Certified Peer Support Specialist

Position Summary

The Outpatient Plus Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPSS) provides intensive, community-based wrap-around support to individuals with complex behavioral health needs. This role focuses on helping clients maintain stability in their natural environments, preventing hospitalization, and coordinating community reintegration. The CPSS explicitly leverages their own lived experience of sustained recovery to deliver highly responsive, multi-disciplinary care coordination.

Key Responsibilities

• Community Wrap-Around Support: Deliver flexible, individualized support directly in the client’s natural environment (e.g., home, community settings, social service offices).
• Team-Based Care Coordination: Collaborate actively within a multi-disciplinary team to execute client care plans, bridging the gap between clinical intent and real-world community access.
• Crisis Management Support: Assist in identifying early psychiatric or substance-related warning signs, acting swiftly alongside the clinical team to execute de-escalation or safety plans.
• Independent Living & Reintegration: Model and teach self-advocacy, navigate housing or social services, and facilitate client connection to organic recovery communities.
• Compliant Time-Tracking: Meticulously document face-to-face encounters and phone support to support billing requirements.
• Audit-Ready Documentation: Complete strengths-based, recovery-focused electronic health record (EHR) progress notes within 24 hours of service delivery, demonstrating strict compliance with state Medicaid definitions.

Required Qualifications

• Certification: Current, valid state Certification as a Peer Support Specialist (CPSS) [or state-specific equivalent].
• Lived Experience: Self-identify as an individual in sustained recovery from a mental health condition, substance use disorder, or co-occurring challenge for at least 2 consecutive years.
• Education: High school diploma or General Education Development (GED) equivalent.
• Compliance Skills: Proven capability to track, log, and manage billable units across multiple field visits throughout the workday.
• Logistics: Valid driver’s license, reliable personal transportation, and an excellent driving record for extensive community-based travel.
• Pre-Employment Screening: Must successfully pass a comprehensive criminal background check, sex offender registry screening, and healthcare exclusion list verification (OIG). Note: Lived experience involving past justice system involvement will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis in alignment with state peer-certification compliance guidelines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience: Minimum of 1 year of experience delivering mobile community health services, assertive community treatment (ACT), or intensive outpatient programs.
• Competencies: Specialized training in trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, or local community resources navigation.

Compensation & Benefits Added Value

• Travel Reimbursement: This position requires extensive travel within the service area. The agency provides standard mileage reimbursement at the current IRS rate for all approved, job-related community transit and client visits.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

• This is primarily a field-based role requiring frequent travel within the local community.
• Must be comfortable executing services in diverse environments, including private residences, public transit hubs, and outdoor spaces.