Peer Support Specialist
Why Work for SOAR Community Services
About SOAR Community Services
SOAR Community Services (formerly St. Leonard's Community Services) has been an established part of the community for more than 55 years, and is accredited for our excellence in serving children, youth, adults, and families.
Our Purpose
We support people to achieve new heights.
We do this by:
- Delivering quality services
- Coordinating care
- Partnering with others
- Supporting staff success
- Continuously improving our services
Our Principles
- Empowered Client Voices
- Clarity with Compassion
- Unified by Teamwork
- Integrity Through Consistency
- Inclusion in Action
- Leadership Through Empowerment
- Community Connected Care
- Adaptation and Innovation
- Governance in Partnership
Full-time 37.5 hrs./week- Tuesday–Friday 12:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m. | Saturday 8:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
Duties
As a Peer Support Specialist, you will be supporting individuals aged 16+ experiencing substance use and concurrent mental health challengesby drawing on your own lived or living experience of recovery.
Peer Support Specialists are not counsellors. Their role is grounded in shared lived experience — building connection, offering encouragement, and helping others feel hopeful about recovery.
This position is based within our Withdrawal Management and Men’s Treatment programs, where you will support clients as they begin their recovery journey by fostering connection, comfort, and engagement within the program.
Peer Support Specialists also collaborate with peers across the agency and participate in SOAR’s broader peer support initiatives, contributing to the development and growth of peer programming across services.
What You’ll Do
• Build supportive relationships with clients by drawing on and appropriately sharing your lived or living experience of recovery
• Offer connection, encouragement, and hope to individuals navigating substance use and concurrent mental health challenges
• Share recovery insights and coping strategies to encourage hope and connection
• Facilitate peer-led groups
• Support clients in identifying personal goals and steps toward recovery and independence
• Work collaboratively with staff while bringing a peer perspective to the interdisciplinary team
• Maintain professional boundaries within the peer role and participate in agency-wide peer initiatives
Qualifications
• Comfort identifying as a person with lived or living experience of substance use and/or mental health recovery and using that experience in a peer support role
• Ability to act as a positive recovery role model while respecting the individual paths of others
• Understanding peer support principles
• College diploma or certificate in any field
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills
• Comfort facilitating conversations and peer-led groups
• Experience with Microsoft Office and electronic databases
• Access to reliable transportation
• Ability to work in environments where exposure to direct and vicarious trauma may occur
Eligibility
Eligible to work in Canada.
Vacant Position
Benefits
- Salary: Starting at $24.25 per hour
Plus $1/hour weekend shift premium - Benefits: Comprehensive health, dental, vision, and travel insurance
- Time Off: 3 weeks’ vacation, 60 hours of personal leave, 15 wellness hours (pro-rated in first year)
- Extras:
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- RSP/TFSA matching for eligible staff
- Professional development opportunities
- A supportive, values-driven workplace that prioritizes your well-being
How to Apply
Start Date: As soon as possible/Vacant Position
Apply by: March 18, 2026 | Reference: Peer Support Specialist WMTS
Email Applications to: sonia.krizikova@soarcs.ca
Our Commitment to Job Seekers
SOAR Community Services is committed to implementing the Calls to Action framed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We acknowledge that we live and work on the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit and traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wyandot, the Haudenosaunee, and some of the Ojibwa Nation. The territory is mutually covered by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work in this community, on this territory. We also acknowledge that the settler population has been able to benefit from this beautiful land. We are all treaty members and will strive to act in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples and center their voices.
The Agency values the diverse and intersectional identities of its clients and staff. The Agency regards equity and diversity as an integral part of excellent community service and is committed to accessibility for all staff. The Agency seeks applicants who embrace our values and beliefs around respect for the dignity and diversity of our clients, staff, and community. As such, we encourage applications from candidates who have been historically disadvantaged and marginalized, including applicants who identify as First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit/Inuk, Black, racialized, a person with a disability, women and/or 2SLGBTQ+.
The Agency encourages applications from all qualified individuals. If you are an applicant with disabilities and require accommodations, please let us know at the time of our contact so that we may arrange for their provision.
Personal information submitted will only be used for the purposes of the competition in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act.