Family Peer Support Worker

Identifying Information

Job Title: Family Peer Support Worker

Program Area: Support Services

Job Level: Part-time, variable shifts with some evenings (Contract until March 31, 2027)

Reports to: Family Services Team Lead

Organization Summary

CMHA Edmonton is a non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure that all people experience good mental health and well-being. We increase awareness and understanding of mental health, mental illness, recovery, and suicide prevention through education. We support the resilience and recovery of people in distress including those affected by mental illness or suicide by providing crisis intervention; safe, long-term and affordable housing; peer support; suicide grief and family support; information and referral support; and providing opportunities to improve your wellness.

Job Summary

Reporting to the Family Services Team Lead, Family Peer Support Workers (FPSW) are trained to offer practical supports to people supporting a loved one who is living with a mental health challenge and/or addictions concern. The Family Peer Support Worker uses their own lived experience as a family member or caregiver to offer hope, understanding, and guidance to others in similar situations. Lived experience in family peer support refers to the personal knowledge, insight, and understanding gained through direct experience of mental health challenges, substance use, trauma, housing instability, and other related life circumstances. This experience is not only about having gone through these challenges, but about engaging in a process of reflection, recovery, and growth that enables an individual to use their story to intentionally to support others. The FPSW builds trusting relationships with families, provides emotional and practical support and helps them navigate systems of care. This role promotes recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, and family-centered approaches that strengthen both individuals and community resilience.

• Provides supportive, active listening and thoughtfully shares relevant lived experiences when it may benefit a peer.
• Model the way through positive recovery-based living.
• Teaching, providing education, and demonstrating skills.
• Respecting boundaries.
• Assisting with daily living needs.[DP1] [AB2]
• Positive relationships with peers.
• Strategizing solutions to problems and issues.
• Building recovery strengths.
• Connecting to resources and promotion of wayfinding.
• Promoting wellness.
• Creating adaptive resiliency.

Peer Support Worker (PSW) Values

• PSWs demonstrate empathy, connection, hope, inclusion, and respect as they nurture peer-to-peer strengths-based relationships.
• PSWs encourage their peers to explore, discover, and choose their own paths of recovery, wellness, and resilience.
• PSWs model the way when they make choices that they feel are in their own best interest.
• PSWs face challenges, learn from challenges, and move on.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Family Services

• Complete training courses through CMHA Edmonton Peer College, including Peer Support Practice in Community, Systems Navigation, Crisis Intervention Basics, and other courses determined to be essential for the FPSW role.
• Offer one-on-one peer support to family members, caregivers, and significant others impacted by a loved one’s mental health.
• Provide active listening, empathy, and shared experience to reduce isolation and stigma and to enhance community connection.
• Support families with goal setting, coping strategies, daily routines, system navigation, practical problem-solving, advocacy skills, caregiver capacity, and the development of wellness and self-care plans.
• Support facilitation of family education / support groups, peer connection circles that promote understanding of recovery and system navigation.
• Advocate for family inclusion and voice within care plans and service planning.
• Collaborate with internal teams to coordinate wrap-around supports
• Responsibly follow ethical peer support practices and consult with a supervisor when needed.
• Follow CMHA Edmonton policies and procedures when engaging in peer support activities to ensure the best practices are followed.
• Participate in Support Services team meetings where updates on Support Services are given and strategies for effective Peer Support are shared.
• Complete entries in service delivery logs after each participant/peer visit.

Implement evaluation plan

• Deliver pre- and post-program participant service experience surveys, collecting quantitative data for the project database, and gathering stories of program participants lived experience for project quality assurance
• Share stories of Peer Family Support Worker lived experience for project quality assurance.
• Participate in program participant and Peer Support Worker focus groups.
• Perform end of service evaluations with program participants.
• Meet regularly with the Family Services Team Lead through 1:1 meeting online or in person.
• Check in with program participants receiving Family Support Services to assess and re-evaluate SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, Time-bound), follow-up on previous meeting action items and offer support.
• Participate in peer support related working groups and community of practice.
• Identify and support quality improvement initiatives through data, observation and feedback received from staff and program participants – people with lived experience.

Administration

• Ensure service delivery logs are up to date.
• Ensure time sheets, mileage/expense claims, and invoices are up to date and submitted by deadline for payroll / finance to process.
• Recommend policy and procedure changes and updates to improve program performance.

Qualifications/Experience

CMHA Edmonton recognizes that candidates have different skills and experiences to offer. While highlighting desired qualifications in the following sections, it is not a checklist. We encourage everyone interested to apply and indicate how you would successfully take on the role even if you have unconventional experiences or qualifications.

• Lived experience as a family member, caregiver, or significant other supporting a loved one with mental health.
• Training in Peer Support, Mental Health First Aid, and ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Training) is considered an asset.
• Acceptable attainment and maintenance of a Police Information Check with a Vulnerable Sector Check and an Intervention Record Check.
• Must have valid driving license.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and ethical boundaries.

Skills/Abilities

• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Knowledge of local mental health, housing, and social support services.
• Knowledge and skills of advocacy, empowerment, and strength-based principles.
• Ability to work independently in a challenging environment, set priorities and boundaries, meet deadlines, and allocate time and resources effectively.
• Proficiency with basic documentation and computer systems.
• Organizational and problem-solving skills.

Required Training for the Position

• Peer Support Practice in Community (provided on the job)
• Systems Navigation (provided on the job)
• Crisis Intervention Basics (provided on the job)
• ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Training)
• Naloxone Training
• Standard First Aid