The IPS Supported Employment Certified Peer Specialists are responsible for supporting consumers in their goals of obtaining employment by attending meetings with consumers, promoting self-determination and recovery, and modeling self-advocacy skills.
This is a valuable role on the Employment team –
- Participates in early engagement and relationship building with consumers interested in working
- Shares lived experience with mental illness and reminds consumers that recovery is possible
Possible tasks:
- Assist - navigating mental health system
- Recruit – referrals from clinicians, families, consumers
- Reduce – barriers to services; fear
- Retain – support and coach participants on a group and individual basis on matters regarding employment
- Provide – job development and job coaching to support Employment Specialists on the team
Essential Functions
- Promoting self-determination, recovery, self-advocacy, and self-direction; assisting individuals in identifying strengths; wellness goals; setting objectives, and identifying barriers;
- Attending treatment team meetings with the individual to promote the individual's use of self-directed advocacy tools; assisting the individual in goal planning and participating with the individual and the Employment Specialist in the development of PCP/Career Profile; assisting the individual in learning how to ask for appropriate services in community;
- Assisting individuals in obtaining information about their benefits (SSI, SSDI, Medicaid, etc.)
- Engaging individuals in other programs and services to encourage employment;
- Modeling self-advocacy skills for addressing disclosure issues or requesting job accommodations;
- Teaching wellness management strategies and helping individuals develop their own self-management plans/tools to use in the workplace and in their personal lives; using manualized strategies such as IMR/WMR, WRAP, and others;
- Connecting to support groups in the community to learn from other peers, to promote hope, to problem-solve through work situations, and to decrease social isolation;
- Providing education to other members of the IPS Supported Employment and Treatment Teams to increase their understanding of self-advocacy and peer support roles, and to promote a culture in which an individuals’ points of view and preferences are recognized, understood, respected, and integrated into service delivery;
- Providing resources and teaching transportation skills (teaching bus routes, etc.) for work;
- Sharing his or her own personal story of lived experience to model how to choose, obtain, and keep employment;
- Supporting individuals in making informed decisions about supported employment and building community connections;
- Supporting the individuals in the vocational choices they make and supporting them in overcoming job-related concerns;
- Building social skills in the community that will enhance job acquisition and tenure;
- Assisting in overcoming barriers to employment and addressing workplace challenges;
- Assisting in obtaining the proper documentation necessary for employment;
- Researching with the individual businesses and/or industries in which the person is interested;
- Assisting the individual in completing applications, resumes, cover letters, etc.;
- Exploring career and educational aspirations with the individual;
- Assisting in teaching skills related to job-seeking, such as using the computer;
- Attending recovery support groups and NA/AA meetings with the job seeker if appropriate; and
- Assisting with financial wellness using tools for money management and asset development
- Providing outreach services as necessary to individuals when they appear to disengage from the IPS Supported Employment Program
- Spending 65% or more of scheduled work hours in the community meeting with the individuals seeking employment, mental health treatment teams, VRS, etc.