Certified Recovery Specialist

As part of Montgomery County's Drug and Alcohol team in the Department of Health and Human Services, the person holding this position will work with community partners across Montgomery County to develop and promote the County's overdose prevention efforts. This position will primarily be responsible for conducting outreach, working directly with individuals with or at risk for substance use disorder, and coordinating meetings related to the County's Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) Local Grant. The Specialist will work closely with the OD2A Project Coordinator to help inform the County's overdose prevention projects from the perspective of a lived experience. Some evenings and weekends are required. Plan and conduct outreach to organizations serving people with or at risk for substance use disorder. Specific projects include educating the medical community and community-based organizations on the stigma of addiction, training community members on how to use Narcan, and continuously building new partnerships in order to promote overdose prevention efforts; Build partnerships with organizations in Montgomery County that can help with overdose prevention activities, such as raising awareness about the role of stigma in seeking care, providing training and education about harm reduction and other ways to help people living with substance use disorder; Provide training and education about stigma and harm reduction; Help people living with or at risk for substance use disorders connect with care and treatment services; Complete and submit reports on all activities in accordance with project deadlines; Assist with planning and leading Opioid Fatality Review team meetings, including communicating with OFR members, conducting, and documenting Next of Kin interviews, preparing materials, and entering data into data collection systems; Actively participate in meetings related to the OD2A project, such as OD2A project team meetings, Community Advisory Board meetings, and other County meetings related to overdose prevention; Assist the Project Coordinator with expanding overdose prevention efforts and delivery of harm reduction efforts to the community; Share your lived experience at designated events and in the community to help educate the community about substance use disorders and recovery;
• Attending appropriate training/s as identified for the position, target population and individual need for professional growth; Perform other duties as required by supervisor. SPECIALIZED DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES QUALIFICATIONS AND EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS: HS/GED
• Bachelors Preferred; Lived Experience of a substance use disorder; Certified Recovery Specialist or Certified Family Recovery Specialist credential within 12 months of hire; Knowledge and Abilities: A familiarity with Montgomery County and the community services offered in the region; A strong commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion.; An understanding of substance uses disorder and the challenges facing this population. Experience and Skills: Lived experience of a substance use disorder; Experience building and maintaining partnerships; A strong public speaker; Experience planning and conducting outreach to organizations and to individual community members; Experience planning and coordinating stakeholder meetings. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions while performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand; walk; sit; and talk and hear. The employee frequently is required to taste or smell. The employee is occasionally required to use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands or arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision and depth perception. WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential function. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.