JOB
San Mateo County Health's Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Division is seeking a qualified Family Partner Support Specialist I/II – Spanish Speaking Required to join the Youth Services Center (YSC) Mental Health Team in San Mateo.
This position requires the ability to read, write, and speak Spanish.
The Family Partner Support Specialist is a valued member of a multidisciplinary team serving youth ages 6–18 involved in the juvenile justice system and their families throughout San Mateo County. Drawing upon lived experience as a parent or caregiver of a child with behavioral health challenges, the Family Partner provides peer support, education, advocacy, and resource navigation to help families build resilience, access services, and support their youth's recovery and wellness.
Working closely with clinicians and other behavioral health professionals, the Family Partner helps families navigate behavioral health, juvenile justice, education, child welfare, and community support systems. Responsibilities include orienting families to available services, facilitating support and psychoeducational groups, connecting families with community resources, and promoting family engagement in treatment and recovery planning.
This is a full-time position and may require occasional evening hours between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Current members of the Youth Services Center Mental Health Team include Mental Health Clinicians, a Co-Occurring Case Manager, Program Specialist, Psychologist, and Psychiatrist.
Key Responsibilities
The Family Partner Support Specialist will:
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Support families in navigating juvenile justice, behavioral health, education, and community-based systems and services.
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Provide education, coaching, and advocacy support to help families participate effectively in treatment, school, and court-related processes.
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Build trusting relationships with families through empathy, shared lived experience, and recovery-oriented support.
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Facilitate family peer support, education, and skill-building groups that promote wellness, resilience, and connection.
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Connect families with community resources and supports that address social, emotional, educational, and basic needs.
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Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to promote family engagement, self-advocacy, and positive outcomes for youth and families.
Why Join Us?
Rewarding Aspects of the Role
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Make a meaningful difference in the lives of youth and families navigating behavioral health and juvenile justice systems.
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Use your lived experience to inspire hope, reduce isolation, and empower families.
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Help families access resources, strengthen advocacy skills, and achieve recovery and wellness goals.
Challenges of the Role
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Supporting families experiencing complex behavioral health, juvenile justice, and family-system challenges.
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Navigating and coordinating services across multiple systems and community partners.
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Managing emotionally demanding situations while maintaining professionalism, empathy, and boundaries.
The ideal candidate will have:
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Lived experience as a parent or primary caregiver of a child or youth who has experienced behavioral health challenges.
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Experience supporting families of youth involved in behavioral health, juvenile justice, child welfare, and/or substance use systems.
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Experience building effective relationships with caregivers and family members facing mental health or substance use challenges.
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Experience working with justice-involved youth, youth on probation, or within juvenile detention settings.
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Experience serving Latinx and BIPOC communities.
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Knowledge of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process and school-based supports.
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Experience connecting families to community resources such as housing, healthcare, food assistance, legal services, and family resource centers.
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Proficiency with Microsoft Office 365 applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams, and PowerPoint.
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Fluency in English and Spanish, including experience providing services in Spanish.
NOTE: The eligible list generated from this recruitment may be used to fill future extra-help, term, unclassified, and regular classified vacancies.
EXAMPLE OF DUTIES
Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Develop rapport, establish, and maintain contact with members of the community served and interpret community needs and cultural patterns to professional staff members.
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Provide educational services to the clientele served; schedule, arrange, and assist in the facilitation of educational programs and activities to support client health/wellness, recovery, self-sufficiency and other goals.
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Prepare various reports or correspondence; maintain accurate notes or files related to client relations and other activities.
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May perform a wide variety of general clerical duties; coordinate calendars and make appointments; arrange for necessary materials to be available for operations; respond to requests for information; assist public at front counter and direct public to appropriate locations/staff; order and maintain office and other related supplies.
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Support persons served and their families by ensuring their voices are heard, valued, and incorporated into decisions and services that affect them.
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Provide outreach to clients to engage them in services and overcome barriers to participation in mental health services.
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Conduct one on one or group sessions with consumers and/or families to collect data for screenings, applications, records, and needs assessments.
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Work with the treatment team to develop and maintain clients’ development plans.
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Assist peers and/or family members in tracking and implementing recovery and wellness goals; offer support, encouragement and hope; model effective coping and self-help strategies.
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Serve as mentor to teach and show consumers and family members how to function more independently and in finding and accessing community resources.
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Monitor cases for assigned client groups.
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Develop and/or organize educational and informational materials for outreach activities.
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Serve on various related committees and attend meetings.
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Assist clients in a wide variety of daily living activities, such as completing applications and forms, providing transportation, and navigating support service systems.
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May act as an interpreter in contacts involving non-English speaking residents.
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Assist with access/linkage to community resources such as housing, transportation, education and employment.
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Perform related duties as assigned.
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
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Peer Support Specialist I ($31.78 - $39.72 hourly) is the entry-level class in the series. Incumbents work under close supervision while learning program operations, client populations, and peer support practices. Assignments are generally structured and performed within established guidelines. This class is flexibly staffed with Peer Support Specialist II and incumbents may advance after gaining experience and demonstrating proficiency required for the higher-level class.
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Peer Support Specialist II ($35.09 - $43.85 hourly) is the experienced-level class in the series. Incumbents independently perform the full range of peer support duties and exercise greater judgment, discretion, and responsibility in carrying out assignments and establishing work priorities.
Peer Support Specialist positions require maintenance of a Medi-Cal Peer Support Specialist certification issued by CalMHSA and the ability to meet any lived-experience requirements associated with the assigned program or funding source.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Open & Promotional. Anyone may apply. Current County of San Mateo and County of San Mateo Superior Court of California employees with at least six months (1040 hours) of continuous service in a classified regular, probationary, extra-help/limited term positions prior to the final filing date will receive five points added to their final passing score on this examination.
This is a continuous recruitment which may close at any time. The final filing date will be posted 5 days in advance in the County of San Mateo Human Resources Department.
The examination process will consist of an application screening (weight: pass/fail) based on the candidates' application and responses to the supplemental questions. Candidates who pass the application screening will be invited to a panel interview (weight: 100%). Depending on the number of applicants, an application appraisal of education and experience may be used in place of other examinations or further evaluation of work experience may be conducted to group applicants by level of qualification. All applicants who meet the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement through any subsequent phase of the examination. All examinations will be given in the County of San Mateo, California and applicants must participate at their own expense.
IMPORTANT: Applications for this position will only be accepted online. If you are currently on the County's website, you may click the “Apply” button. If you are not on the County's website, please go to https://jobs.smcgov.org/ to apply. Responses to the Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted in addition to the standard County employment application form. A resume will not be accepted as a substitute for the required application materials. Online applications must be received by the Human Resources Department before noon on the final filing date.This is a continuous recruitment which may close at any time. The final filing date will be posted 5 days in advance in the County of San Mateo Human Resources Department.
Apply immediately. This recruitment is open on a continuous basis and selections may be made at any time within the process.
TENTATIVE RECRUITMENT TIMELINE
Final Filing Date: Continuous
Application Screening: TBD
Panel Interviews: TBD
About the County
San Mateo County is centrally located between San Francisco, San Jose, and the East Bay. With over 750,000 residents, San Mateo is one of the largest and most diverse counties in California and serves a multitude of culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse communities.
The County of San Mateo, as an employer, is committed to advancing equity to ensure that all employees are welcomed in a safe and inclusive environment. We seek to hire, support, and retain employees who reflect our diverse community, and we encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply. Eighty percent of employees surveyed stated that they would recommend the County as a great place to work.
The County of San Mateo is an equal opportunity employer.
Talent Acquisition Contact: Priscilla Bermudez (061226) (Peer Support Specialist I/II – G191/G192)
