The Mental Health Peer Recovery Coach will use their personal experience with mental illness and recovery to support and guide individuals on their recovery journey. This role involves providing emotional support, sharing coping strategies, and helping clients navigate mental health services and resources in both individual and group care settings.

• To provide individualized, ongoing guidance, coaching and support.
• Use personal stories to teach through experience.
• Serve as a role model for patients.
• Encourage patient voice and choice during development and implementation of treatment plan.
• Support patients while receiving mental health services.
• Help patients connect to community resources.
• Develop aftercare plan with patient.
• To provide training in the use of personal and community resources.
• Assist the person served in increasing social support networks of relatives, friends and/or significant others.
• To offer encouragement in times of crisis
• To advocate on behalf of persons with behavioral health problems to protect the client’s rights and to assist in reducing associated stigma.
• To work in cooperation with other providers, discharge planners, counselors, and family members or significant others involved in the client’s recovery plan.
• To attend staff meetings, treatment team, and individual and group supervision.
• To maintain professional standards at all times.
• Provide group education courses in medical mall.
• Provide individual peer support sessions to patients on unit.
• Follow every aspect of patients care including recommendations and referral for inpatient care as needed.
• Acts as a patient advocate in all aspects of care, participating in various meetings and conferences representing the best interest of the patient when the patient is unavailable.

• Provide education regarding mental illness services to both patients and families.

• Participate in community outreach and education, working with community partners, such as NAMI, to decrease the stigma of mental illness in the community.

• Other duties as assigned.

Education/Licensure

• High School Diploma/GED
• Peer Support Certification approved by the Department of Behavioral Health

Minimum Work Experience
• Self-identified individual with history of mental health illness who has received treatment.
• Awareness of the importance of recovery in living with a mental illness.
• Experience working directly with people in a service-oriented field is beneficial.

Required Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
• Must be able to communicate well with a wide variety of contacts at all levels of the organization and with external organizations.
• Maintains strict confidentiality with regard to protected health information and provider information.
• Must display a commitment to the Code of Ethics of their governing boards.
• Must maintain certification to peer support through governing board.
• Must maintain the required CEUs and ongoing education to maintain their certification.
• Must complete supervision as needed to maintain certification.
• Must have strong documentation ability.