PEER NAVIGATOR

Position location: Santa Ana, CA

Status: Full-time, Non-exempt

Salary range: $22.00 - $24.00 per hour

Travel requirements: 25% local travel by car, work vehicle provided

Remote Work: This position is not eligible for remote work

9-80 Work Schedule: This position is eligible for a 9-80 alternative work schedule

You may not be considering a career in the nonprofit world, but your heart and soul might be telling you otherwise. Maybe you’ve been reevaluating your greater purpose both personally and professionally. Your inner voice keeps telling you that you should be getting so much more out of your career. With all this global uncertainty, you might be thinking the best thing to do is just stay put.

Keep in mind that most successful people in this world flourish in tough times. Why shouldn’t you? Maybe it’s time for you to combine your purpose with your talents and move forward in a new direction. A direction that enhances your career growth by providing you the pathway to reach your fullest potential and encourages you to thrive.

Imagine yourself having a direct, positive impact on the lives of Veterans, and their families as they overcome extraordinary barriers so they can achieve a meaningful and productive livelihood.

DESCRIPTION

The Peer Navigator is part of our behavioral health program, co-located with the County Veterans Service Office (VSO) designed to screen, assess, and engage Veterans and their family members for behavioral health services. Services are short-term (3-6 months) and are intended to facilitate the linkage to appropriate services and address bio-psycho social barriers.

The Peer Navigator will utilize active listening skills and motivational interviewing while applying an empathic approach during all participant interactions. It is the responsibility of the Peer Navigator to provide over-the-phone and face-to-face peer support to Veterans, Active Duty Military Personnel and their families while navigating the service system through the provision of accurate information, assistance and referral, proactive check-in, follow-up assistance, program enrollment and advocacy with the ultimate goal of helping our participants enroll in and receive the services they need.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Reporting to the Team Lead, this role will provide participants with active and engaged sessions involving peer support, housing and employment, referral and linkage to community resources and access to behavioral health services:
• Achieving all Contract Units of Services (metrics) in areas of Outreach Activities, Participant Screenings, Peer Support Sessions, Employment Sessions, Housing Sessions, Referral and Linkages to community services.
• Conducting Outreach and Engagement to promote and offer services during events and/or collaboration with the County VSO and all agencies, organizations and programs supporting Veterans and their families.
• Offering and encouraging participant enrollment for services (per assessed needs).
• Assessing participant barriers, challenges, and create an effective Individualized Action Plan (IEP&ISP) with attainable and achievable goals to address all areas of need.
• Creating and managing participant case files (soft & hard copy).
• Managing assigned participant caseload through successful exit from program.
• Completing all required program administrative forms.
• Completing data entry and reporting of all participant activities and Contract Units of Service achieved (participant file case notes, flex funds report, UOS report, Monthly Narrative, and MS Access database).
• Completing data entry and reporting for all Supportive Services rendered per Contract Flexible Funds Policy.
• Conducting research to locate and maintain resources for Veterans and their families.
• Assisting Veterans with navigating systems of care as requested by Team Lead, Contract Supervisor and/or the onsite Program Service Chief.
• Providing information or referring Veterans to public or private agencies or community services for assistance.
• Collaborating with participant and, in some cases his or her family (and/or care team) to set healthcare and wellness goals.
• Communicating with participants on a regular basis to keep them engaged and to assess progress on all goals established in IEP&ISP.
• Tracking the progress of participants including conducting follow up assessments.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

To excel in this role, you will bring a service-oriented approach and identify opportunities to assist our Veterans overcome barriers. Go above and beyond to ensure the Veterans get the support they need to succeed, including:

Client first -- Put the client first, identify their needs and help them navigate their way to success.

Emotional intelligence -- You'll need to collaborate with a wide range of personalities in order to get your job done. This will require outstanding interpersonal skills as you adapt your approach to effectively communicate with participants, and community agencies, organizations, and program staff; you'll also showcase the utmost diplomacy and trust as you'll be dealing with the inherent personal sensitivities of helping participants overcome personal barriers.

Flexibility -- You'll need to balance time and work with many different participants on their goals, juggling different priorities while at the same time flowing with the many changes we incur as we constantly adjust to meet the needs of our Veterans.

An eye to the future --You'll take a proactive approach to monitoring >span class="NormalTextRun SCXW15601713 BCX0">Veterans and current trends with services and resources available to the military and family community.

REQUIREMENTS

Education and Experience:

• Military Veteran, or spouse of active-duty military or Veteran, status is required to provide peer support.
• Relevant graduate degree, or a combination of directly related college course work and experience may be substituted.
• Must have specialized training in working with active duty, Veterans, and military households.
• One-year Information and Referral experience, or extensive knowledge of health and social services in Orange County required.

Skills Set:

• Bilingual English/Spanish highly desirable.
• Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills required.
• Demonstrated high level of proficiency in web-based systems, Microsoft Office Suite (e.g., Outlook, Word, Excel, MS Access, and PowerPoint). Skills test may be required.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE POSITION:

• Able to remain in a stationary position (both sitting and standing) 50% of the time
• Able to move about inside the Career Center to access file cabinets, greet clients and volunteers, etc.
• Able to move, traverse – move to access documents, files, supplies, etc.
• Must be able to detect funnel clouds from long distances
• Frequently communicate with donors and volunteers who have inquiries about the organization’s mission and services.

BENEFITS:

This full-time position is eligible for medical, dental, and vision coverage for up to 80% coverage on a base plan for the employee as well as generous paid holiday, sick and vacation leave. Life insurance and additional supplemental benefits are also offered.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer , Working Wardrobes does not discriminate against applicants or employees because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, veteran status, disability, age, citizenship, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or because of any other status or condition protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

About Us

At Working Wardrobes, we do everything in our power to help men, women, and veterans overcome difficult challenges so they can achieve the dignity of work and the power of a paycheck. Our guiding philosophy is a belief that people are more powerful than the barriers they face and that all clients share a common desire to achieve success. The greatest measure of their success is hearing a client say, "I got the job!" We empower our team to also achieve career success. As a team, we work hard, have each other’s back and think creatively to achieve our goals.

Here’s your Call to Action!

We hire talented people based on evidence of your accomplishments and cultural alignment. If you’ve read this far, we invite you to apply so you can have the opportunity to work with a fantastic team! In fact, we were awarded one of OC Business Journal’s Best Places to Work in 2021 & 2022! Resumes are a standard but we’re more curious about how you answer our assessment questions in the application process.

• Describe your interest in working in the nonprofit sector.
• What is the most significant impact you have had in your current/former role?

*Please note: Submitting well-thought-out responses to these questions while applying on our company site, will prioritize a response from us.