• Fully paid for health, vision and dental insurance
• Over 6 weeks off in the first year
• Supportive, detailed onboarding plan

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Participate as a member of a multi-disciplinary team providing outreach, engagement and support of on-going case management services to mentally ill adults.
• 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.
• Advocate for clients' access to community resources and services, ensuring that clients' needs are met and rights maintained; consult and collaborate with community providers to ensure continuity of care.
• 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.
• Participate in 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 preferences 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.
• Assess consumers ADL's (Activities of Daily Living), working with other clinical staff 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.
• Promote and maintain positive relationships with the surrounding neighborhood.
• Participate in verbal de-escalation and physical interventions in emergent situations and be willing and able to assist other staff as needed to maintain a safe and secure environment.
• Other duties as assigned.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee