Peer Support Specialist - Houston, TX Telecommute

Position Description:
Energize your career with one of Healthcare’s fastest growing companies.  
 
You dream of a great career with a great company – where you can make an impact and help people.  We dream of giving you the opportunity to do just this.  And with the incredible growth of our business, it’s a dream that definitely can come true. Already one of the world’s leading Healthcare companies, UnitedHealth Group is restlessly pursuing new ways to operate our service centers, improve our service levels and help people lead healthier lives.  We live for the opportunity to make a difference and right now, we are living it up.
 
This opportunity is with one of our most exciting business areas: Optum –a growing part of our family of companies that make UnitedHealth Group a Fortune 17 leader.
 
Optum helps nearly 60 million Americans live their lives to the fullest by educating them about their symptoms, conditions and treatments; helping them to navigate the system, finance their healthcare needs and stay on track with their health goals. No other business touches so many lives in such a positive way. And we do it all with every action focused on our shared values of Integrity, Compassion, Relationships, Innovation & Performance.
The overall purpose of the Peer Support Specialist role is to help individuals live their lives to the fullest by promoting recovery and resiliency via coordination and collaboration with multiple internal and external partners including consumers and their families / caregivers, medical, behavioral health and clinical network teams.Peer Support Specialists work with complex and high-risk needs with a goal of engaging the consumer in the treatment process, decreasing their reliance on higher levels of care, helping them to access appropriate community services, and assisting them in improving community tenure. Peer Support Specialists work to increase stabilization and help consumers to improve life satisfaction.Primary Functions:

Utilize advanced clinical skills to engage and motivate consumers via a recovery, health and wellness-oriented approach

Manage a caseload of high risk consumers who may have instances of over / under utilization of services, episodes of symptomatology breakthrough and pharmacologic issues
Meet with consumers and / or caregivers in-person at facilities, provider offices, and in homes as appropriate for market
Assist consumers and their families / caregivers with connections to appropriate psychiatric, medical, and psychosocial referrals and services
Identify and remove barriers to procurement, delivery, participation in and success of services
Provide supportive follow-up, monitoring and education as indicated
Complete disease based assessment(s) and develop plan(s) of care based on member / caregiver identified holistic goals
Engage outpatient providers in the consumers treatment goals to promote recovery
Serve as OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions (OHBS) liaison and subject matter expert for applicable UnitedHealth Care Medical Partners; establish and foster positive relationships with medical team, participate in medical-behavioral integration activities and discussions
Identify high-risk, co-morbid needs of consumers
Accept referrals via designated processes collaborate in evaluating available services, and coordinate necessary psychiatric and community referrals as needed
Contribute to treatment plan discussions; routinely attend clinical interdisciplinary rounds and other meetings with medical partner or external entities when applicable
Document recommendations of interdisciplinary team and discuss recommendations with consumer
Partner with internal OHBS teams to coordinate a seamless transition for consumers from an inpatient setting to community based services
Coordinate with teams early in admission on cases stratified as having complex and high-risk needs
Participate jointly in rounds, discussions, and supervision
Assist in the development of a relevant and consumer specific aftercare plan
Comply with all policies, procedures and documentation standards in appropriate systems, tracking mechanisms and databases
Meet with consumers and / or caregivers in-person at facility as appropriate for market
Extensive work experience within own function
Work is frequently completed without established procedures
Works independently
May act as a resource for others
May coordinate others' activities
 

Required Qualifications:

High School Diploma or GED
Certified Peer Support Specialist within the state of TX or the ability to complete this certification within a year
Ability to travel up to 50% of the time within the Houston, TX area to client and/or patient sites within the designated area
Professional experience with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Outlook
Self-disclosure as a current or former consumer of or family member of a consumer of Mental Health or Substance Abuse services
Ability to facilitate training events
Understanding the principles of recovery and resiliencyPreferred Qualifications:

Bilingual fluency in English and Spanish
Any familiarity with WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan)Careers with Optum. Here's the idea. We built an entire organization around one giant objective; make the health system work better for everyone. So when it comes to how we use the world's large accumulation of health-related information, or guide health and lifestyle choices or manage pharmacy benefits for millions, our first goal is to leap beyond the status quo and uncover new ways to serve. Optum, part of the UnitedHealth Group family of businesses, brings together some of the greatest minds and most advanced ideas on where health care has to go in order to reach its fullest potential. For you, that means working on high performance teams against sophisticated challenges that matter. Optum, incredible ideas in one incredible company and a singular opportunity to do your life's best work.Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.