Advocacy Specialist , Office

Position Overview

Advocacy Specialist 2, Central Office at the New York State Office of Mental Health, located at the Hudson River Field Office in Poughkeepsie.

The Office of Advocacy and Peer Support Services (OAPSS) works to ensure the inclusion of recipients across the lifespan (youth, transition‑age youth, adults, and older adults) and their family’s perspectives into OMH policy making and program planning, development, and evaluation. The incumbent will work to promote peer recovery values and the inclusion of people of all ages and families who receive or have received mental health services, as well as peer support workers, advocates, and the community.

The incumbent will serve at a regional level and function as a Regional Advocacy Specialist interacting and collaborating with all relevant programs and departments, Field Offices, Central Office, and local mental health providers to deliver technical assistance, lived expertise, and training to State and local mental health programs statewide.

$66,951.00 per year – $85,138.00 per year.

• Serve as the liaison between OMH and the community, seeking input from individuals and families in a variety of forums to create a feedback loop and to promote voice, choice, and meaningful participation in services.
• Perform community outreach tasks with the goal of building relationships with providers and partners, including providing support to peer‑run agencies/peer‑directed programs and family‑run agencies/family‑directed programs, attending community events, tabling at conferences, and providing presentations.
• Provide individual mentoring and guidance by helping to facilitate connection to peer services as well as guidance to community programs on peer support best practices, and ways to reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by individuals and families within the mental health and intersecting systems.
• Provide guidance to agencies on developing peer/recovery‑oriented services and support to enhance the provision of peer support services regionally and foster growth of the peer support workforce, including providing guidance on person‑centered language, guiding interested individuals to peer discipline training programs, and providing guidance on implementing peer services.
• Participate in licensing or unlicensed program visits and provide feedback on the program’s strengths and improvement needs, including participating as a reviewer for a licensing visit, participating in a supportive housing visit, and providing feedback to licensing on a program’s peer specialist job description.
• Work internally within OMH toward systemic changes through participation in internal work groups, providing data/feedback to other departments, and reviewing potential new programs including, participating in the OMH redesign efforts, reviewing Requests for Proposals, providing guidance to OMH departments, and monitoring existing OMH programs.
• Demonstrate effective time management, organization, and communication to perform a variety of functions within the scope of the role.
• Other specific tasks are assigned as necessary.

• Six years of experience as a professional advocate or service provider in the field of rehabilitation, developmental disabilities, or mental health; OR
• A bachelor’s degree in a human services field and two years of experience as a professional advocate or service provider in rehabilitation, developmental disabilities, or mental health; OR
• A bachelor’s and master’s degree in a human services field and one year of experience as a professional advocate or service provider in the field of rehabilitation, developmental disabilities, or mental health.

• Lived mental health experience from first‑hand, personal knowledge and understanding gained from directly navigating and receiving services and/or supports as an element of recovery.
• Experience as a peer advocate in the mental health system.
• A mental health peer certification or credential (New York Certified Peer Specialist [NYCPS or NYCPS‑P], Youth Peer Advocacy credential [YPA or YPA‑P], or Family Peer Advocacy Credential [FPA or FPA‑P]).