Peer Specialist

The OnTrackNY Program is a Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) treatment program at Hutchings Psychiatric Center serving adolescents and young adults who are impacted by unexpected changes in their thinking and perceptions. Our mission is to empower young people to make meaning of their experiences and to pursue their goals for school, work and personal relationships. Equity, inclusion, rapid access and self-determination are at the core of everything we do.

A Peer Specialist will work as part of the OnTrackNY team with program participants, family and community members, and all other team members. The Peer Specialist serves a unique role on the team, instilling hope in participants and families by drawing on their own lived experience of overcoming challenges with a psychiatric label. Walking alongside participants on their recovery journeys, the Peer Specialist uses a non-clinical approach to support, empower, and advocate for young people as they contend with the difficulties and uncertainties of their emerging experiences.

The Peer Specialist uses their lived experience, interpersonal and empathy skills, understanding of youth culture (including the culture of the local community & community engagement), respect for the self-determination of young people, and unique perspective to contribute to treatment planning for each participant, remaining youth-driven and facilitating the team's development and maintenance of a culture of respect and shared decision making. The Peer Specialist can provide an essential framework for highlighting the potential that each participant has for living the life they desire for themselves.

In addition to attending team meetings, Peer Specialists work directly with other team members to provide support and assistance to program participants. Under the supervision of the OnTrackNY Team Leader, they provide direct peer support services to program participants in any setting that would be helpful - at the OnTrackNY program site, in the community, or in the hospital.

Within the OnTrackNY team, the Peer Specialist's work is guided by 12 role responsibilities in their interactions with participants, families, community members and their team