Veteran Peer Support Specialist

Description

The Opportunity: Veteran Peer Support Specialist

Job Type: Full-Time, Hybrid

Pay: $55,000/year

What We Do || Through our powerful integrated behavioral health care model, we bring together vast resources from a diverse team of caring staff to help each client meet their personal goals. The care we provide paves the way for greater opportunity and second chances by focusing on the critical pillars towards a healthy life: behavioral health, financial stability, and safe housing.

As the Veteran Peer Support Specialist, you’ll have a dynamic and critical role providing veteran-to-veteran engagement, non-clinical suicide prevention support, community outreach, and short-term, low-threshold service coordination for veterans and other eligible individuals at risk of suicide. Drawing on lived experience and formal peer support training, the Peer Support Specialist will build trust with individuals who may be disconnected from VA services, support individualized safety and service planning, and facilitate timely, documented warm hand-offs to VA care, benefits, housing, employment, and other community resources.

Some of your critical responsibilities:

• Conduct proactive, in-person and community-based outreach to identify, engage, and build trust with veterans and eligible service members at risk of suicide, particularly individuals not currently connected to VA services.
• Provide certified, recovery-oriented peer support, mentoring, encouragement, and connection to supportive veteran and community networks; use appropriate lived experience sharing and professional boundaries.
• Assist with verification of program eligibility and administer or support required VA-approved suicide risk and baseline mental health screening tools within the scope of training and program procedures; promptly elevate identified safety concerns.
• Collaborate with participants and appropriate staff to develop and regularly update individualized service plans and safety plans using motivational interviewing and person-centered approaches.
• Complete at least weekly participant contacts and applicable weekly C-SSRS reassessments as outlined in the submitted program model; adjust contact frequency based on assessed need, safety protocols, and supervision.
• Coordinate timely, documented warm hand-offs to VA Suicide Prevention Teams, VA Medical Centers, VA healthcare, and appropriate community providers; accompany veterans to appointments when beneficial and appropriate.
• Provide low-threshold case management and referrals for housing, employment, financial assistance, food, transportation, public benefits, and other social needs; transition participants needing intensive case management to appropriate programs.
• Coordinate with the accredited National Service Officer for VA benefits navigation.
• Participate in community events, outreach campaigns, veteran organization and senior center events, and other regional partner activities to expand access to suicide prevention supports.
• Support suicide prevention education and complete assigned certifications to help deliver approved gatekeeper training and community education activities.
• Maintain accurate, timely participant records, screening results, releases of information, outreach logs, referrals, and follow-up documentation
• Follow all VOAMASS and VA requirements for confidentiality, informed consent, participant safety, critical incident escalation, documentation, and professional ethics.
• Participate in weekly case conferencing, twice-monthly individual supervision, required staff training, quality assurance reviews, and continuous improvement activities.
• Contribute to grant performance goals and reporting, including outreach contacts, participant engagement, screening timeliness, documented referrals, and 30-, 60-, and 90-day follow-up activities as assigned

The Veteran Peer Support Specialist role is about making a difference in the lives of the people we serve. You’ll bring the following qualifications:

• Must be a veteran with lived experience in mental health recovery or other relevant experiences that support a peer-based, recovery-oriented approach.
• Must meet applicable VA Peer Specialist qualification and certification requirements.
• Experience providing peer support, engaging veterans, conducting community outreach, and connecting individuals to supportive services preferred.
• Must demonstrate the ability to support veterans experiencing emotional distress using empathy, professional boundaries, cultural sensitivity, and trauma-informed, recovery-oriented practices.
• Must be willing and able to complete and maintain all required suicide prevention trainings, including VA S.A.V.E. and applicable gatekeeper or instructor certifications.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, organizational, time-management, and documentation skills required, including the ability to utilize electronic health records.
• Knowledge of VA and Massachusetts veteran benefits, community resources, crisis referral pathways, housing assistance, employment services, and other supportive programs preferred.
• Must be able to work independently and collaboratively within an integrated veteran services team while maintaining confidentiality and professional boundaries.
• Ability to travel throughout assigned Eastern Massachusetts service area required; valid driver's license and reliable transportation preferred.

For full-time employees, including our Peer Support Specialist, our comprehensive and generous benefits package includes:

• Excellent health, vision, and dental insurance with 90% of medical deductible and certain co-pays paid by employer
• Multiple opportunities to use pre-tax dollars to save for expenses such as health care (flexible spending account), child care, transit, and parking
• 403(b) retirement plan with employer match
• 24/7 nurse hotline for urgent health questions
• Employee assistance program to provide help with family concerns, stress management, legal issues, and more
• Employer-paid long-term disability and life insurance
• Pet insurance
• Tuition remission programs
• Loan forgiveness (Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program)
• Generous vacation benefits, starting at three weeks and moving to four weeks after three years of employment
• 14 paid holidays, higher than industry average
• Fitness/wellness reimbursement to cover expenses such as gym membership
• Employee discount program on hundreds of items such as computers, cell phone plans and accessories, furniture, hotels, vacation home rentals, etc.
• Cash bonus, with no annual cap, for referring other qualified candidates for employment

VOAMASS is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.