Peer Support Specialist - Community Outreach Intervention Projects, School of Public Health

The Peer Support Specialist will work under the supervision of the MOUD Clinic Coordinator to assist with expansion of low-barrier behavioral health (BH) and substance use disorder (SUD) services. The Peer Support Specialist will work closely with team members, including the COIP and Miles Square Health Clinic (MSHC) primary care providers, MSHC social worker, and COIP pharmacist, to conduct outreach and link individuals with behavioral health/addiction needs to behavioral health services, provide recovery support services, case manage individual clients, assist the clinical team with patient follow-up, and facilitate patient access to medications and other resources. This work will take place on the COIP mobile unit deployed in western Cook County and in coordination with the MSHC Cicero Health Center. Duties Responsibilities: Conduct outreach to market services and engage community members with serious mental illness and substance use disorder Provide information to service clients/recipients for every phase of recovery, reentry, chronic health, and/or mental and behavioral health management Collaborate with professionals to assess client needs or plan treatments Assist clients in identifying their interests, goals, strengths, and weaknesses; and coach clients in developing their plan Develop relationships with community groups/agencies in partnership with others in the agency Actively identify and support linkages to community resources that support the client’s goals and interests Identify barriers (internal and external) to full participation in community resources and develop strategies to overcome those Maintain contact with the clients to ensure their ongoing success and to provide re-engagement support in partnership with others in the agency if needed Maintain client and social program records and prepare and maintain project logs, reports, and inappropriate files and database(s) Perform other duties and special projects as assigned