Summary
Are you looking for a job where YOU can make a DIFFERENCE in young people’s lives? Where YOUR ideas and lived experiences MATTER?
If so, please consider joining the Youth Peer Support team at Maine Behavioral Healthcare!
Peer Support Partners have struggled with challenges maintaining mental health, recovery from substance use or both. They have demonstrated resiliency and perseverance in their own wellness or recovery. A Peer Support Partner is willing to self-identify on that basis and is effective in communicating about their lived experience in a way that fosters a healthy relationship.*
As a Peer Support Partner, you will provide one-on-one support and outreach to people in the community, at their homes, and/or at the location where the peer works, such as substance use treatment programs or emergency department. Peer Support Partners also provide group facilitation in various topics related to the setting in which they work, including topics such as substance use, wellness, boundaries, self-esteem, healthy relationships, etc.
In addition, you’ll support people in connecting to wellness/recovery opportunities in the community and accessing other community support services when appropriate. Peer Support Partners do not provide clinical assessment or traditional service provider functions within the team, but rather use peer support to build mutually supportive relationships that allow each person to grow and learn together. Peer Support Partners manage conflict and disagreements according to agency and peer support values, and are required to have or obtain a certification in Intentional Peer Support.
*In order to comply with grant funding obligations imposed by the State of Maine and to meet the operational necessities of the peer support program, it is a bona fide occupational qualification for applicants to be within the ages of 18 and 26.
To learn more about Peer Support, please visit our website at:
To be considered for this role, please copy and paste the template below into a cover letter and include this document as an attachment to your application. Please provide 1 – 3 sentence answers to the questions below, unless otherwise noted as a Y/N question.
DO NOT include diagnoses and/or criminal history in your answers! We will not accept this information or pass it along to our hiring managers.
Position Summary
The Youth Peer Support Partner will provide peer support through one-on-one meetings with youth peers, facilitation of peer support groups, education, and outreach. The Youth Peer Support Partner supports Behavioral Health Home (BHH) Program attendees in connecting to wellness/recovery opportunities in the community and accessing other community support services when appropriate. The Youth Peer Support Partner will work collaboratively with the BHH program to support clients in meeting their self-directed life, wellness and/or recovery goals. A Behavioral Health Home is NOT a residence, home, or a place where people live. The BHHO is a team approach to case management that includes a case manager, nurse care manager, and a Peer Support Specialist. The BHHO provides better care coordination and access to services that address both mental and physical health, as a whole person approach to wellness.
Maine Behavioral Healthcare (MBH) defines “Peer” as a person who has personally experienced challenges maintaining mental health, which includes recovery from substance use. These challenges and the resulting experiences of addressing them are referred to as “lived experience” and may include a history of accessing services in the mental health system. A Youth Peer Support Partner is a peer that is willing to self-identify on that basis and is effective in communicating about their lived experience in a way that fosters a healthy relationship, centered on each person exploring wellness, challenges, and ways of thinking. It is required that a person has lived experience as part of their life story to be employed as a Youth Peer Support Partner
Required Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)
Committed to being the trusted source for quality care – and careers.
At MaineHealth, exceptional people using the latest in advanced innovations help ensure that our northern New England communities are the healthiest they can be. From a full array of telehealth programs to the most sophisticated electronic medical records system, our clinical technology is second to none. But it’s our people who bring these medical advancements to life as they change the lives of the people in the communities we’re proud to serve.
As a non-profit family of high-quality healthcare providers, we’re working together to create strong, vibrant and healthy partnerships. We are an integrated healthcare delivery system made up of the state’s only academic medical center (and largest hospital), a large bio-medical research center, community hospitals, home care agencies, physician practices, an outpatient lab, and diagnostic and surgery centers. In addition to our clinical opportunities, MaineHealth also offers a variety of fulfilling careers in finance, human resources, information services, marketing, support services, and more!
The MaineHealth family of hospitals and healthcare organizations offers outstanding opportunities to work and live in one of the most spectacular areas of our nation. Our ongoing growth and focus on compassionate care mean a choice of challenging and rewarding career opportunities throughout our system – from mid-sized cities and small towns in the mountains to beautiful coastal communities.
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