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Peer Supporter

Programs: Monarch House Peer Run Respite, WIMA Warmline, and Kaleidoscope Peer Recovery Center

Reports To: Program Director and Executive Director

Job Overview:

At WIMA, the role of a Peer Supporter is at the heart of our mission to provide compassionate, innovative, and person-centered support to individuals navigating mental health and/or substance use challenges, and/or a history of trauma, incarceration, or institutionalization. Peer Supporters are individuals with lived experience who bring empathy, understanding, and a unique perspective to their work, embodying WIMA’s core values of self-determination, authenticity, wholeness, unconditional high regard, mutuality, and transformation.

Different from other mental health and substance use services, WIMA’s programs operate within a harm-reduction and peer-run framework. This means we meet individuals where they are, honor their experiences, and support them in defining and pursuing their own wellness goals. Whether through our Monarch House Peer Run Respite, the Kaleidoscope Peer Recovery Center, or the WIMA Warmline; Peer Supporters provide a safe, nonjudgmental space where participants can feel heard, supported, and encouraged.

The Role of a Peer Supporter:

As a Peer Supporter, you play an essential role in:

• Creating Connection: Using your lived experience to build trust and rapport, demonstrating that recovery and growth are possible.

• Empowering Self-Advocacy: Encouraging guests and visitors to take the lead in their own journeys by identifying and using the tools, resources, and supports that work for them.

• Challenging Stigma: Promoting understanding and reducing stigma surrounding mental health, substance use, and recovery within both the organization and the community.

WIMA is dedicated to cultivating an environment that feels fundamentally different from other service settings. We prioritize mutuality, respect, and shared lived experience over hierarchy, diagnoses, or clinical interventions. Peer Supporters are not "fixers" or "experts" but collaborators who walk alongside individuals in their moments of need, offering support through shared understanding.

Why Join WIMA?:

Becoming a Peer Supporter at WIMA is more than a job—it is an opportunity to be part of a transformative approach to support. You’ll engage in meaningful work that impacts individuals and communities while contributing to a larger movement that reimagines how we support those experiencing mental health and/or substance use challenges, and/or a history of trauma, incarceration, or institutionalization. With access to comprehensive training, a supportive team, and opportunities for growth, you’ll help redefine what it means to provide support in a world that values humanity, connection, and hope.

Qualities and Responsibilities:

1. Core Values and Attitudes

• Respectful, professional, and nonjudgmental attitude.

• Empower and encourage guests and visitors to advocate for themselves.

• Adhere to strict privacy and confidentiality rules at all times.

2. Interpersonal and Emotional Skills

• Good interpersonal communication skills with an ability to adapt to the audience and situation.

• Use self-disclosure of lived experience when it would be helpful to guests and visitors.

• Strong ability to establish and maintain healthy boundaries.

• Comfortable expressing emotions and sitting with the emotions of others.

• Experience working with people from diverse backgrounds and an ongoing desire to develop cultural awareness.

3. Commitment to Mission and Learning

• Actively help to promote and educate the community on peer support, substance use, mental health, harm reduction, etc.

• A deep passion for and desire to learn more about mental health, substance use, harm reduction, and peer support values.

4. Guest and Visitor Support

• Have potential guest conversations with individuals interested in staying at the respite through the WIMA Warmline.

• Welcome and complete paperwork with arriving respite guests.

• Complete departure surveys and checklists when respite guests leave.

• Welcome visitors to the center and familiarize them with the environment and opportunities available.

5. Operational Responsibilities

• Answer WIMA Warmline and complete call logs.

• Complete daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning tasks.

• Ensure the work environment is emotionally and physically safe.

• Provide fill-in coverage at the respite or center in case of emergencies.

6. Communication and Supervision

• Maintain communication with and seek supervision from the WIMA leadership team, including the Financial Director, Program Director, and Executive Director.

• Regularly check and respond to email communication.

• Functional understanding of email and written communication etiquette.

• Proficient in Google Workspace and Google Docs/Sheets.

• Experience using Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet platforms.

7. Training and Team Participation

• Attend required and optional training, including Intentional Peer Support, Convene Webinars, and eCPR.

• Attend required monthly team meetings and quarterly supervision meetings.

8. Other Duties

• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications: 

• Candidates must be 18 years of age or older. 

• Must identify and have lived experience with mental health and/or substance use challenges, and/or a history of trauma, incarceration, or institutionalization. 

• Must be willing to submit and able to pass a caregiver background check as required by the State of WI.

• Prior training in Intentional Peer Support, WRAP, eCPR, Hearing Voices Network, Alternatives to Suicide, and other peer-delivered supports a plus.

• Bilingual (Hmong, Spanish,) and/or sign language a plus.

Wisconsin Milkweed Alliance, Inc. (WIMA) recognizes that the advancement of its vision, mission, and core values is incomplete without explicitly acknowledging equity, diversity, and inclusion as an organizational priority. Therefore, WIMA actively seeks candidates who are members of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups.

Status: Part-time

Compensation: $17/hour for shifts between 7:00 AM and 11:00 PM; $17.50/hour for shifts between 11:00 PM and 7:00 AM. There is also a 1% benefit stipend for all hours worked.