Companion

About St. Anthony’s

Founded in 1950, St. Anthony's is the most comprehensive safety net service center in San Francisco, directly providing food, clothing, medical care, addiction recovery services, access to technology, job training, and other critical resources to the community. Every day we support and are supported by thousands of San Franciscans. Everyone who comes through our doors joins the St. Anthony's family and helps us create a future where all people flourish.

Principal Responsibility

A St. Anthony’s Companion provides ongoing, multi-year peer coaching support to help guests experiencing homelessness, substance use recovery or other significant challenges achieve stability. Drawing on their personal lived experience or deep knowledge of human services, a Companion works to provide non-clinical and long-term wellness support through training, mentoring, and coaching in areas of substance use recovery, health, finances, food and housing, work and wages, resolving or complying with legal issues, family and social networks. The Companion will connect participants with people and services that support building social and economic mobility and recovery capital. As a steward of healing and social justice, you are expected to meet the following duties:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities   

Support, Development and Performance

• Provide support to participants, by connecting them with people and services that support building social and economic mobility.
• Check in with participants regularly, following a strategic approach designed to meet the needs of the supported participant.
• Consistently use judgement grounded in best practices of successful recovery theories to guide, advise and direct participants. When unsure, pursue guidance, direction and instruction from the Companion Lead or Clinical Supervisor.
• Assess participants needs, provide support through offering resources, services, goals, and a recovery plan unique to each participant’s individual needs designed to reduce triggers and setbacks.
• Work with participants by connecting them to internal employment resources, working to obtain stable housing and providing focus on self-sufficiency, maintaining independence and preventing homelessness.
• Function as a role model to peers, exhibiting competency in personal recovery and utilizing coping skills. Provide information and advocacy, including peer support to participants in outpatient and inpatient settings.
• Provide excellent customer service skills when engaging with participants and other community members.
• Attend regular meetings and team huddles for Companions.

Participant Engagement

• Conduct in-depth interviews, check-ins, and assessments with clients assigned to the caseload to determine and execute client action plans and report progress toward goals
• Maintain confidentiality and build trust with each participant, demonstrating integrity in all interactions, modeling desired behaviors all with a commitment to transparency, while protecting confidentiality.
• Assist participants in developing their personal goals, community resources, and plans.
• Assess obstacles related to the companion stability framework and provide mentorship and guidance to help participants overcome their personal barriers to stability.
• Help participants identify triggers and create practices to navigate them constructively.
• Utilize a strengths-based approach to create multiple pathways to stability that support each individual’s journey.
• Assist with the caseloads for absent colleagues (vacation, sick, or other leave).
• Collaborate with other St. Anthony programs and service providers at other organizations to help participants to reach individual goals.
• Treat all participants and guests with empathy, dignity, and respect. Seek to understand the other person's perspective and experience.
• Demonstrate the ability to work effectively across cultures and an openness to learning about cultures not familiar to oneself.

Administration and Operations

• Complete daily documentation. Document one-on-one meetings, stability plans, milestones, benchmarks interactions, progress, obstacles and everything connected to the care and support of
• Understand and follow the organization's programs, policies, and procedures.
• Assist in evaluating, planning, developing, and implementing program procedures, guidelines, and policies.
• Participate in regular training and development opportunities to increase personal capacity to apply innovative approaches to daily workflows, service delivery, and position functions.
• Participate in team review of program data, to enhance operations and program effectiveness.

Interdepartmental Relationships, Collaboration, and Communication

• Collaborate with Fr. Alfred Center, Transitional Employment, and Human Resources to ensure exceptional program outcomes, strong communication and team and participant success.
• Manage stress and pressure situations calmly and responsively. Maintain the capacity to control reactions and awareness of how one’s behavior or response can impact others.
• Consistently demonstrate ethics, honesty and integrity while operating within the St. Anthony values while working and representing St. Anthony Foundation.
• Practice direct, respectful, open, and honest communication with colleagues. Proactively seeks support from team members or management.
• Assist in educating other foundation staff about Companionship and the Stability Model.

Minimum Qualifications

• Lived experience with mental health, recovery or being unhoused highly preferable.
• Bilingual in Spanish desired.
• Obtain Peer Specialist certification through CAPS Academy within one year of accepting the position.
• Experience in case management, peer counseling, group counseling or coaching is desired.
• Excellent interpersonal, listening, oral, and written communication skills are required.
• Ability to be polite, diplomatic, and firm. Can set limits and practice professional boundaries with participants and coworkers.
• Ability to be flexible, adaptable and respond to emergencies and high-pressure situations in a self-composed and self-assured manner.
• Ability to work non-traditional hours and days (weekends and holidays may be required).
• Computer literate in Windows, MS Office. Ability or willingness to learn to use information and communication technologies (computers, smartphones, and iPads) and database tools.
• Valid CA Driver’s license with excellent driving record, preferred.
• Ability to be punctual, reliable, cooperative, and stay team-oriented.
• Experience working in a non-profit or community-based social service agency with people experiencing homelessness or poverty desired.
• Commitment to St. Anthony Foundation Statement of Values and a desire to work for a social services agency serving the poor.

St. Anthony’s has a diverse workforce, welcoming all ethnicities, faith backgrounds, and worldviews. We are also proudly Catholic. Our Franciscan identity is at the core of our mission, namely to uphold the dignity and value of the human person and lift the spirits of those in need to help create a society in which all persons flourish.

People of color, differently-abled people, LGBT, and folks with lived experience are strongly encouraged to apply.

St. Anthony's is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We value diversity of culture, thought, and lived experiences. We seek talented, qualified individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, conviction history, uniform service membership/veteran status, physical or mental disability, protected medical conditions, genetic characteristics, sexual orientation,

Salary : $56,000 - $0