Peer Parent Support Specialist at Everstand in West Virginia

Position Summary:

The Peer Parent Support Specialist serves as a member of the care team responsible for promoting youth and family engagement in the Wraparound process through creative outreach methods and the use of their personal lived experience to connect with, validate, and provide support to youth and family participants. The Peer Parent Support Specialist inspires hope for youth and family participants to reach their goals and is a primary agent for the engagement of youth and families in the program. Through one-on-one support and mentorship, the Peer Parent Support Specialist shares their expertise in navigating systems and programs, working to address barriers, promote youth and parent/caregiver voice, build resilience, and develop skills that promote recovery and success.

Essential Functions:

• Model and act in accordance with Everstand’s core values: safety, empathy, relationships, and impact.
• Honor differences, acknowledge uniqueness, and amplify all voices. Model the use of inclusive language.
• Demonstrate and practice Everstand’s leadership mindset, “Choose kindness”. Solve problems and learn together. Make it happen.”
• Participate as an active and contributing member of the Wraparound care team, implementing support in a manner that aligns with Wraparound principles, promotes resiliency, and is individualized, strength-based, culturally competent and family-centered.
• Communicate with youth and family participants as per standards established with the Wraparound plan, at minimum weekly, maintaining empathy, support, respect and enthusiasm throughout communication efforts.
• Assist youth and family participants in developing self-advocacy and negotiating skills.
• Serve as a role model to youth and family participants in communication, health and wellness, conflict resolution, problem solving and symptom management skills.
• Relate lived experience and personal expertise utilizing an empathic and trauma informed approach to assist in establishing credibility and building trust with youth and their families while maintaining the ability to reflect and examine personal motivations, judgements and feelings that may be activated by sharing lived experiences.
• Partner with the Wraparound care team, the youth and their family to identify the youth’s strengths, needs, and goals.
• Support youth in goal setting, developing specific, practical steps to reach their goals and goal achievement both personally and within the context of the family and care team.
• Support youth and family in their decision making by cultivating their ability to make informed, independent choices.
• Collaborate with the Wraparound care team in partnering with youth and family to support engagement in services, promote youth voice and choice and identify natural supports and resources that will help youth achieve progress towards goal attainment.
• Facilitate individual and group meetings with youth and family participants that promote sharing, learning and growth. These meetings are designed to meet the needs of the youth in a particular context – thus they may be manual led, unstructured topical groups, skill-based groups, or social events.
• Assist Wraparound care team in developing language that accurately reflects the preferences of youth participants.
• Create an atmosphere that encourages youth voice and choice, while ensuring the verbal communication and advocacy efforts are respectful at all times.
• Effectively share information about services, resources, and youth participant role and responsibilities to youth, families and other identified supports.
• Teach and role model communication and self-advocacy skills in a variety of settings (e.g., with informal social network, providers, organizations, courts, etc.).
• Support the provision of services in the family home, school as well as other community-based locations. Services shall be scheduled in a manner flexible to meet the youth and family needs.
• Maintain effective working relationships with Wraparound care team members and external stakeholders such as health professionals, schools, community partners, and other human service agencies.
• Engage in community outreach and education. Assist team with championing initiatives to increase youth engagement in services. Share lived-experience as part of team outreach and education efforts.
• Active participation in individual and group supervision, multidisciplinary consultation meetings, care team meetings, agency required training, and external trainings as applicable to position. Seek opportunities to connect to peers in similar roles at different agencies.
• Complete required documentation and reports within the defined timelines including case notes, state data collection, assessments, serious incident reports and Wraparound plan documentation.
• Identify supervision and/or professional training needs to supervisor as they arise.
• Demonstrate the ability to effectively express ideas clearly and concisely, orally and in writing.
• Demonstrate the ability to engage youth and families in a positive trusting alliance.

Non-Essential Functions:

• Obtain and maintain certification as a “user” in Everstand’s electronic health record software system.

Supervisory Responsibility: Not Applicable

Work Environment:

• This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.
• In the nature of being at a residential and school living environment there may be times you experience conditions in which challenging behavior can be exhibited from our youth to include but not limited to, physical agitation, physical violence and/or emotion outburst.
• This position will require that you enter the homes and communities of the youth and families that we serve, you will need to have knowledge of safe home visiting practices.

Physical Demands:

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.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; and taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work:

This is a full-time position. Typical office hours are Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., though the schedule requires flexibility based on the availability of youth and families served. This position regularly requires long hours and occasional weekend work. This position is eligible for flex schedule and telework with supervisor approval per Everstand policy and procedures.

Travel is primarily local during work, although some out-of-area and overnight travel may be expected by personal vehicle and/or agency vehicle dependent upon supervisor approval. Frequent local travel will be required within the home communities of the youth and families served. Talent will follow company procedures for work-related travel and expenses.

Minimum Required Qualifications:

• A high school diploma or GED
• Lived experience with an individual or family member/legal guardian of a child/adolescents, navigating the mental health, juvenile justice, special education, foster care, and/or developmental disabilities systems, with a capacity to share his or her story in a way that engages, inspires, and validates the experiences of others.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Preferred associate's degree in a related human service field from an accredited college or university.
• Documented training and / or certification as a Peer Counselor.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

• Must pass new hire orientation successfully and maintain up to date training hours in compliance as required and thereafter
• Ability to effectively express ideas clearly and concisely, orally ad in writing; computer literate.
• Able to work cooperatively with others.
• Able to learn and effectively utilize different technology platforms.
• Excellent computer use knowledge with Microsoft Windows 10 and 365 Office products, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Proven effective time management, planning, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Ability to problem solve.
• Ability to work independently.
• Ability to keep an electronic calendar (Outlook).
• Knowledge of normal and abnormal human growth and development
• Ability to assess family strengths, level of functioning, and service needs.
• Ability to assess children’s and youth’s strengths, levels of functioning, and service needs.
• Ability to analyze case information and reach a sound decision based on objective information.
• Ability to utilize electronic health record system.
• Ability to pass the verbal/written portion only of Therapeutic Crisis Intervention
• Ability to demonstrate the possession of a valid driver’s license prior to employment and ability to maintain the license with less than 7 points and operate a motor vehicle thereafter.
• Ability to pass CPS/UII, and criminal background checks prior to employment, and as required. Ability to pass a Tuberculosis Screening and Pre-Hire Drug screening prior to employment and as required.
• Ability to pass a work-readiness physical performed by a certified medical professional both prior to employment and as required.
• Must be 21 years or older prior to employment.
• Maintenance of any required license or certification of position, both at the time of hire and/or ongoing thereafter

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

What does the benefits package look like?

• Generous Paid Time Off
• Accrue three (3) weeks of vacation annually, plus two floating holidays and 10 paid company holidays each year—providing 30+ days of paid time off.
• Paid Leave: Paid sick leave and bereavement leave.
• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision insurance with eligibility beginning on your first day of employment.
• FREE Employee Health Insurance: Everstand provides employee-only medical coverage at no cost through Allied Health.
• Retirement Savings: Retirement plan with an employer match of up to 3%.
• Tuition Reimbursement: Eligible after three months of employment, with reimbursement of up to $5,000 annually for approved educational expenses.
• Additional Benefits: Access to a variety of voluntary and employer-sponsored benefit programs designed to support your financial, personal, and professional well-being.

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