Senior Peer Support Specialist

About the role

Emerge Aotearoa, together with Waihōpai Hauora and Ka Puta Ka Ora, delivers a mātauranga Māori drug and alcohol programme within Otago and Invercargill prison. This is a permanent full-time position of 40 hours per week, Monday to Friday, with a salary range of $64,532.51 to $72,778.46 depending on experience and qualifications.

The role suits someone with past experience interacting with authorities, incarceration, or personal struggles with drugs, alcohol or mental health. You will use tuākana-teina or mentoring relationships to help people in custodial settings facing substance-related harms, drawing on mana and wairua-enhancing, strengths-based Te Ao Māori practices to remove old habits and build new strategies and skills for recovery.

You will work alongside clinicians, wairua practitioners, peers and custodial staff, and in a remand setting support therapeutic psycho-educational groups and interventions led by mātauranga Māori.

Required profile

• A Level 4 (or higher) qualification in Peer Support or Health and Wellbeing
• Lived experience of alcohol/drugs, mental health or incarceration, in active recovery
• Ability to look past people's offenses and focus on their potential
• Natural leader, trusted and relatable to tāne
• Understanding of and respect for Tikanga Māori and Pacific cultures
• Willingness to undergo criminal conviction and reference checks for approval to work in the prisons

Required skills

• Good communication skills
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications
• Full New Zealand driver's licence and eligibility to work in New Zealand

What we offer

• Leave entitlements including wellbeing leave, cultural leave and study leave (where applicable)
• Learning, development and training opportunities
• Discounted health insurance through Southern Cross Health
• A supportive, collaborative team with a manager who celebrates success
• Focus on wellbeing and work-life balance

Candidates must include a half-page biography covering their personal experience and journey to wellbeing in their cover letter; applications without this will not be accepted.