Department:Survivor Services

Reports to:CoRH Manager

Status:Full time, hourly / non-exempt

Wage:$25.48 per hour

Position Overview

Do you believe that knowledge can support change and improve a life? Are you passionate about helping people achieve their goals? Are you a team builder who understands that many hands achieve great things? The YWCA of Greater Portland provides shared housing to domestic violence survivors through our Communities of Restoration and Healing (CoRH). In this role, you will be a certified Peer Support Advocate helping survivors on your caseload with healing, recovery, and self-sufficiency. You will contribute significantly to the YWCAs mission by using your own experience to walk with program participants as they work to rebuild their lives.

Fluency in both English and Spanish is strongly desired for this role.

To be a certifiedPeer Wellness Specialistin Oregon (certification can be obtained upon hire), you must self-identify as:

• At least 18 years of age
• Not listed on the Medicaid provider exclusion list
• One of the following:
  • A current or former mental health services consumer
  • A person in recovery from an addiction disorder who has abstained from alcohol and other drugs for at least two years
  • A person in recovery from problem gambling
  • A family member of a current or former recipient of addictions or mental health services

YWCA is on a Mission

YWCA is on a mission to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace,

justice, freedom, and dignity for all. For more than 120 years, YWCA of Greater Portland

has invested in our community, supported survivors, and advocated for the most

vulnerable among us: women, children, seniors, the unhoused, and the incarcerated. As

one of 200 Associations nationwide, we are proud members of YWCA USA, one of the

oldest and largest women’s organizations in the nation.

Key Responsibilities

Strength-based, trauma-informed peer support

• Model wellness and self-determination for all residents based on your own experiences and demonstrated by your peer support specialist training.
• Provide appropriate referrals to resources, accompany to court, training, employment opportunities and mental health appointments as needed.
• Work with residents to identify and obtain specific personal goals including safety planning, stabilization, job placement, healing, and being a part of their community.
• Create Peer-Assisted Wellness Plans tailored to the specific needs of individual CORH residents.
• Provide strength-based structures to support residents in making progress on their Wellness Plans.

Responsive and Strategic Housing Support

• Develop and facilitate curriculum for monthly CORH Household meetings including topics such as wellness, shared living, successful tenancy, and self-sufficiency.
• Use a housing-first approach to support survivors of domestic violence to attain or retain safe housing, frequently in emergency situations.
• Apply knowledge of Fair Housing and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) protections and/or landlord/tenant laws and contextualize the survivors experience while maintaining confidentiality.
• Complete all data entry, filing, and eligibility requirement tasks in a timely manner. Such activities require adherence to federal, state, and local laws and contract requirements while working within multiple agency systems. All work

Participatory teamwork and responsible representation

• Engage consistently in anti-racism practices and approaches with internal and external work based on a deep understanding of historical and present-day structural racism.
• Collaborate with multi-agency InReach teams to coordinate services and discuss programming. *May be collaboratively assigned to the JOIN InReach Team and would work more closely with JOIN managers, meetings, and procedures.
• Develop and maintain positive professional relationships with housing providers in the Greater Portland area, social services agencies, city and government officials, the Survivor Services team, and YWCA as a whole.
• Attend and meaningfully participate in all scheduled meetings with department, agency, and external partner teams.
• Commit to ongoing participation in continuing education including DV and Fair Housing legal changes.
• Uphold the YWCA of Greater Portlands mission, vision, and values by acting with integrity, accountability, and responsibility toward survivor participants, service partners, fellow employees, volunteers, donors, and everyone the organization engages with.

The Ideal Candidate

• Commits to eliminating racism and empowering women, strives for equity in all aspects of their work, and has a strong understanding of trauma-informed principles and practices.
• Communicates clearly, consistently, and kindly with agency partners, and colleagues, and responds in a timely, compassionate, and appropriate way to multiple partners.
• Manages a complicated and frequently deadline-driven work environment with consistent and effective self-care strategies and techniques.
• Advocates for social justice, including furthering the rights, protections, access to safety, and empowerment of historically oppressed, under-represented, and / or marginalized communities.
• Regulates personal emotions and practices self-care while enduring high amounts of stress and vicarious trauma.
• Brings an i…