Unit Mitigation Peer Specialist in Seattle, Washington at Downtown Emergency Service Center

Shift: Office Day (8:30am-5pm)

Days Off: Saturday and Sunday

Location: Varies – Hobson, Interbay, & North Star

Insurance Benefits: Medical (no premiums/payroll deductions for employee coverage), Dental, Life, Long-Term Disability

Other Benefits: Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), ORCA Card subsidy, Paid Time Off, Retirement Plan

About DESC:

Recognized nationally as an innovator and leader in developing solutions to homelessness, DESC is a social services organization, supportive housing operator, and licensed behavioral health treatment provider focused on meeting the needs of people experiencing long-term homelessness and living with complex behavioral health and other medical conditions. Approximately 3,000 people are actively receiving services from DESC at any given point in time. Our vision is a community where all people are shown compassion, treated with dignity, and everyone has a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.

DESC operates five shelter/emergency housing programs, 19 permanent supportive housing facilities with over 1,750 units, several hundred additional scattered site apartments, and a range of behavioral health services including outpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatment, residential crisis stabilization, street outreach, mobile crisis response, and treatment for opioid use disorder.

JOB DEFINITION:

The Unit Mitigation Peer Specialist (UMPS) is a part of a multidisciplinary team that works to support tenants with chronic issues and co-occurring disorders, maintaining unit condition standards. The UMPS role focuses on addressing problematic unit conditions as part of the larger Unit Condition Response Team to address acute issues, but also to strategize and implement preventative solutions to avoid future unit condition issues and focus on maintaining and stabilizing tenants in housing.

The Unit Mitigation Peer Specialist provides expertise about the recovery process, advocacy, symptom management, and the perseverance required by tenants to have a satisfying and healthy life. Peer Specialists are well established in their own recovery and provide expertise that professional training cannot replicate. Peer Specialists provide consultation to the team to promote a culture in which each tenants’ point of view and preferences are recognized, understood, respected, and integrated into treatment and recovery, with a goal to maintain and stabilize within housing. A condition of employment for this position is to complete the Washington State Peer Counselor Training and obtain certification within 60 days of employment at DESC.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Participate as a member of the multi-disciplinary Unit Conditions team providing on-going services to adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses.
• Provide peer counseling and support, drawing on common experiences as a peer, to validate tenants’ experiences and to provide guidance and encouragement for individuals to take responsibility and actively participate in their own recovery.
• Serve as a mentor to tenants to promote hope and empowerment and stability in housing.
• Assist with unit inspection preparation in collaboration with the treatment team and client, including, but not limited to, apartment cleaning, organizing, and basic repairs.
• In conjunction with the care team, will regularly review and modify assigned tenants' Housing Stability Plan to address unit condition issues.
• Advocate for tenants' access to community resources and services, ensuring that tenants’ needs are met, and rights maintained; consult and collaborate with providers to ensure continuity of care, facilitate linkages to collaborative resources when appropriate.
• Mitigate in-unit issues including pest infestation, sanitation, and property damage.
• Develop, design, and implement mitigation strategies to limit frequency or severity of unit damage in assigned units, including but limited to installing features designed to limit future damage.
• Is not to work outside of scope or expertise, as determined in conjunction with supervisor and DESC Facilities department.
• Assist other staff with large cleaning projects, including unit clean outs, unit turnovers, as necessary or assigned.
• Communicate repair or extensive cleaning needs to supervisor before starting work, seeking assistance to complete maintenance work not within personal skill level.
• Organize and lead individual and group social and site-based activities to help participants structure their time, increase social experiences, and provide opportunities to practice daily living skills applicable to their living environments.
• Perform mentoring, problem solving, encouragement and support pertaining to living/unit conditions.
• Other duties as assigned.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Current Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPSS) or Certified Peer Support Specialist Trainee (CPSS-T) credential through the Washington State Department of Health or ability to gain certification within 60 days of hire.
• Proof of successful completion of the Washington State Health Care Authority's Certified Peer Support Specialist Training prior to hire.
• Lived experience as a consumer of behavioral health services (mental health and/or substance use treatment) or be the parent or legal guardian of a child who has received behavioral health services.
• Demonstrated ability to address basic maintenance and repair needs in a residential setting.
• Ability to organize workload and complete duties with minimum direct supervision.
• Ability to utilize strong oral and written communications skills with people from various backgrounds.
• Ability to handle a wide range of unpleasant and/or bizarre behavior from clients.
• Commitment to the philosophy of cooperation and continuity across programs and of consideration and respect for clients.
• Be able to pass a Washington State Criminal background check.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Has current Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPSS) or Certified Peer Support Specialist Trainee (CPSS-T) certification from the Washington State Peer Counselor Training Program.
• One or more years' experience in community-based behavioral health services or like industry serving a diverse client/participant population.
• High school diploma or G.E.D.
• Knowledge of household pests, sanitation protocols, and mitigation strategies.
• Strong De-escalation knowledge and skills.
• Two or more years’ experience leveraging personal peer story as a peer specialist.
• Knowledge of de-escalation skills, crisis intervention & stabilization, and harm reduction strategies.
• Familiarity with relevant community resources and methods for accessing them.
• Bilingual

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee will be required sit for long periods of time, communicate with other employees by talking and hearing, required to lift and carry items weighing up to 40 pounds and to operate computer hardware systems. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER:

DESC is committed to diversity in the workplace and promotes equal employment opportunities for all staff members and applicants. The Agency will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, caste, marital status, or the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability in any employment practice, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification. Minorities and veterans are encouraged to apply.