Peer Support Team Leader

The pay for this position is between $29-$31 per hour.

Mobile Crisis Peer Support services give community members in Vermont the opportunity to access immediate voluntary support when they are in a crisis related to emotional distress or substance use. Mobile Crisis Peer Support Advocates will serve as part of the two-person team that responds to these requests for support, alongside an assessing provider on the HCRS urgent care team. Services are provided in the community in a wide variety of settings as well as virtually.

As this is a 24/7 program, evening and weekend shifts are required. Peer support is included so that community members have the option of receiving support and advocacy informed by lived experience, and so that peer support can inform the approach and services of the team as a whole. The Mobile Crisis Peer Support Team Leader supervises and supports Mobile Crisis Peer Support Advocates to be successful, as well as participating in all of their same roles and responsibilities.

• Provide supervision and support to Mobile Crisis Peer Support Advocates
• Lead the integration of peer support into mobile crisis services, collaborating closely with urgent care leadership, Peer Support Manager, Mobile Crisis Peer Support Advocates, and members of the urgent care team.
• Connect with, listen to, believe, empathize, and co-strategize with community members experiencing crisis who request a mobile crisis response to support them in experiencing relief from distress
• Assist community members to identify and access needed resources
• Maintain awareness of and manage, as needed, the immediate environment around the person who requested services, such as by moving along bystanders, supporting concerned family members, interacting with law enforcement if present, etc.
• Support community members in understanding and exercising their rights while receiving mobile crisis services
• Participate in regularly scheduled meetings and ad-hoc debriefs with other mobile crisis team members to continuously improve and expand each other’s skills, understanding, and approach to rights-centered, voluntary crisis support
• Make follow up connections with people who have received a mobile crisis response to check in, support connection to other resources, solicit feedback, develop plans for how to navigate future crises, etc.
• Provide phone support to people who call the HCRS crisis number looking for emotional support but don’t want a mobile crisis response
• Support the development of mutual support networks and community connections where relevant
• Document services, practicing collaborative documentation where possible
• Participate in regularly scheduled meetings with the larger peer support team
• Assist with peer support tasks outside of mobile crisis services where possible

• Excellent relational skills
• Strong communication skills
• Ability to provide honest and compassionate feedback and accountability to people in a wide variety of roles
• Ability to see multiple perspectives and nuances
• 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

The Mobile Crisis Peer Support Team Leader is supervised by the Peer Support Manager and is part of the Peer Support Team. They supervise and work alongside the Mobile Crisis Peer Support Advocates, and work closely with the HCRS urgent care team.

• Commitment to the values of mutual support, community, justice, and choice.
• Lived experience of marginalization and/or trauma that supports the ability to connect and relate to people in 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.
• Experience in peer support, harm reduction, community organizing, or other related work
• Familiarity and experience with the psychiatric survivor, mad pride, neurodivergent, harm reduction, transformative justice, and/or disability justice movements
• Demonstrated leadership skills

• Training in Intentional Peer Support (IPS), restorative/transformative justice, de-escalation, group facilitation, harm reduction, or other related areas
• Personal experience utilizing crisis services
• Supervisory/management experience

This position involves being in a wide variety of physical locations and stressful situations. A driver's license, the ability to drive regularly and for long distances (up to two hours at a time), and a reliable vehicle is required. Interactions with police and emergency responders will be necessary at times.