Peer Service Advocate– Sixth Street Self-Help Center

Company Description

Founded in 1967, Central City Hospitality House is a progressive, community-based organization located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood that provides opportunities and resources for personal growth and self-determination to homeless people and neighborhood residents. Our mission is to build community strength by advocating policies and rendering services that foster self-sufficiency and cultural enrichment. We use a peer-based approach and encourage participation from our constituents on various levels of decision-making and service-delivery. A l programs provide a range of individual support, community resources, and employment and housing opportunities to help residents rebuild their lives, celebrate creativity, achieve stability, and strengthen community connection.

Hospitality House has six integrated programs at five locations in our core neighborhoods. The Tenderloin Self-Help Center and Sixth Street Self-Help Center are two behavioral health-based community centers that provide emergency and support services, benefits advocacy, housing referrals and access to individual therapy using a low-threshold, peer-based, self-help model. Together, these centers reach thousands of community residents every year. The Shelter Program is a small men’s dormitory that provides basic emergency shelter as well as one-on-one case management. The Community Arts Program is the City’s only free fine arts studio for low-income artists offering ski ls workshops for artists to hone their talents, open studio hours, ceramics, silk-screening, and other classes, with ga lery & exhibition space for artists to se l their work– and keep 100% of the proceeds. The Community Building Program includes weekly support groups, volunteer opportunities, civic engagement activities, and the Healing, Organizing & Leadership Development Program, featuring trauma-informed healing and activism for community residents. The Employment Program offers job readiness and barrier removal services, job training resources, and vocational assessment, and job fairs and placement assistance through two neighborhood-based resource centers.

Job Description

Under the supervision of the Program Manager, Peer Service Advocates will provide crisis intervention and peer counseling to encourage community members to engage in services, reduce harm, and work improve their physical, emotional, and economic health. Peer Service Advocates will conduct outreach in the community; staff the drop-in area, especially focusing on reaching out to individuals who may have a difficult time engaging with services; and provide brief initial assessments to identify high-risk community members who need immediate attention. Peer Service Advocates will have a working knowledge of resources in San Francisco to connect community members to appropriate services, accompany them to appointments and provide advocacy, as needed. The Peer Service Advocate will prioritize compassionate engagement; prompt, effective service delivery; and strengthening community

Qualifications

• Minimum two years’ peer counseling experience, particularly working with diverse constituencies or a BA/BS degree combined with related experience.
• Previous personal and/or lived experience with poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and/or substance use issues.
• Ability and skill to develop rapport with community members who regularly visit the center and to motivate them to participate in services and activities by utilizing the principles of harm reduction.
• Demonstrated ability to actively engage people experiencing homelessness, active drug use, mental illness, and other barriers to stability and health utilizing harm reduction and self-help principles. Ability to work compassionately with those who may have difficulty engaging with more traditional services.
• Ability to effectively resolve conflicts among community members and to de-escalate tense situations.
• Ability to work professionally and ethically in a team setting, and able to maintain a high degree of confidentiality.
• Demonstrate aptitude for documentation, time management, and organizational ski ls.
• Excelent interpersonal communication and active listening ski ls
• Wilingness to attend staff meetings and trainings that are not during regular shift hours.
• Commitmentto personal & professional development.

Additional Information

Hospitality House is an equal opportunity employer. We enthusiastica ly accept our responsibility to make employment decisions without regard to race, religious creed, color, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, marital status, medical condition as defined under State law, disability, military service, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions or any other classification protected by federal, state, and/or local laws and ordinances. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we wi l consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records