Peer Support Specialist

Description

Peer Support Specialist

General Description:

Carolina Health Centers, Inc. is looking for a Peer Support Specialist to grow their Behavioral Health Department and join their care team. Carolina Health Centers, Inc. is a decorated patient-centered medical home that serves children and families throughout the Lakelands area. The Peer Support Specialist will serve as an integral member of a multidisciplinary care team. This individual will provide ongoing support to serve seven rural outlying counties. The Peer Support Specialist will prioritize our patients with ongoing mental health concerns, substance use disorder and receiving MAT/MOUD services. The Peer Support Specialist will aid in reducing stigma and barriers for patients who need care. This position will be joining our Uptown Family Practice location in Greenwood, SC with travel to other sites, as needed.

The Peer Support Specialist Will:

• Educate patients and the community to reduce stigma around mental health, and substance use disorders/treatment. 
• Motivate patients to adhere with treatment recommendations and identified plans
• Expand community outreach
• Gather referral resources and strengthen relationships with existing ones including but not limited to homeless shelters, and recovery programs
• Work with Behavioral Health support staff to guide patients as they continue treatment

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Support referred patients in their recovery journey
• Ability to effectively triage calls in a timely manner
• Up to date knowledge of substance use disorders, their treatment, and treatment resources
• Ensure CHC patients more streamlined access to treatment for substance use disorders and their co-occurring disorders 
• Work with clinical staff, consultants, supervisory staff, and patients to engage patients who have a substance use disorder
• Coordinate care with community partners
• Robustly engage with CHC patient population 
• Supports access to and adherence with substance use and behavioral health services through community outreach, culturally responsive intervention, and connection to community resources
• Communicate effectively with an interdisciplinary care team and provide updates in a clear and concise manner
• Facilitate linkage to care for CHC patients
• Accurately document all appropriate patient interactions 
• Maintain highest level of client confidentiality, following all HIPAA regulations
• Participate in other outreach activities as directed
• Performs other related duties incidental to work discussed herein
• Comply with all CHC and departmental guidelines 
• Complete administrative tasks in a timely manner

Reports To:

Director of Behavioral Health 

Workers Supervised:

None

Requirements

Requirements:

All employees of Carolina Health Centers, Inc. are expected to perform the duties of their job and behave in a manner consistent with the Corporate Philosophy which supports the values of: honesty, integrity, openness, the pursuit of individual and collective excellence, and unwavering mutual respect and appreciation.

In addition, this position requires:

Education:

• Peer Support Specialist Certification from an accredited program
• Completion of the IC&RC written Examination
• Previous experience in a similar role preferred but not necessary 

Skills:

• Critical thinking, problem solving, and consensus building skills
• Ability to exercise a high level of confidentiality 
• Able to coordinate, analyze, observe, make decisions, and meet deadlines in a detail-oriented manner. 

Physical Abilities:

• Required to talk and hear in order to communicate with others
• Often required to sit and use hands and fingers, to handle or feel and to manipulate keys on a keyboard
• Occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with arms and hands, and to stoop, kneel, or crouch
• Visual abilities required by this job include close vision with moderate exposure to a computer screen

Work Environment:

This position involves exposure to patient elements. The work environment enforces OSHA and HIPAA compliance. The noise level in the work environment is moderate. Requirement to go out of town and/or overnight travel is minimal. Some travel to other CHC locations is expected as needed.