The Recovery Support Specialist is a grant-funded position designed to strengthen the continuum of care following Mobile Crisis response for individuals experiencing substance use and opioid-related crises. This position requires personal lived experience with substance use and recovery. The Recovery Support Specialist will use that experience intentionally and appropriately to build trust, instill hope, and help individuals pursue their own recovery goals.
This role provides rapid engagement, care coordination, transportation support, and recovery-focused follow-up services to promote timely connections to treatment and reduce barriers to stabilization and recovery. Services are grounded in peer-support principles, harm reduction, individual choice, and respect for the many different pathways to recovery.
The period immediately following a substance use crisis or overdose can offer an important opportunity for engagement. However, limited detoxification capacity, transportation challenges, and fragmented service coordination can prevent individuals from accessing care when they are ready. The Recovery Support Specialist helps bridge these gaps by providing practical assistance, system navigation, and support informed by shared lived experience.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Use personal lived experience with substance use and recovery intentionally and appropriately to establish connection, promote hope, and support individuals in identifying their own recovery goals
- Provide timely engagement and follow-up after Mobile Crisis responses, overdose events, and substance use-related crises
- Support individuals in accessing substance use treatment and recovery services, including detoxification, residential treatment, outpatient care, medication-assisted treatment, recovery housing, peer support, and harm-reduction services
- Provide person-centered support that respects individual choice, readiness for change, and multiple pathways to recovery
- Coordinate referrals and help individuals navigate behavioral health, medical, substance use treatment, and community-based systems of care
- Provide transportation to detoxification programs, treatment facilities, stabilization services, appointments, and other recovery supports throughout Iowa as needed
- Provide transportation home following discharge or stabilization when appropriate
- Assist with appointment scheduling, intake coordination, admission requirements, and follow-through to reduce barriers to treatment engagement
- Conduct outreach and follow-up to support continued engagement and treatment retention
- Advocate for individuals’ stated needs and preferences within treatment, crisis, medical, and community systems
- Collaborate with Mobile Crisis teams, hospitals, detoxification facilities, law enforcement, treatment providers, and community partners to support continuity of care
- Participate in field-based support alongside Mobile Crisis teams when appropriate
- Maintain professional boundaries when sharing personal recovery experiences
- Maintain accurate and timely documentation of referrals, engagement efforts, services provided, and outcomes in accordance with grant, program, and organizational requirements
- Participate in required training, supervision, team meetings, and program evaluation activities
- Perform other related duties as assigned
Program Purpose and Impact
This position addresses a critical gap in the crisis-to-care continuum for individuals experiencing substance use and opioid-related crises. Substance use disorders are associated with increased risks of overdose, suicide, repeated crisis utilization, and disengagement from treatment.
The period immediately following a crisis is often a key opportunity for connection and support. Delays in transportation, treatment access, or service coordination can result in missed opportunities for recovery engagement.
The Recovery Support Specialist improves access to care by providing immediate, practical, and person-centered support. By combining system navigation with personal lived experience, this position helps individuals feel understood, identify options, and connect with treatment and recovery services during a period of heightened vulnerability.
Program Goals and Outcomes
- Increase successful connections to substance use treatment and recovery services following a crisis
- Reduce the time between crisis response and treatment engagement
- Improve access to detoxification, medication-assisted treatment, recovery housing, and other recovery-oriented services
- Reduce repeated Mobile Crisis utilization and preventable crisis escalation
- Strengthen continuity of care for individuals with substance use and co-occurring behavioral health conditions
- Reduce barriers related to transportation, treatment access, and system navigation
- Improve stabilization and recovery outcomes for individuals experiencing opioid-related and other substance use crises
- Increase ongoing engagement and retention in treatment and recovery supports
Minimum Qualifications
- Personal lived experience with substance use and recovery
- Willingness and ability to use personal lived experience intentionally and appropriately when providing recovery support
- Ability to support individuals without imposing personal beliefs, experiences, or preferred pathways to recovery
- Experience in peer support, recovery services, behavioral health, substance use services, crisis response, case management, or a related human services field
- Knowledge of substance use disorders, harm-reduction principles, recovery-oriented systems of care, and community-based resources
- Ability to engage individuals experiencing crisis or post-crisis needs using trauma-informed, person-centered, and recovery-oriented approaches
- Ability to maintain appropriate professional boundaries and protect personal wellness while supporting others
- Strong communication, coordination, documentation, and organizational skills
- Ability and willingness to provide transportation throughout assigned service regions and across Iowa as needed
- Valid driver’s license and ability to meet organizational driving requirements
- Ability to complete required background checks and other employment requirements
Applicants will not be required to disclose specific diagnoses, substances used, treatment history, or other private details regarding their recovery. Candidates must be able to confirm that they meet the lived-experience requirement and can use that experience appropriately within a professional recovery-support role.
Preferred Qualifications
- Current Peer Recovery Specialist, Peer Recovery Coach, or other recognized peer-support certification, or willingness to obtain an approved certification within the timeframe established by the organization
- Experience providing peer recovery support following an overdose, substance use crisis, or behavioral health crisis
- Familiarity with Iowa substance use treatment, detoxification, medication-assisted treatment, recovery housing, harm-reduction, and community-based recovery resources
- Experience working collaboratively with crisis teams, hospitals, treatment providers, law enforcement, and other community partners
- Knowledge of local and statewide transportation and treatment-access resources
Pay: $45,000.00 - $50,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Bereavement leave
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
