Peer Support Advocate

The pay for this position is between $22 and $24 per hour.

The below duties or working procedures describe the chief functions of the job. They are not considered a detailed description of every duty of the job. The job description is intended to be dynamic in nature, subject to addition or deletion as required by programmatic changes and needs.

Whenever the term “crisis” is used in this document it is meant as a shorthand way of referring to situations or experiences that are identified as such by the individual(s) experiencing it (though they may choose to use other language), and isn’t meant to imply a universal concept of what crisis means or what it looks like.

Peer Support Advocates use their lived experience and training to connect with people who are looking for support and to make changes within the agency, system, and community that are conducive to the rights, autonomy, and well‑being of people who experience emotional, mental, and/or social crises.

• Connect with and support community members experiencing emotional distress or crisis in the community and/or at a peer support center.
• Provide ongoing one‑on‑one support to individuals who want peer support services.
• Support community members in accessing internal and external resources to navigate current and future crises.
• Support the development of mutual support networks and connections.
• Facilitate peer support groups as needed.
• Help maintain a welcoming and inclusive environment when working in spaces designed for emotional support.
• Advocate with or on behalf of individuals for their expressed interests in emergency department or hospital settings, multi‑disciplinary team meetings, with administrators, or with external entities.
• Participate in data collection and documentation as needed.
• For more experienced Peer Support Advocates:
  Provide training and support to the broader community and HCRS staff to improve conditions and resources for psych survivor/neurodivergent/mad/disabled/mentally ill and other marginalized people, guided by disability justice and psychiatric survivor/mad pride movements. This may include activities such as:
• Facilitating Intentional Peer Support trainings and/or coreflections.
• Providing support and consultation to providers and/or community members to inform the way they support someone.
• Giving feedback and offering other perspectives in meetings, trainings, and conversations within the agency and with community partners as needed.
• Speaking or writing publicly about issues affecting psych survivor/neurodivergent/mad/disabled/mentally ill people.

• Excellent relational skills.
• Strong communication skills.
• Ability to see multiple perspectives.
• Ability to participate in difficult or heavy conversations and be in proximity to people experiencing various kinds of distress.
• Ability to be a supportive and collaborative team member.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Word, Zoom, and Slack (training provided but familiarity helpful).

Peer Support Advocates are supervised by the Peer Support Manager and are part of the Peer Support Team.

• Commitment to the values of mutual support, community, disability justice, anti‑racism, and choice.
• Lived experience of marginalization and/or trauma that supports the ability to connect and relate to people in emotional and social crisis. This could include various kinds of trauma and marginalization, including madness, neurodivergence, institutionalization, homelessness, incarceration, family separation, loss, addiction, etc.
• Personal or professional experience supporting people in crisis.

• Training in Intentional Peer Support (IPS), restorative/transformative justice, de‑escalation, group facilitation, harm reduction, or other related areas.
• Experience in peer support, harm reduction, community organizing, or other related work.
• Familiarity with the psychiatric survivor, mad pride, neurodivergent, harm reduction, transformative justice, and/or disability justice movements.

Some locations may include stimulating environments in terms of sounds, smells, and quantity of…