Starting Rate: $20.50-$24.00

Schedule: Sunday-Thursday or Tuesday-Saturday  11am-7pm

Show up. Build trust. Create possibilities.

Enduring Connections is an innovative pilot program offering sustained, flexible, and relationship-centered support to individuals and families impacted by mental health challenges—particularly people who have not benefited from traditional clinical interventions, have been hesitant to engage in traditional treatment, or may actively avoid or feel disconnected from mental health systems.

We are seeking a Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) who understands that meaningful change does not always happen quickly—and that sometimes the most important first step is simply continuing to show up.

As a Peer Specialist, you will use your own lived experience to build authentic relationships with people who may not be ready or willing to engage with traditional services. You’ll meet people where they are, without judgment or pressure, and provide a consistent presence they can come to trust. Through patience, persistence, and genuine connection, you’ll help create opportunities for people to consider supports, resources, and possibilities that may not have felt accessible to them before.

This is not a role where you’ll measure success by how quickly someone engages in treatment. Your consistency matters. Your ability to remain present, build trust, and continue offering support—even when traditional approaches have not worked—is central to the Enduring Connections model.

This is a primarily in-person, community-based role requiring flexibility to meet people where they are, both geographically and in terms of their readiness and scheduling needs. You will have the opportunity to build relationships over time and offer both traditional and creative, community-based resources based on what each person identifies as meaningful to them.

About Enduring Connections

Enduring Connections is rooted in the belief that meaningful change begins with authentic relationships—and relationships take time.

In partnership with the program’s founders, Advocates is bringing this unique model to families across Massachusetts who are seeking a different kind of support. Some people served through the program may have had difficult experiences with mental health systems, may have disengaged from treatment, or may deliberately avoid traditional services altogether.

Rather than expecting people to come to the system, Enduring Connections brings support to them. Staff meet people where they are and remain there—building trust through consistency, patience, and genuine human connection.

As a Peer Specialist, you may help someone access traditional mental health resources when they are ready. You may also help them find less traditional pathways to connection, purpose, community, and support. The goal is not to prescribe a particular path, but to walk alongside each person and help them discover what works for them.

• Build and maintain authentic, trusting relationships with individuals and families who may be reluctant, hesitant, or unwilling to engage with traditional mental health services.
• Show up consistently and remain engaged over time, recognizing that trust and meaningful connection may take weeks or months to develop.
• Provide individual and group peer support grounded in lived experience, hope, recovery, self-determination, and mutual respect.
• Meet people where they are without judgment, recognizing that engagement may look different for every individual and family.
• Use your lived experience thoughtfully and appropriately to offer hope, perspective, encouragement, and connection.
• Support people in identifying resources, relationships, activities, and opportunities that are meaningful to them.
• Connect individuals and families with both traditional mental health resources and creative, non-traditional community-based supports, based on their interests, needs, and readiness.
• Continue offering support and opportunities even when someone initially declines services, resources, or engagement.
• Advocate for approaches, environments, policies, and practices that promote autonomy, self-determination, recovery, and life beyond the mental health system.
• Coordinate and facilitate informal groups focused on peer support, recovery, resiliency, connection, and community resources.
• Advocate for the rights, dignity, preferences, and choices of the people we support.
• Build relationships with community organizations, peer support providers, and other resources to expand opportunities and strengthen connections outside of traditional systems.
• Participate in weekly supervision, Peer Specialist team meetings, training, and professional development opportunities.
• Maintain required certifications and training and follow Advocates policies, procedures, performance standards, and the Certified Peer Specialist Code of Ethics.

• A high school diploma/GED and at least one year of related experience or a bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• Personal, firsthand experience as a recipient of mental health system services.
• Current Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) certification or eligibility for certification, with the ability to obtain CPS certification within six months of hire.
• A genuine commitment to using lived experience to support hope, recovery, self-determination, and connection.
• The ability to build relationships with people who may be reluctant or unwilling to engage with traditional services.
• Patience, persistence, and consistency, with the ability to continue engaging appropriately even when progress is slow or someone initially declines support.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to connect authentically with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• Sensitivity to the needs, preferences, and experiences of the people and families we support.
• The ability to think creatively and identify both traditional and non-traditional resources and opportunities in the community.
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team while also working independently in the community.
• A demonstrated understanding of and commitment to serving culturally diverse populations.
• A valid driver's license, access to an operational and insured vehicle, and willingness to use your vehicle to transport people supported as needed.
• Ability to perform the essential functions of the position and meet program and agency requirements.

Why Join Enduring Connections?

• Build relationships that take time. Have the opportunity to develop meaningful connections with people who may have disengaged from traditional services.
• Be a consistent presence. Help people experience what it feels like to have someone continue to show up, even when they aren't ready to engage.
• Think beyond traditional treatment. Help people discover resources, activities, relationships, and opportunities that support their goals and well-being in ways that are meaningful to them.
• Use lived experience to create connection. Bring your own journey to the work in a way that offers hope and helps others see possibilities.
• Help shape something new. Be part of an innovative pilot program reimagining how people and families who have not connected with traditional systems can receive meaningful support.

If you believe in meeting people where they are, showing up consistently, and building trust one relationship at a time, we encourage you to apply.

Advocates is committed to cultivating a diverse and welcoming community where everyone feels respected and valued. Advocates fosters a culture of inclusion that celebrates and promotes diversity across many dimensions, including race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, partnered status, age, national origin, socioeconomic status, religion, ability, culture, and lived experience.