Family Peer Support Specialist (KY SKY - SRT)

Job Description
The Family Peer Support Specialist uses relevant personal stories to teach through experience.  The Family Peer Support Specialist serves as a role model for members and their families and caregivers. Family Peer Support Specialists use their own lived experience in order to personalize care and assist members and their families in understanding of services, utilizing referrals and applying recommendations from other professionals. Family Peer Support providers deliver peer support through face-to-face support groups, phone calls, or individual meetings. They bring expertise based on their own experience parenting children or youth with social, emotional, behavioral, or substance use challenges, as well as specialized training, to support other parents and caregivers.

This position is field-based and requires routine regional in-state travel 80-90% of the time; use of personal vehicle is required.  Qualified candidates must have valid KY driver's license, proof of vehicle insurance, and reliable transportation.  Travel to the Louisville office is also anticipated for meetings and training.

This position is assigned to the Salt River Trail region (Anderson, Breckenridge, Bullitt, Franklin, Grayson, Hardin, Henry, Larue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble, Washington, and Woodford counties).  Qualified candidates may reside in or adjacent to the assigned region.   

Fundamental Components

• Encourage member and family voice and choice during development and implementation of care plans.
• Support members and their families by attending team meetings with them upon request.
• Empower a member and family to have the confidence to be self-advocates. 
• Help providers or other individuals who are working with a member’s family understand the importance of integrating family and youth voice and choice in services and supports within a system of care.
• Help members and families enhance relationships with community partners.
• Complete and maintain documentation of a minimum of six (6) hours of related training or education in each subsequent year after successful completion of the Family Peer Support Specialist training.
• Regularly attend case rounds and assist the team with identifying members who might benefit from Family Peer Support Services. 
• Orient the care management team as to how family peer support services can help members in achieving member recovery goals, reinforcing the care plan, maintaining community tenure, adjusting tasks to fit with the member’s culture, language, and religion, improving access to care, identifying health care needs, and reducing unnecessary hospitalizations or emergency services. 
• Collaborate with healthcare professionals and providers on the principles of recovery, and opportunities for improving and understanding the social determinants of health that may be impacting member’s health and treatment plan through various communication channels. 
• Assist care managers and coordinators in helping members to identify socio-economic issues that affect their overall health and develop health/social management plans and goals. Identify gaps and opportunities to strengthen systems of care with the member and within the member’s community and increase utilization of community services through demonstrating for care coordinators how to schedule appointments with social services agencies, (including transportation vendors), and to complete applications for eligible programs.
• Ensure that the plan has an adequate network of contracted peer support specialists in each region to assist our members when appropriate or necessary to promote health. 
• May attend medical, behavior health or community appointments with members when appropriate to improve adherence to treatment and advocate for getting the best possible care.
• Assist members in setting and attaining short and long-term goals. 
• Suggest approaches that encourage members to participate in wellness and recovery activities at a pace that is comfortable for them.

Background Experience

• Family Peer Support Specialist certification is required. If not certified, completion of a Certified Family Peer Support Training Program and passing the PSS examination is required within ninety (90) days of employment start date. 
• Be a self-identified parent or other family member who has lived experience with a client who has received services related to a mental health, substance use, or co-occurring mental health and substance use issues.
• Experience or detailed knowledge of the Foster Care and juvenile justice systems, Adoption Assistance, the delivery of Behavioral Health Services, Trauma-informed Care, ACEs, Crisis Intervention services, and evidence-based practices applicable to the Kentucky SKY populations, is required.
• High School Diploma or G.E.D.
• Bilingual skills desired.
• Experience in serving the Medicaid Populations in urban or rural environments with familiarity of local formal and informal resource networks preferred.
• Exceptional communication, organizational and interpersonal skills, with attention to detail required.
• 2-3 years’ Family Peer Support experience in community/outpatient setting working with members in a mental health or substance use setting is preferred.
• Computer literacy and demonstrated proficiency is required in order to navigate through internal/external computer systems, and MS Office Suite applications, including Word and Excel.
• Preferred skills: Mental Health First Aid, Trauma Informed Care, HIPPA, C.L.A.S. Standards, Motivational Interviewing, and specialized training in medical terminology and practices for designated health conditions.
• Ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community.
• Ability to travel to multiple office and home locations with personal vehicle, reliable transportation, valid driver's license, and automobile insurance is required.
• Ability to educate health care providers as needed to adjust interventions based on member’s cultural, ethnic, or religious preferences.
• Experience providing care to socially and medically complex patients effectively in a variety of non-traditional settings.
• Knowledge of formal and informal community agencies and resources. Working knowledge of multi-system outreach programs related to health care delivery, clinical education, and health-related services.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team and manage multiple priorities, utilizes effective time management skills, and exercise sound judgment.

Additional Job Information
At Aetna Better Health of Kentucky, we reach beyond ensuring access to quality health care by focusing on resilient healing for children and their families. Our vision is to construct local, regional, and state-level coalitions to create a shared, in-common vision of health promoting and resiliency building approaches, to engage and support children to have membership in a family and community, while services and permanency planning are occurring.   By keeping families safely together, children in Kentucky SKY will experience less trauma, which leads to better outcomes.  To accomplish this, we are looking for people like you who value excellence, integrity, caring and innovation. As an employee, you’ll join a team dedicated to supporting children, young people, parents, and other important partners involved with child protection systems. We value diversity and are dedicated to helping you achieve your career goals.

Education
High School diploma, G.E.D. or equivalent experience

Percent of Travel Required
75 - 100%