Riverside Health System

Hampton, Virginia

Overview

Peer Recovery Specialists focus on provided peer support to patients, building relationships, offering education, and participating as a member of the treatment team. Peer Recovery Specialists provide non-clinical, person-centered, strengths based, wellness focused, and trauma-informed support while helping to ensure the person's treatment plan reveals the needs and preferences of the person being served to complete their measurable and personalized goals. Peer Recovery Specialists work to help develop relapse prevention planning through provision of group education, participation in treatment team meetings, and individuals check ins.

What you will do

• Provide face to face interaction that supports patient in achieving their self-identified level of recovery, wellness, independence or personal strength. a. Serve as a role model for recovery and wellness and self-advocacy. Provide feedback and insight into the value of every patient’s unique recovery experience. b. Assist patient receiving services with writing and communicating their personal recovery-wellness plans and to identify ways to reach those goals using a person-centered, individual recovery-wellness plan. c. Increase the patient’s resiliency by assisting them in recognizing and augmenting personal strengths in skill areas related to handling problems encountered in daily life; such as self-awareness, resource discovery, and self-responsibility. d. Share effective and positive strategies for developing coping skills and wellness tools related to overcoming the effects of having a trauma, a substance use disorder, or a mental health challenge. e. Clarify and enhance self-advocacy skills. Encourage peers to develop independent behavior that is based on informed choice; assisting patients in developing empowerment skills through self-advocacy. f. Assist patients in creating crisis recovery response plans.
• Provide trained peer-to-peer support in groups encouraging and supporting participation and self-directed participation. a. Provide non-clinical peer to peer recovery group education to patients and, when appropriate, their families or support systems following the identified Riverside Behavioral Health Outpatient Addiction curriculum. b. Facilitate peer-to -peer evidence-based practices or best practices, such as 12-Step groups. c. Complete non-clinical individual documentation of group educations on a timely basis, same-day as service is provided.
• Under director of the Director of Outpatient and Addiction services, interact with community members and establish relationships which will provide benefit to the patient during and after treatment. This may include developing relationships with local community service providers, local community support groups, and/or family members and support systems of current or former patients. a. Provide linkage for patients with social, recreational, spiritual, volunteer, educational or vocational resources. Assist the person in identifying community based supports that sustain a healthy life style. b. Develops appropriate community relationships and contact while maintaining ethical boundaries and appropriate confidentiality laws. c. Support for day-to-day problem solving related to integration/reintegration into the positive community of choice. d. Enhance the patient’s ability to navigate the systems of service delivery related to the identified aftercare plan.
• Attend treatment team and program development meetings. a. Promote the use of self-directed recovery and wellness tools in individualized treatment planning. Facilitate the inclusion of the patient being served, as appropriate, in all meetings that relate to the delivery of services. b. PRS will share his or her unique perspective on recovery from mental illness or substance use disorder with non-peer staff. Assist non-peer staff in identifying programs and environments that are advantageous to supporting recovery and wellness outcomes. Maximizes use of supervision and immediately informs Director of Outpatient and Addiction Services of any complex or problematic issues with patients.
• Takes on additional work, within appropriate scope of practice, and/or assists others in the completion of their work during periods of high census and heavy workloads. Uses non-patient care time in productive ways to benefit the facility.
• At all times maintains healthy, therapeutic boundaries with current and former patients. This includes communication only at work and maintaining confidentiality. It also includes refraining from any contact with current or former patients on social media and not establishing personal friendships with current patients or former patients within two years. Therapeutic boundaries protect both patients and staff by preserving the professional relationship and trust in Riverside team members.

Qualifications

Education

• High School Diploma or GED, (Required)
• Bachelors Degree, Psychology/Sociology or related program (Preferred)

Experience

• 2 years of recovery (Required)

Licenses and Certifications

• Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) or equivalent within 6 months of employment within 180 Days (Required) and
• Department of Health Professions Board of Counseling 72- hours PRS Training prior to employment Upon Hire (Required)

To learn more about being a team member with Riverside Health System visit us at https://www.riversideonline.com/careers.