Recovery Support Specialist

The Peer Recovery Support Specialists are individuals trained to incorporate their unique personal experience in their own recovery with a distinct knowledge base and human service skills. This combination of experience and training allows the Peer Recovery Support Specialist to facilitate recovery and build the resilience of persons in recovery. Peer Recovery Support Specialists help consumers to address their physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual needs to facilitate and maintain wellness throughout the behavioral health recovery process.
Job Duties & Responsibilities:

• Provide peer support
• Follow up with patients leaving residential treatment at 3 days, 7 days, 14 days and/or 25 days post discharge (if the individual is not transferred within the system). If patient did not keep appointment, the individual(s) would provide support to inquire why and offer a new appointment.
• The individual(s) would assist admission staff by talking with potential patients who are appropriate but having difficulty admitting to treatment.
• The individual(s) would assist the treatment team by talking with the patient in an effort to keep patient in treatment.
• Intentionally share his or her own recovery story as appropriate to assist peers, providing hope and help in changing patterns and behaviors.
• Create an environment of respect for peers which honors individuals for taking charge of their own lives.
• Demonstrate understanding of how trauma affects mental health and substance use disorder recovery, develop trauma-informed relationships, and support peers in obtaining appropriate resources for help.
• Demonstrate an understanding of how substance use disorder affects mental health recovery.
• Encourage and assist peers to construct their own recovery/wellness plans, which may also include proactive crisis and/or relapse prevention plans.
• Support peers in crisis to explore options that may be beneficial to returning to emotional and physical wellness.
• Encourage peers to focus on their strengths, exercise use of natural supports, develop their own recovery goals, and strengthen their valued roles within the community
• Provide addiction care to assigned patients consistent with the scope of employee's training and credentialing.
• Interact with patients, conducting coordinated one-on-one sessions that facilitate individual goals to address psychosocial, intellectual, physical and spiritual needs.
• Implement components of the patient's individualized, interdisciplinary treatment plan. Report and record patient's behaviors, interactions, responses to clinical interventions, and progress toward meeting the treatment plan objectives.
• Understand and implement daily patient activities and collaborate with Herrington staff.
• Support residential counselors in their activities to facilitate a healthy recovery milieu in the residential treatment setting, including the monitoring and coaching of resident behavior.
• Monitor behavior and intervene to ensure dignity, learning and well-being of all patients, and reinforce behavior through interactions based on program philosophy.
• Understand and implement daily patient activities specific to the assigned program.
• Use knowledge and skills to collect, review and document information regarding the patient's status.
• Complete clinical reports such as the Social Services Admit form, as requested by the primary counselors.
• Provide interventions that are appropriate to the age of the patient population served, including individual and discharge needs as requested and identified by the clinical team.
• Communicate specific needs of patients and their significant others.
• Provide individual sessions to facilitate 12-Step activities by patients including completion of Stepwork guides, reviewing meeting selection and attendance based on the needs of the patient to address substance and non-substance addictions, selection of and working with temporary sponsors for 12-Step recovery.

• Initiate and maintain collateral contacts as assigned by primary therapists and family therapists to fulfill after-business-hour needs on behalf of individual patients.
• Coordinate therapy planning and discharge planning as assigned by primary therapists and family therapists. Support patient accountability for building components of their ongoing care plan to follow residential addiction treatment.
• Meet with family members who are on-site during after-business-hour times, to assist them with their own family member recovery plans.

• Collect and record data for use in developing treatment plans.
• Assist in patient adherence to participation in outcome study activities for Herrington Recovery Center.
• Document patient's treatment status and progress (medical record progress notes, including placing entries in the electronic health record) using approved methods within the scope and practice of employee's training and credentialing.
• Report and document suspected cases of physical, sexual abuse and/or neglect, per Wisconsin law and according to hospital policies and procedures.

• Communicate verbally and in writing with other team members regarding patient schedule, programs, progress, behavior and specific incidents.
• Attend clinical staffing's and related meetings as directed.
• Attend all mandatory in-services
• Transport patients as needed/requested, following all policies and procedures regarding vehicle use.
• Use safe practices for medication observation and documentation of resident's self-administration of medications according to the program guidelines.
• Maintain the physical environment of Herrington Recovery Center, indoors and outdoors, in a safe and orderly manner. Take all necessary precautions and observe all safety rules to prevent injury to patients and to assure hospital resources are secure for the Herrington facility and all Rogers facilities where residents are involved with professional care.

• At minimum, a valid Wisconsin-certified alcohol/drug counselor credential (SAC/CSAC).
• Hold a valid Wisconsin driver's license. May be required to have driving record approved by the hospital's insurance carrier.
• American Heart Association CPR certification or American Red Cross Professional Rescue needs to be obtained within thirty (30) days of employment start date.
• Have a minimum of two (2) years' experience in a mental health facility/addictions treatment facility.
• Formal training in crisis prevention and crisis intervention is required within sixty (60) days of date of hire. Annual re-certification is required.
• First-aid training is required within ninety (90) days of employment.
• Community-based residential facility (CBRF) fire-safety training is required within ninety (90) days of employment.
• Training/certification as a recovery peer specialist by a certified program.