Certified Peer Specialist - Parent

This is a responsible, professional position as a certified peer who utilizes strategic sharing of their own personal experience of parenting a child with either a serious emotional disturbance or a serious mental illness involved in multiple child-serving systems (e.g. mental health, co-occurring substance use, special education, juvenile justice, or child welfare.). Peer Support services provide structured, scheduled activities that promote socialization, recovery, self-advocacy, development of natural supports, and maintenance of community living skills by Parent Certified Peer Specialists (CPS-P).

Parent Peer Support services actively engage and empower an individual and his or her identified supports in leading and directing the design of the service plan and thereby ensures that the plan reflects the needs and preferences of the individual (and family when appropriate) with the goal of active participation in this process. Additionally, this service provides support and coaching interventions to individuals (and family when appropriate) to promote recovery, resiliency and healthy lifestyles and to reduce identifiable mental health and physical health risks and increase healthy behaviors intended to prevent the onset of disease or lessen the impact of existing chronic health conditions.

Peer supports provide effective techniques that focus on the individual's self-management and decision making about healthy choices which ultimately extend the members' lifespan.

Parent peer support specialists assist parents and caregivers to participate in the wraparound planning process, access services, and navigate complicated child-serving agencies.

• Assisting families in gaining skills to promote the families' recovery process (e.g., self-advocacy, developing natural supports, etc.)
• Support family voice and choice by assisting the family in assuming the lead roles in treatment team meetings;
• Listening to the family's needs and concerns from a peer perspective, and offering suggestions for engagement in planning process;
• Providing ongoing emotional support, modeling and mentoring during all phases of the planning services/support planning process;
• Promoting and planning for family and youth recovery, resilience and wellness;
• Working with the family to identify, articulate and build upon their strengths while addressing their concerns, needs and opportunities;
• Helping families better understand choices offered by service providers, and assisting with understanding policies, procedures, and regulations that impact the identified youth while living in the community;
• Ensuring the engagement and active participation of the family and youth in the planning process and guiding families toward taking a pro‑active and self‑managing role in their youth's treatment;
• Assisting the family with the acquisition of the skills and knowledge necessary to sustain an awareness of their youth's needs as well as his or her strengths and the development and enhancement of the family's unique problem‑solving skills, coping mechanisms, and strategies for the youth's illness/symptom/behavior management;
• Assisting the parent in coordinating with other youth‑serving systems, as needed, to achieve the family/youth goals;
• As needed, assisting with communicating family needs to treatment team members, while also building the family skills in self‑articulating needs/desires/preferences for treatment and support with the goal of full family‑guided, youth‑driven self‑management;
• Supporting, modeling, and coaching families to help with their engagement in all health‑related processes;
• Coaching parents in developing systems advocacy skills in order to take a proactive role in their youth's treatment and to obtain information and advocate with all youth‑serving systems;
• Cultivating the parent/guardian's ability to make informed, independent choices including a network for information and support which will include others who have been through similar experiences;
• Building the family skills, knowledge, and tools related to the identified condition/related symptoms so that the family/youth can assume the role of self‑monitoring…