The mission of CASES is to increase public safety through innovative services that reduce crime and incarceration, improve behavioral health, promote recovery and rehabilitation, and create opportunities for success in the community.

• We are committed to helping people—regardless of their past choices, present struggles, or future obstacles—to build the capacity and courage to change their lives.

• We tailor our services to each individual’s unique needs, risks, and strengths and believe the most effective programs are evidence-based, family-focused, and trauma-informed.
• We are committed to engaging the community by leveraging partnerships and resources to maximize our clients’ opportunities for success.

Our team:

We recognize that each CASES staff member is critical. We are a team strengthened by our diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and talents and united by a common purpose.

We are determined to continuously enhance our knowledge and skills, evaluate our results, and learn from our successes and failures.

Our impact on the community:

We believe public safety is best protected through alternatives to incarceration that combine accountability and support with empowerment and opportunity.

We are committed—through continuous innovation and the strategic disruption of ineffective responses to crime, addiction, and mental illness—to creating solutions for some of the city’s most difficult public safety and public health challenges.

Reports To: Director, Manhattan Mental Health Court

Overview: The CASES Manhattan Mental Health Court Case Management team serves over 50 adults with serious mental illness (SMI) involved in the criminal justice system annually. This includes individuals who are currently incarcerated or in the community referred for Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) services through the Manhattan Mental Health Court. MMHC Case Management offers community case management and provides referrals to various rehabilitation services to support participants to successfully exit the justice system, engage in recovery, and make progress toward self-sufficiency. MMHC Case Management provides community-based field case management services to participants that live in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens. The Peer Specialist will use peer support designed to promote participant skills for managing behavioral health needs and facilitating the utilization of community treatment services as well as natural resources for successful community living. 

Responsibilities:

•    Manage caseload of 10-15 participants at any given time and deliver an average of 20-35 face-to-face units of service per month in community locations throughout New York City in the neighborhoods where participants live and are accessing services;
•    Provide bridging transitional supports from jail/prison to the participant’s home or first place of shelter after release from incarceration;
•    Assistance seeking and obtaining benefits and entitlements, food, shelter and permanent housing;
•    Link participants to services and support their navigation of systems within behavioral health and allied human services to ensure access to appropriate care and services;
•    Benefits advisement and planning;
•    Assistance advocating for self-directed services;
•    Companionship and modeling of recovery lifestyle, including participation in recovery activities that might be beyond the scope of treatment providers (e.g., eating together, attending or participating in self-help meetings, and social events);
•    Raise participant awareness of existing services, pathways to recovery and help them to remove barriers that exist for access to services and supportive housing;
•    Interim visits with individuals after discharge from jail, hospital emergency rooms, detox units or inpatient psychiatric units to facilitate community tenure and increased readiness while waiting for the first appointment with a community-based mental treatment provider;
•    Assist selecting and utilizing self-directed recovery tools such as Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) or Individualized Recovery Plan;
•    Assist participants to select and utilize the things that bring a sense of passion, purpose and meaning into his/her life and coaching the person as they identify barriers to engaging in these activities;
•    Assist participants to connect to natural supports that enhance the quality and security of life;
•    Provide companionship when a participant is in an emergency room or crisis unit or preparing to be admitted to detox, residential or other service to deal with crisis;
•    Provide peer support in the person’s home or in the community to support them before or after a crisis or relapse;
•    Develop crisis diversion plans or relapse prevention plans;
•    Provide culturally competent services in accordance with CASES policies and practice;
•    Enter relevant case notes into MMHC case management data base;
•    Attend and prepare for supervision sessions;
•    Any other duties as required by the supervisors and directors.
 

•    Graduate of a recognized peer specialist training program such as the Howie the Harp Peer Advocacy and Training Center Peer Specialist Program;
•    High school diploma and eligible to become a OMH certified peer specialist;
•    Must be an individual with lived experience of using mental health treatment services;
•    Peer specialists with previous criminal justice experience are strongly encouraged to apply;
•    Commitment to recovery, recovery-oriented and trauma-informed services;
•    Effective communication and written skills are essential;
•    Proficiency with computer and electronic health records;  
•    Spanish speaking a plus.

Salary: $32,500 (full time Monday to Friday 35-hour week) 

Benefits: Here at CASES we offer benefits that will assist you in making the most of your career and your life. Our programs include health and wellness insurance which is offered through Oxford. A retirement 403(b) plan is held with Principal.  Additionally, our portable ancillary benefits are offered through Aflac, Legal Shield, and ADP Flexible spending account; which is then deducted through payroll along with commuter benefits, additional short-term disability, cancer, additional income protection, hospitalization coverage, and identity theft protection.

In one document, attach your cover letter and resume in PDF or Word format. No phone calls please. Your cover letter should include why you want to work particularly with CASES.  You must be a certified peer specialist or be eligible for certification.  Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.

CASES is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment with CASES is based solely on qualifications and competence for a particular position, without regard to race, color, ethnic or national origin, age, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or marital, military, or citizenship status. We also actively recruit individuals with prior involvement in the criminal justice system.Your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.