Certified Peer Support Specialist (Crisis Aftercare Team)

About the Mental Health Association of San Francisco (MHASF):

MHASF is a mental health peer-run nonprofit located in downtown San Francisco serving people and agencies across the Bay Area since 1947. As mental health consumers ourselves, we center the lived expertise of people with mental health challenges in our advocacy, education, and support programs, and believe that dignity and recovery in mental health are something everyone can experience. Our staff is dedicated to creating spaces for learning and healing around stigmatized and under-resourced areas in mental health—hoarding and cluttering behavior, peer employment support, wellness & nutrition, community-based crisis response, service navigation, and more. MHASF strongly-encourages people with lived experience of mental health challenges to apply and grow with us! 

Department: Marin Peer Support Specialist Program

Job Status: Part-time (20 hours per week); Non-Exempt

Hours: 10 am - 3 pm, Monday - Thursday or Tuesday - Friday. Some schedule flexibility may be required for urgent situations  

Salary: $30.29 hourly ($31.01 hourly salary available if certified) 

Benefits:

• Medical: Kaiser HMO or Blue Shield PPO (Prorated) Dental & Vision (Prorated),
• Life & long-term disability coverage; EAP,
• Paid Time Off, sick days, and major holidays,
• Health and Dependent Care FSA, Commuter Check, and 403(b) options available,
• Ongoing access to MHASF continuing education and skill-building workshops- all training time paid,
• Excellent opportunity for advancement-over 70% of our staff have been promoted internally at least once!

Reports To: Marin Program Manager

Overview of Position:

When you're experiencing a mental health crisis, the presence of someone who understands what you're going through can make all the difference. In partnership with Marin County's Behavioral Health & Recovery Services (BHRS), MHASF aims to make that difference for Marin County residents.  We place Certified Peer Support Specialists within a multidisciplinary team, based in Marin County to offer compassionate, culturally-sensitive support and help build a sense of trust, safety, and possibility for people at their most vulnerable. This part-time position program focus is on the Follow-Up After Emergency Department Visit for Mental Illness Performance Improvement Project (FUM-PIP) within the Crisis After Care Team (CAT) located at the Bon Air Hospital. 

The peer may provide post-crisis support, follow-up, and outreach through referral pathways from a variety of Marin County crisis related service programs (Crisis After Care, Transition and Outreach, Mobile Crisis Response, Marin Health, Kaiser, and Novato ERs). The peer addresses a person’s unique motivation, needs, and preferences for treatment, facilitating timely and effective care coordination and engagement in services in-person or via telehealth modalities.  

Our Certified Peer Support Specialist offers a wide array of supports to Medi-Cal beneficiaries of Marin County after mental health crises, including emotional support, short-term housing linkages, transportation, public benefits enrollment, health system navigation, service referrals, advocacy, and much more.  Most importantly, they use their own lived experience of crisis and recovery to develop authentic connections and belief in the reality of hope. If you're seeking to put your lived experience to work helping others, have your own vehicle to transport clients, and enjoy work that offers variety and challenge, we would love to hear from you! 

Top Three Responsibilities:

1. Provide wellness-focused peer-to-peer support in 1:1 settings, care coordination, and check-ups within the first 7 and 30 days of referral for Marin County Medi-Cal beneficiaries with Emergency Department visits.
2. Work alongside mental health clinicians in a multidisciplinary team to provide individualized outreach and resource navigation support to individuals utilizing critical time interventions to support transitions following ED visits. 
3. Serve as an advocate for program participants and a model for mental health recovery. 

The Certified Peer Support Specialist will spend time both on-site at the BHRS office and traveling throughout Marin County to provide personalized follow-up peer counseling and resource navigation support. Position responsibilities will include the following: 

Peer Support & Resource Navigation: 

• Use personal lived experience as a mental health consumer and/or family member to engage with clients 
• Serve as a role model and self-disclose lived experience background to clients as appropriate, to establish trust and demonstrate possibility of recovery 
• Provide information and assist clients with access to community services and resources 
• Communicate with physicians, psychiatrists, and therapists as well as other service providers 
• Assist with crisis intervention, targeted case management, advocacy, service navigation, and other supports 
• Provide ongoing follow-up contact to ensure clients are connected to appropriate supports, and provide additional assistance when needed 
• Help ensure that services are sensitive to the cultural context and personal history of each client and the client’s support system; provide services in community-based settings 
• Ensure that consumers and family members are involved to the greatest extent possible in decisions affecting services and treatment 
• Promote collaboration among support systems, mental health providers, healthcare providers, justice system personnel, school personnel, and other agencies 
• Outreach and engagement by developing trust and rapport by meeting clients where they are at and conducting outreach in the community to those who may be reluctant to engage with peers and clinicians 

Record-Keeping, Training & Participation: 

• Attend supervision, staff meetings, trainings, and other meetings in Marin and in San Francisco 
• Maintain detailed records of services provided by program staff and ensure client record confidentiality 
• Ensure records contain all data necessary in reporting to the State Department of Mental Health  
• Ensure records conform to Medi-Cal requirements and standards  
• Provide feedback and support to Marin County BHRS and communicate with MHASF about site issues as needed 
• Identify and resolve barriers to attending follow-up appointments 
• Provide prompt scheduling and reminders to help ensure timely and seemless transitions from EDs to follow-up 
• Other responsibilities as assigned 

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the above list of responsibilities is intended to provide a general overview of duties to be assigned and in no way is a comprehensive list of position duties and responsibilities.

Qualifications:

• Personal lived experience of mental health challenges, and a willingness to disclose to participants and during counselor trainings is a requirement for this peer position 
• Proof of COVID-19 vaccine and booster (This is field-based work in Marin County) 
• Ownership of vehicle, clean driving record, valid CA driver’s license, and the ability to drive throughout Marin County with project participants/clients 
• Peer Support Specialist staff for this program will need to be Certified as California Peer Support Specialists or gain that certification within 12 months of hire  
• 2 years’ professional experience supporting people with behavioral health challenges 
• Proficient computer skills, including typing and data entry 
• Clear, effective written and verbal communication skills 
• Behavioral health knowledge, including familiarity with psychiatric diagnoses, psychiatric symptoms and associated behavior, psychiatric medications, and substance use issues 
• Self-direction, flexibility, and organization 
• Ability to use independent judgment, work effectively under pressure, and function well in a team setting 
• Willingness to learn from others, take feedback, and make adjustments to communication and behavior 
• Proven ability to work effectively with people of a variety of ages, backgrounds, and paths to recovery 
• Commitment to upholding the mission and values of MHASF 
• Preferred – Familiarity and experience with harm reduction and the mental health recovery model 
• Preferred – Experience with case documentation and billing; training will be provided as needed 

Physical Requirements 

The position requires long periods of work at a desk, which may involve sitting or standing and the use of a computer, keyboard, mouse, and desk phone. The office building and between floors of the building, and to travel short distances (under 1 mile) is required. Other physical tasks may involve reaching, pulling, pushing, bending, climbing a stepladder, use of a dolly to move items weighing up to 50 lbs., and lifting and carrying up to 20 lbs. 

Equal Opportunity Employment Statement

Mental health challenges can affect anyone at any time, regardless of identity or background, and consequently the communities we serve are highly diverse. As a peer-run organization, we also recognize the importance of lived experience as an irreplaceable form of expertise and as a basis for building trust and providing effective services. We welcome and strongly encourage people from historically marginalized and economically disadvantaged groups, including people who identify as disabled or neurodivergent, to apply to work with us. 

MHASF is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants for employment and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender or gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other factor not related to ability to successfully fulfill the requirements of the position.