ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT: 
Deschutes County Health Services supports over 400 staff in Behavioral and Public Health programs working to promote and protect the health and safety of the community in a broad variety of community based settings.
 
Deschutes County Behavioral Health (DCBH) is the Community Mental Health Program providing safety net and core clinical services for community members in Deschutes County dealing with mental health and substance use conditions. DCBH is also a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). As such, DCBH relies on multi-disciplinary teams to provide innovative, evidence based, recovery oriented services in behavioral healthcare settings co-located with physical health providers.

To hear from staff about working at Deschutes County Behavioral Health, please click HERE.   

ABOUT THE COUNTY:
We know where you choose to live, work and play matters. Deschutes County is one of the largest employers in Central Oregon and the largest municipal government in the region. Our dedicated and passionate workforce of more than 1,200 employees provide County services in a number of departments, divisions, and offices.  
 
Located in the heart of Central Oregon, between the towering Cascade Mountain Range to the west and the high desert plateau to the east, Deschutes County is the outdoor recreation capital of Oregon. We enjoy a renowned quality of life, with big-city opportunities and small-town neighborhoods.
 
We hope you’ll consider joining our talented team.

ABOUT THE JOB:
The Peer Support Specialist will primarily be focused on providing peer support services to clients in crisis, as well as clients identified as Forensic diversion clients in a variety of settings: stabilization center, jail, community. This role requires working collaboratively within a team, both the larger crisis team as well within the Forensic Diversion team embedded with Deschutes County Crisis team. Peer Support Specialists on the crisis team share their life experience to connect with and support individuals who are struggling and/or in crisis. The goal of services is to help individuals who have come up regularly in crisis or for law enforcement to attempt to support individuals working towards their goals, getting engaged in the appropriate services, in order to reduce crisis contact, recidivism, and increase independence, self-efficacy, and quality of life for the individual’s we work with. Peer services often include advocacy upon behalf of individuals, building strong supportive relationships, outreach and in-reach services, coordination, system navigation, linking to supports, problem solving, skill development, education, and working within a team to provide wraparound services.

This role, based at Deschutes County Stabilization Center, where the Forensic Diversion team is based, this is a full time position, working Monday through Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm.

Key Responsibilities: 

• Providing outreach/in-reach to clients identified as needing peer support by the crisis team, or identified as forensic diversion team clients. 
• Advocating for and supporting client’s goals while attempting to engage and support clients accessing appropriate services.
• Working in crisis setting, adaptability and flexibility throughout workday. 
• Working collaboratively on a team. 

What You Will Bring:
Knowledge of or experience with:

• SPMI and/or co-occurring diagnoses.
• Modeling personal responsibility and self-care.
• Advocating for clients.
• Teaching coping/life skills.
• Sharing own experiences in appropriate ways.
• Keeping boundaries and forming appropriate relationships with clients.

Skill in:

• Time management.
• Advocacy. 
• Performing a wide variety of tasks to assist client’s wellness.
• Communicating effectively both verbally and in writing.
• Establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with others at all times.
• Use of personal computer and keyboard.

*This posting is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of duties and responsibilities, but rather constitutes a general definition of the position’s scope and function.
 
 Notification to all candidates will be sent via email and/or text only. Please opt in for text messaging or check your email and your Governmentjobs.com account for application status.
 
 Review the full job description by clicking HERE.