Peer Recovery Specialist

Welcome to Loudoun Serenity House! Our Mission is to provide high quality affordable recovery residential services, peer-based mentoring, education and advocacy to enhance the lives of people seeking recovery from substance use disorder. Our Vision is to help people with substance use disorder and the broader community find recovery solutions to reach their full potential.

The Peer Recovery Specialist’s (PRS) role is to support others in recovery from substance use disorder (SUD). The PRS will serve as a role model, mentor, advocate and motivator to recovering individuals in order to help prevent relapse and promote long-term recovery from SUD. The Peer Recovery Specialist must demonstrate an ability to share personal recovery experiences and to develop authentic peer-to-peer relationships. Applicants should have a working knowledge of the substance use and alcohol use disorder treatment system and a demonstrated commitment to their own personal recovery within the recovery community.

The PRS assists recovering Participants in the Loudoun Serenity House Recovery Community Center and Residents in Loudoun Serenity House Recovery Residences in Leesburg, Virginia to identify their personal interests, goals, strengths and weaknesses regarding recovery, and provides a model by demonstrating that recovery is possible. The PRS assists and coaches Participants/Residents to develop their own plan for advancing their recovery; for “getting the life they want.” They provide recovery education to service recipients for every phase of the recovery journey from pre-recovery engagement, recovery initiation, recovery stabilization, and sustained recovery maintenance.

A key part of the PRS role is to assist with Recovery Planning and facilitate, via personal coaching, the transition to a self-directed Recovery Plan. The goal of the Recovery Plan is to transition from professionally assisted recovery initiation to personally directed, community supported recovery maintenance. The PRS schedules weekly 1:1 peer coaching sessions with assigned Participants/Residents for recovery assessment and planning. The PRS actively identifies and supports linkages to community resources, mutual self-help groups and appropriate professional resources that enable the recovering person’s Recovery Plan goals and interests in a collaborative way including the recovering person, organization staff and other relevant stakeholders. They provide vision-driven hope and encouragement for opportunities at varying levels of involvement in community-based activities, and identify barriers (internal and external) to full participation in community resources and develop strategies to overcome those barriers.

As part of their case management responsibilities, the PRS administer new Participant/Resident intake sessions, and maintains peer session and interaction records and ongoing assessments in Loudoun Serenity House files and HIPAA compliant databases. For new Participant/Resident inquiries, the PRS initiates contact and administer pre-screening calls. The PRS maintains contact by phone and/or e-mail with recovering persons after they leave the Loudoun Serenity House program for long-term engagement, support, and encouragement to ensure ongoing success and ease the path for re-engagement as needed.

Other important duties include:

• Developing relationships with community groups/agencies in partnership with others in the organization.
• Visiting community resource providers with recovering persons to assist them in becoming engaged and receiving assistance.
• Assisting as needed with Recovery Residence operations activities, maintenance and events.
• Developing, implementing and promoting ongoing recovery training / learning opportunities.
• Attend internal Staff, House Operations and PRS Meetings as requested.
• Be on call when emergencies arise. 
• Note: Weekly schedule may fluctuate based upon organization needs, and may include some nights and weekends on a pre-arranged basis.

• At least 6 months of successful part time, full time or voluntary work experience in the recovery field. 
• Must have completed VADBHS Peer Recovery Specialist Training and have received Virginia DBHDS Peer Recovery Specialist Certificate and have acquired or be working toward hours for certification as a VA DBHDS Certified Peer Recovery Specialist.
• Fluent in English. Spanish proficiency is highly desirable.
• Experience with SAMHSA data tools, including GPRS, is a plus.