Are you looking for an opportunity to use your mental health recovery experience to be a change agent in the mental health field? At Thresholds, we believe in meeting people where they’re at – in their environment and on their journey to recovery. Community Support Specialists (CSS) provide mental health and substance use treatment support where it makes the most impact – in a person’s community. We value personal lived experiences with mental health recovery and are seeking a peer professional, who either has the CRSS (Certified Recovery Support Specialist) credential or is able to get the CRSS within a year.
Working as a Community Support Specialist is a unique opportunity to use your lived experience to support others. Through care planning, you will be an integral part of a client’s growth and recovery. You will remove barriers to mental healthcare through case management: connecting our clients with resources and helping them navigate complex systems. You will help clients strengthen daily living skills as you drive them to doctors’ appointments, to benefits offices, or to the grocery store. As the identified Peer on the team, you will share your recovery story with our clients in a mutual, two-way helping process where you will learn from each other and model that recovery can happen. Each day will be a little bit different, requiring you to adapt to your client’s schedule, needs, and treatment plan.
The culture at Thresholds is compassionate and supportive, providing you with the tools and resources you need for the best client care. As a peer professional, you will collaborate with your team by advocating for the clients and providing insight about the lived experience of recovery. Opportunities for training and professional development will deepen your knowledge and expand your clinical skills in harm reduction, trauma-informed care, and other evidence-based practices. To support the CRSS credential, we offer free clinical supervision, fee reimbursement, and scholarship opportunities. This invaluable experience will set you up for a variety of career paths and growth opportunities within our organization.
To succeed in this role, you need:
Many education and experience paths are eligible for this role:
What sets Thresholds apart:
Thresholds is a mission-driven agency with a deep commitment to fostering an environment where all feel valued and respected, a place where every employee can be themselves, thrive, and support the agency's mission. Click here to learn more.
One of the oldest and largest mental health organizations in Illinois, we pride ourselves in being a Chicago Tribune Top Workplace and one of Chicago's 101 Best & Brightest Companies to work for, several years in a row.
Thresholds provides healthcare, housing, and hope for thousands of persons with mental health and substance use conditions in Illinois each year. Through care, employment, advocacy, and housing, Thresholds assists and inspires people to reclaim their lives.
Thresholds is one of the oldest and largest providers of recovery services for persons with mental health and substance use conditions in Illinois. We offer 30 innovative programs at more than 75 locations throughout Chicago, the adjacent suburbs, and four surrounding counties. Services include assertive outreach, case management, housing, employment, education, psychiatry, primary care, substance use treatment, and research.
Thresholds’ staff meets people where they are – out in the community. Offering services in a community-based setting makes them more accessible and effective and lessens the social exclusion that is often present in the lives of persons living with mental illnesses and substance use conditions. This allows our staff and clients to work on skills, clinical interventions, and recovery that allows them to live independent lives in their own neighborhoods
Our clients are all unique – coming from vastly different backgrounds and arriving with different needs, talents, and hopes. Each client works with our staff to set their own specific short-term goals and objectives, based on their needs, desires, and level of self-sufficiency. Recovery from mental illnesses and substance use is possible. Recovery is a process of finding and living a satisfying and meaningful life, as one defines it for oneself. We assist our clients as they work to reclaim a positive sense of self, and discover their own potential, gifts, and skills.
