Peer Counselor Specialist

PRIMARY PURPOSE:

To provide recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive peer support to patients receiving integrated behavioral health services in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) setting. Drawing on personal lived experience of recovery from a mental health and/or substance use condition, together with formal peer-support training, the Behavioral Health Peer Counselor Specialist works collaboratively with the multidisciplinary care team and community partners to support patients with mental health conditions, substance use disorders, co-occurring disorders, chronic diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C, and psychosocial needs. Support includes education, non-clinical emotional support, care coordination, and resource linkage that promote patient engagement, self-management, resilience, recovery, and whole-person care.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Patient Engagement and Support

• Explain the peer-support role, including its voluntary nature, confidentiality protections and limitations, and professional boundaries.
• Establish trusting, respectful, and mutually accountable peer-support relationships.
• Use lived experience intentionally, selectively, and appropriately to promote hope, mutuality, self-direction, resilience, and multiple pathways to recovery.
• Help patients identify self-directed recovery and wellness goals, personal strengths, natural supports, and barriers affecting engagement.
• Provide non-clinical emotional support, recovery coaching, advocacy, appointment support, and system navigation.
• Encourage patient choice, self-advocacy, personal responsibility, and participation in recovery-related decisions.
• Respect each patient’s right to determine whether and how to participate in peer-support services.

Care Coordination and Resource Linkage

• Help patients navigate behavioral health, medical, social service, recovery support, and community systems.
• Identify barriers to care and assist patients in overcoming obstacles to treatment access and adherence.
• Coordinate warm handoffs and referrals for housing, transportation, food, benefits, insurance, employment, education, support groups, recovery programs, and other approved resources.
• Follow up on referrals and patient-reported barriers within the limits of the peer-support role.
• Support care transitions following hospitalization, emergency department care, crisis services, incarceration, residential treatment, or other changes in level of care, under the direction of the licensed care team.
• Support behavioral health screening, referral, engagement, and follow-up activities.
• Maintain current knowledge of approved FoundCare and community resources and behavioral health services.

Integrated Behavioral Health Team Support

• Participate in interdisciplinary team meetings, case conferences, clinical consultations, and care coordination activities.
• Support integrated care initiatives that address behavioral, physical, and social determinants of health, including health equity initiatives.
• Promote evidence-based, recovery-oriented, and patient-centered approaches to care.

Recovery and Wellness Promotion

• Support patients in developing healthy coping skills, wellness practices, life skills, decision-making skills, self-management skills, recovery supports, and community connections.
• Reinforce principles of trauma-informed care and recovery-oriented systems of care, consistent with SAMHSA guidance.
• Promote wellness, prevention, resiliency, and behavioral health awareness initiatives.

Community Outreach and Resource Development

• Participate in community outreach, engagement, behavioral health education, health promotion, and recovery awareness activities authorized under applicable program work plans.
• Facilitate connections to peer support programs, support groups, and recovery resources.
• Assist in developing resource materials and patient education tools.

Documentation, Compliance, and Confidentiality

• Document all encounters accurately, timely, and completely in the electronic health record (EHR) according to organizational policies.
• Access, use, and disclose protected health information and 42 CFR Part 2 information only as authorized for assigned duties.
• Follow FoundCare’s role-based access controls, minimum-necessary standards, privacy practices, patient notice and consent procedures, and confidentiality policies.
• Maintain confidentiality in accordance with HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, applicable law, ethical standards, and FoundCare policy.
• Refrain from accessing patient information for personal reasons or when access is not required for assigned duties.
• Support compliance with HRSA Health Center Program requirements and all applicable federal, state, accrediting body, and organizational requirements.
• Participate in quality improvement initiatives, audits, chart reviews, and quality assurance activities as assigned.

Professional Development

• Attend supervision, staff meetings, trainings, and professional development activities.
• Complete all required compliance, privacy, confidentiality, cybersecurity, and 42 CFR Part 2 training.
• Participate in workforce development and required training related to behavioral health, substance use disorders, cultural competence, trauma-informed care, suicide prevention, person-centered care, and quality improvement.
• Demonstrate professionalism, ethical conduct, and cultural humility.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Knowledge of recovery-oriented principles and behavioral health services.
• Understanding of mental health and/or substance use disorders.
• Familiarity with social determinants of health and community resource systems.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with individuals experiencing behavioral health, substance use, or psychosocial challenges.
• Ability to build rapport and establish trusting relationships while maintaining professional boundaries.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong interpersonal, organizational, time-management, and customer service skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Excel, and Word, and ability to navigate electronic health record systems and case management systems.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, including professional telephone etiquette and the ability to interact effectively with patients, staff, and the wider community.
• Ability to review, understand, and apply concepts presented in training programs, conferences, and/or professional literature.
• Ability to respect the culture, values, and opinions of others, and possess the ability to relate with warmth to the patients and providers of the health center.
• Ability to interact and work with diverse populations.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality of all patient and organizational information in accordance with HIPAA regulations.
• Ability to handle difficult situations involving patients, providers, or others, professionally.
• Preferred: Basic knowledge of motivational interviewing techniques.
• Clear understanding that FoundCare provides information on educating individuals on safer sex practices which would include but not be limited to, exposure to explicit language, explicit printed material, and descriptions of explicit sexual activities as part of the agency’s mission in the prevention and transmission of HIV disease.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to endure short, intermittent, and/or long periods of sitting and/or standing in performance of job duties.
• Full range of body motion: Position requires reaching, bending, stooping, and handling objects with hands and/or fingers, talking and/or hearing, and seeing.
• Ability to lift and carry objects weighing up to 25 pounds.
• Use standard office equipment and technology, including computers, telephones, and clinical equipment and systems, in the course of daily duties.
• Ability to travel to other FoundCare locations and perform job duties.
• Ability to travel to other locations to attend meetings, workshops, and seminars, plus travel to other FoundCare departments and FoundCare conference rooms.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• High school diploma or GED.
• Minimum of one (1) year of experience in behavioral health, social services, community health, human services, recovery support, case management support, patient navigation, or a related field.
• Lived experience of recovery from a mental health and/or substance use condition.
• Valid Florida driver’s license, reliable transportation, and proof of automobile insurance when travel is required.
• Preferred: Certified Recovery Peer Specialist (CRPS), Certified Behavioral Health Technician (CBHT), Community Health Worker (CHW), or equivalent certification.
• Preferred: Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Social Work, Human Services, Public Health, or a related field.
• Preferred: Experience working in an FQHC, community mental health center, nonprofit agency, substance use treatment setting, or integrated care environment.
• Preferred: Bilingual proficiency in English and Haitian Creole or Spanish.
• This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.