Job Description:

Job Title: Certified Peer Specialist

Location: Independence, Missouri (Kansas City area)
Department: Recovery Services

Employment Type: Full Time

Shift: Monday - Friday (8:00am - 5:00pm CST)

Job Summary:

Are you a passionate and dedicated mental health professional looking to make a positive impact in the lives of children and adolescents? Do you want to work in a supportive and dynamic environment where you can grow your skills and advance your career? Join our team at Burrell Behavioral Health as a Certified Peer Specialist in the Kansas City, Missouri area!

Our Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) provide recovery-focused support to individuals experiencing mental health challenges. Drawing upon their personal experience with mental illness, CPSs offer hope, inspiration, and guidance to those seeking to manage symptoms, navigate complex systems, and reclaim their lives. Key job duties of a CPS include empowering individuals to recognize their strengths, set goals, and make informed choices; advocating on behalf of consumers to improve systems and policies and supporting individuals in advocating for themselves; providing emotional support through active listening, validation, and shared experiences; offering crisis intervention when necessary, including de-escalation and connection to appropriate services; teaching practical skills like problem-solving, communication, stress management, symptom management, and relapse prevention; linking individuals to community resources such as housing, employment, education, vocational training, transportation, financial assistance, and peer support groups; guiding individuals through complex service systems, explaining options and benefits, and attending appointments alongside them; modeling a recovery-oriented perspective centered around wellness, self-determination, and person-centered planning; exhibiting cultural competency by recognizing the impact of diversity and displaying cultural humility; and adhering to strict ethical standards, protecting client privacy, obtaining informed consent, avoiding conflicts of interest, and practicing self-care. By combining their own experiences with formal training, CPSs play a critical role in fostering growth, independence, and recovery among people navigating mental health challenges.

Living in the Kansas City area provides a wonderful blend of Midwestern charm and urban sophistication. Known for its world-class barbecue, jazz heritage, and professional sports teams, Kansas City offers a plethora of activities to entertain and engage residents. With a vibrant arts scene, an extensive park system, excellent school districts, a plethora of family-friendly attractions, and an affordable cost of living, the Kansas City area allows you and your loved ones to enjoy a high quality, balanced, and enjoyable lifestyle.

Position Perks & Benefits:

• Employee benefits package - health, dental, vision, retirement, life, & more
• Paid time off - 29 days per year including vacation & holiday pay
• Mileage reimbursement - company paid for work functions requiring travel
• Top-notch training - initial, ongoing, comprehensive, and supportive
• Career mobility - advancement opportunities/promoting from within
• Welcoming, warm, supportive - a work culture & environment that promotes your well-being, values you as human being, and encourages your health and happiness
  

Key Responsibilities:

• Empowerment: Helping individuals with mental illness recognize their strengths, set goals, and make informed decisions about their lives.

• Advocacy: Supporting individuals in advocating for themselves and accessing needed resources and services, while also advocating on behalf of consumers to improve systems and policies.
• Emotional Support: Providing emotional support through active listening, validation, encouragement, and sharing personal experiences in ways that inspire hope and resilience.
• Crisis Intervention: Assisting individuals during crises, helping de-escalate situations, connecting them to appropriate services, and supporting coping skills development.
• Skill Building: Teaching practical skills like problem solving, communication, stress management, symptom management, and relapse prevention.
• Resource Connection: Connecting individuals to relevant community resources, such as housing, employment, education, vocational training, transportation, financial assistance, and peer support groups.
• System Navigation: Guiding individuals through complex service systems, explaining options and benefits, facilitating appointments, and accompanying individuals to meetings with service providers.
• Recovery Model Promotion: Encouraging a recovery-oriented philosophy focused on wellness, self-determination, and person-centered planning.
• Cultural Competence: Demonstrating cultural humility and sensitivity, respecting diversity, and understanding how culture influences help-seeking behavior and recovery.
• Ethical Standards: Adhering to ethical guidelines and codes of conduct, safeguarding privacy, obtaining consent, avoiding dual relationships, and practicing self-care.

Education and/or Experience Qualifications:

• Must be a Certified Missouri Peer Specialist with at least a high school diploma or GED.
• Missouri Certified Peer Specialist
• Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals
• Ability to write routine reports and correspondence
• Ability to communicate effectively before groups of clients, employees of the organization, family members and other contacts in the community
• Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals
• Ability to apply common-sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral or diagram form
• Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations
• Shall successfully complete all mandatory continuing education to maintain certificate and successfully complete CPR, First Aid, and CPI Training
• Shall be able to establish effective relationships via telephone and personal contacts.
• Shall be able to follow direction and accept supervision
• Shall have the ability to work with a variety of human problems and the competence to handle crisis intervention
• Shall be able to enter clinical documentation into a computerized record system

Additional Qualifications:

* A valid driver's license and a reliable vehicle.

* Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

* Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

* Flexibility and adaptability in a fast-paced environment.

* Compassion, empathy, and a genuine desire to help others.

Brightli is on a Mission:

A mission to improve client care, reduce the financial burden of community mental health centers by sharing resources, a mission to have a larger voice in advocacy to increase access to mental health and substance use care in our communities, and a mission to evolve the behavioral health industry to better meet the needs of our clients.

As a behavioral and community mental health provider, we value diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workforce and encourage applications from individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences. If you are passionate about empowering your local communities and promoting health equity, we invite you to join our mission-driven organization that is committed to building a diverse, equitable, inclusive and authentic workplace.

We are an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer, and encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, disability or veteran status, or to other non-work related factors.

Burrell is a Smoke and Tobacco Free Workplace.