Full-Time

Peer Specialist

Updated on 9/10/2026

Deadline 8/10/27
Services for the Underserved

Services for the Underserved

1,001-5,000 employees

Offers services to underserved New Yorkers

Compensation Overview

$21.63 - $24.03/hr

Brooklyn, NY, USA

In Person

Category
Social & Community Services (1)
Required Skills
Word/Pages/Docs
Excel/Numbers/Sheets

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Requirements
  • Utilize experience as a recipient of behavioral health services and be willing to share personal, practical experience, knowledge, and first-hand insight appropriately and respectfully.
  • Have respect for and a high level of comfort around people experiencing mental health crises.
  • Have lived experience with the mental health system and willingness to share personal experience appropriately and respectfully.
  • Have a minimum of a high school diploma or equivalent GED.
  • Be able to utilize critical-thinking, problem-solving, and de-escalation skills to help maintain an environment that promotes recovery.
  • Be able to utilize Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
  • Be able to provide flexible evening, night, weekend, and holiday coverage.
Responsibilities
  • Develop partnerships with guests experiencing crises using trauma-informed, recovery-oriented, intentional peer support.
  • Promote a safe, comfortable, secure, and trusting environment where guests are listened to and respected by staff, and practice Intentional Peer Support.
  • Draw on knowledge and skills acquired from personal experience with the behavioral health system to support guests’ personal recovery processes.
  • Create a sense of community through mutual sharing of lived experiences and encourage guests to participate in daily activities within the BCR.
  • Assist with the pre-registration process for individuals referred from hospitals, other treatment providers, and self-referrals.
  • Assist with intake and registration of new guests, including explaining services and expectations, touring the premises, and introducing new guests to staff and other guests.
  • Assist and collaborate with Health Home and other community-provider staff to help guests identify, plan for, and achieve short-term personal goals and priorities while in the Crisis Program.
  • Facilitate individual and group educational, recovery, wellness, and skill-building opportunities, including wellness self-management, WRAP, peer support, harm reduction, and social or leisure activities.
  • Follow up with guests to monitor and support progress toward goal achievement.
  • Advocate for and facilitate access to needed health care services by addressing barriers such as missed appointments, transportation, fear, stigma, and communication with professional staff.
  • Assist guests with activities of daily living needs and participate in maintaining a clean-living environment.
  • Document interactions with guests, services provided, critical information and events, collateral contacts, and referrals accurately and on time as required by S:US policies and the Office of Mental Health Crisis Program.
  • Perform household upkeep duties as needed.
  • Support meal preparation for guests and assist guests with accessing snacks, toiletries, and food items while encouraging guest participation.
  • Participate in data collection and recording related to outcomes, outreach, and other data tracking.
  • Participate in supervision, team meetings, trainings, case conferences, and other relevant meetings as required by S:US.
Desired Qualifications
  • Work experience in a behavioral health or related setting, preferably using the recovery model.
  • Graduation from a core peer specialist training program; this is preferred but not required at immediate hire, though it must be obtained within the probation period.
  • Exceptional written and oral communication skills, including empathic listening and responding.
  • Bilingual Spanish ability is highly preferred.
Services for the Underserved

Services for the Underserved

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S:US helps New Yorkers who face homelessness, disability, behavioral health and addiction challenges, poverty, criminal justice involvement, and trauma access a wide range of supports across New York City and Long Island. It coordinates services such as case management, housing and stabilization, behavioral health treatment, recovery supports, rehabilitation, advocacy, and community-based programs tailored to each person’s needs. By linking housing, health, justice, and community resources, S:US delivers integrated, place-based services that address multiple barriers at once rather than focusing on a single issue. The goal is to help people lead purposeful lives, improve neighborhoods, and break the cycle of poverty for current and future generations of New Yorkers.

Company Size

1,001-5,000

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

New York City, New York

Founded

1978

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • The April 2026 crisis center adds recurring operating funding through 2031.
  • Urban Farms and bed-stuy food programs deepen neighborhood visibility and referrals.
  • TD's 2026 grant expands Homebase staffing during acute eviction pressure.

What critics are saying

  • S:US depends heavily on New York public funding and contract renewals.
  • Aerosolized political attacks on supportive housing threaten S:US's core Brooklyn model.
  • If state reimbursement tightens, its housing-and-behavioral-health network faces existential contraction.

What makes Services for the Underserved unique

  • S:US opened Brooklyn's sixth state-funded Crisis Stabilization Center in April 2026.
  • S:US won a $250,000 TD Charitable Foundation grant for eviction prevention.
  • S:US secured a $894,050 Truxton SRO contract through 2032.

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Benefits

Wellness Program

Professional Development Budget

Company News

Hep Free NYC
Oct 19th, 2023
NYC Hep C Task Force Meeting Highlights | 09-27-2023

In partnership with Services for the Underserved, NYC Health Dept launched the city's first Public Health Vending Machine located at 1676 Broadway, Brooklyn (corner of Decatur and Broadway).