PEER SUPPORT SPECIALIST

Definition & Distinguishing Characteristics

Are you passionate about using your lived experience to make a meaningful impact while helping the residents of Colusa County? Join our team as a Peer Support Specialist and help empower community members on their wellness and recovery journeys. Working alongside our Behavioral Health team, this rewarding role provides guidance, encouragement, and support through wellness and recovery groups, outreach services, and crisis response efforts. From our drop-in centers to serving individuals throughout the community, this position offers the opportunity to inspire hope, build connections, and help Colusa County residents achieve their personal goals while making a lasting difference every day. For more details about the position, please click on the job description HERE .

This recruitment will be used to fill current vacancies and establish an eligibility list to fill future openings without reposting.

What's this Job All About?
Under the direction of a Peer Support Supervisor and Clinical Program Manager, this position will provide peer services of guidance and support based upon one's lived experience to support community members and clients. Peer services can be provided at our drop-in centers (Bright Vista Youth Center and Safe Haven Wellness and Recovery Center), at our clinic, and within the community. The position will facilitate wellness groups and/or recovery groups to help those we serve reach their personal goals. The Peer Support Specialist, once certified, will also be responding to behavioral health crises in the community along with our department's crisis team.

How do we make a difference?
We are proud to support the success and growth of the people and communities we serve, and we feel fortunate to contribute to opportunities that help individuals reach their goals.

Culture is at Our Core
We are a community-based, outpatient behavioral health clinic dedicated to serving our most vulnerable populations. Our department has various mental health and substance use programs, including drop-in wellness centers that are available to all community members. Our leadership team is comprised of dynamic, team-oriented leaders who support staff success with the understanding that successful team members equal outstanding client care.

Do our values speak to you?

• Deliver excellent Customer Service to Others & Our Community
• Embrace and Drive Change
• Create FUN and a Little Weirdness
• Be Adventurous, Creative, Open-Minded
• Pursue Growth and Learning
• Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
• Foster a Positive Team and Family Spirit
• Be Passionate and Determined
• Be Humble and Kind

What are the benefits?

• A beautiful, safe community in which to work and serve.
• A caring, empathetic, & fun work family that you will be welcomed into - where we work hard, but play hard, too!
• A job with WORK-LIFE BALANCE
• Competitive salary commensurate with education & experience
• A LIFETIME PAYCHECK (3% @ 60 for Classic Members and 2% @ 62 for New Members)- As long as you work for 5 years and vest in the CalPERS system, you will receive a retirement paycheck for the rest of your life.
• Amazing health care BENEFITS at NO COST to you - Unless you choose a premium health care plan.
• Authentically kind and engaged leadership who truly enjoy developing staff.
• 457 Deferred Compensation.
• PAID vacation, PAID holidays (15), and PAID leave if you get sick.
• Vacation Parity - Previous service with a public agency counts towards vacation accrual at Colusa County. A public agency includes cities, counties, districts, the military, and similar entities. To learn more about vacation parity, please see our benefit summary.

Supervision & Examples of Duties

Receives general supervision from the Peer Support Supervisor.

Qualifications

Any combination of experience and training that would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be:

Training:
High School Diploma or GED.

Experience:
A past or present consumer of mental health or substance use treatment or has a family member who is a past or present consumer of mental health or substance use treatment. These services may have or have not taken place at Colusa County Behavioral Health.

Experience sharing lived experiences to recognize mental health risks and protective factors. Relevant experience may include both paid and volunteer work in the community, such as:

• School volunteer.
• Parent Advocate.
• Any help at your church, such as helping with any groups, ministries, and food banks.
• Helping at senior centers.
• Helping support local community events, resource fairs, and health fairs.
• Helping at vaccination clinics.
• Helping individuals with physical disabilities.
• Efforts to help spread the word on local community resources that people need.
• Any efforts to help others with social, spiritual, health, economic, emotional wellbeing, housing, employment, etc., information and resources.

Incumbent must possess a clear understanding of the mental health client culture and community, as well as challenges faced by adults and youth experiencing behavioral health issues, including a culture of stigma and discrimination.

Current involvement with the mental health culture and local community is strongly preferred.

Customer Service skills and bilingual in Spanish is also preferred.

This position is not eligible for benefits.

Closing Date/Time: 5/24/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

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• County of Colusa

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