Peer Navigator

Compensation Range: $19.23/hr - $21.63/hr commensurate with experience

Benefits:
We have three comprehensive healthcare plans to choose from based on your priorities and budget. Housing Works covers most of the plan; you pay a portion, based on your salary. Staff begins accruing PTO immediately for a total of up to 30 days earned in the first year. We offer employees an educational benefit. This money is available for tuition loan reimbursement, tuition costs, and text books.

Overview:

The Peer Navigator/Specialist is a key member of the CONNECT team—a community-based behavioral health initiative that expands the reach of OMH-licensed Article 31 clinics by delivering culturally responsive, recovery-oriented services in the neighborhoods they serve. CONNECT is designed to reduce avoidable psychiatric hospitalizations by increasing access to care, challenging stigma, and co-developing services that reflect the needs and voices of the community. The Peer Support Specialist uses lived experience with mental health and/or substance use recovery to provide one-on-one and group-based support, promote wellness, and serve as a bridge between clinical services and the broader community.

This role includes two core functions:

• Community Engagement: Engage local residents—particularly those who are curious, ambivalent, or unsure about seeking services—by offering peer-led education, support, and linkage to care through tabling, canvassing, and outreach events.
• Clinical Collaboration: Reconnect individuals who are “lost to care” and support those who are transitioning out of services by encouraging continued involvement in peer-led activities and community-based wellness supports.

Responsibilities:

• Peer Support & Recovery-Oriented Services
  • Use lived experience to provide person-centered, nonjudgmental support to individuals managing mental health and/or substance use challenges.
  • Assist individuals in setting self-directed recovery goals and accessing clinical, social, and community-based resources.
  • Facilitate or co-facilitate peer support groups, psychoeducational workshops, or wellness-focused gatherings.
  • Offer system navigation, motivation, and emotional support to reduce barriers to care.
• Community Engagement (in collaboration with the Community Liaison)
  • Participate in tabling, canvassing, and local events to connect with community members, share information about CONNECT, and reduce stigma around mental health.
  • Provide education, support, and linkage to care for individuals who inquire about services through community channels.
  • Serve as a visible and relatable presence in the neighborhood to promote mental health awareness and trust.
  • Help inform service development by communicating feedback and observed needs from the community.
• Outreach to Lost-to-Care Clients (in collaboration with the clinical team)
  • Conduct outreach to re-engage individuals who have previously received services but are now disengaged, particularly those at higher risk.
  • Use motivational support and peer experience to encourage re-connection to care.
  • Coordinate with case managers and therapists to support client-centered re-entry into services and care planning.
• Support Engagement Across the Continuum of Care
  • Maintain peer support relationships with individuals who have completed formal service plans to promote sustained wellness and connection.
  • Encourage continued participation in peer-led and community wellness activities post-treatment.
  • Engage individuals who are ambivalent or hesitant about accessing care, creating safe and affirming opportunities for dialogue and support.
• Teamwork, Documentation & Ethics
  • Collaborate with therapists, case managers, and the Community Liaison to ensure wraparound, trauma-informed support.
  • Maintain timely and accurate documentation of all peer encounters, outreach activities, and service linkages.
  • Participate in case conferences, staff meetings, training, and reflective supervision.
  • Uphold professional boundaries, confidentiality, and peer support ethics in all interactions.

Requirements:

• Certified NYCPS, NYCPS-P, CRPA, CRPA-P, by the New York Peer Specialist Certification Board/OMH/OASAS, or eligible and willing to complete certification within 6 months of hire.
• Excellent intrapersonal skills
• Great Organizational Skills
• Knowledge and skill to teach and engage in basic problem-solving strategies to support individual clients in self-directed recovery.
• Knowledge of the Harm Reduction Model and Stages of Change.

Job candidates should be aware that scammers may pose as employers and create fake job postings in order to extract personal information from individuals for financial gain. Housing Works will never ask job candidates for personal information, such as social security numbers or bank account details, over the phone. If you suspect that a job posting may be fake or wish to confirm that a job posting from Housing Works is genuine, please contact us at [email protected]

Housing Works was founded in 1990; With a long-term commitment to AIDS advocacy. Housing Works established New York State’s first harm reduction-based, OASAS-licensed outpatient drug treatment program. Other services include Health Home care management, behavioral health, and syringe exchange programs. A pioneer in the social entrepreneurship movement, Housing Works operates 10 high-end thrift shops in Manhattan and Brooklyn and a much-loved Bookstore Cafe in Soho. For more information, visit

Housing Works fights for funding and legislation to ensure that all people living with HIV/AIDS have access to quality housing, healthcare, HIV prevention, and treatment, among other lifesaving services.

Housing Works provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements. Housing Works complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. Housing Works also does not request prior salary information during the hiring process. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

This position is included in a bargaining unit of Housing Works’ New York City employees represented by a labor union known as the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (“RWDSU”). Accordingly, the RWDSU has the exclusive right to bargain over the terms and conditions of employment related to this position and this position may become covered by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement (a “CBA”) between Housing Works and the RWDSU