Certified Peer Support Specialist - PERT Team; Temporary

Position Title

Certified Peer Specialist, PERT Team (Hybrid) - Temporary

NAMI San Diego & Imperial Counties (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is a nonprofit organization that provides free education, support services, and advocacy to improve the quality of life of everyone affected by mental health conditions.

The Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (P.E.R.T.) pairs licensed mental health clinicians with uniformed law enforcement officers/deputies and together they provide emergency assessment and referral for individuals in behavioral health crisis who come to the attention of law enforcement through phone calls from community members or in-field law enforcement request for emergency assistance. The Peer Support Specialist provides short-term support following a visit from the P.E.R.T. team.

The Peer Specialist provides follow-up phone support and peer coaching to individuals seen by P.E.R.T., as well as their families. As needed, they may occasionally see clients in-person. To ensure individuals receive timely support, our Peer Specialists contact individuals immediately upon receiving a referral; when this is not possible, they do so, at maximum, within a business day. They maintain an active caseload of 25 clients and are expected to contact 10-15 clients or potential clients per day.

Contacts are documented by the Peer Specialist on the County's Electronic Record (Smart Care), as well as our team's internal database tracking. They conduct presentations, outreach including PERT round table, etc.

This position is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, is intrinsically motivated and completes work successfully (including documentation) without needing prompting or extensive supervision. Furthermore, we are looking for an individual who is exceptionally talented and experienced as a Certified Peer Support specialist, an attentive listener, knowledgeable about resources, and has experience working with clinicians/interdisciplinary teams.

• Provide short-term support to individuals/families following contact with P.E.R.T. and ensure connections to outpatient mental health/substance use treatment.
• Documenting all contacts and attempted contacts on the electronic health record (Smart Care), following County requirements including timely submission.
• Contacting 10-15 clients/potential per day to engage clients in program, progressing towards goals, ensuring successful connections, and when possible reducing need for additional contacts with PERT, law enforcement, and hospitalizations.
• Conducting outreach presentations, developing presentations.
• Participating in meetings.
• Other duties as assigned.

Reports to the Director.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with qualified disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Prolonged periods of standing and walking.
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.

• At minimum, two years of experience providing peer support or closely related experience.
• Completion of Peer Support Specialist training; certification as Medi-Cal Peer Support Specialist in the State of California is required.
• Experience de-escalating individuals in crisis, experience supporting individuals expressing suicidal/homicidal ideation, exceptional listener, knowledgeable about resources, and able to remain calm under pressure.
• Demonstrated experience of consistently documenting contacts with clients within 72 hours. Documentation in Smart Care is required.
• Advanced knowledge and skills using Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, One Drive, Teams), zoom meetings and zoom phones.
• Demonstrated experience, successfully working with Clinicians and/or in clinical setting, highly preferred.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish)
  strongly preferred.
• Home office should allow privacy and confidentiality to be maintained.

The Certified Peer Support Specialist will work primarily from their home office and may occasionally conduct outreach or participate in meetings, in person. Typical work hours are 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday; occasional evenings/weekends.

Due to our work with vulnerable populations and county contractor requirements, applicants will be required to undergo a background check following a contingent offer of employment and must receive satisfactory results prior to a final offer of employment. If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please feel free to reach out to HR.