[Job Radar](https://jobradar.live/) / [Jobs](https://jobradar.live/ilanlar) / Peer Specialist

Active
Not specified
Fort Thomas, Kentucky
Posted · 30.09.2026
USAJOBS

# Peer Specialist

Veterans Health Administration

The Peer Specialist provides Veterans the world-class benefits and services they have earned and does so by adhering to the highest standards of compassion, commitment, excellence, professionalism, integrity, accountability, and stewardship. This position may provide peer support services to any Veteran depending on the needs of the Veteran population at their facility.
Duties include, but are not limited to: Participates in the service, training, consultation, and other professional activities of VA health care services and functions as a fully vested member of the multidisciplinary team. Serves as a recovery agent by providing and advocating for effective wellness and holistic, recovery-based services that aid Veterans in daily living. Orients new Veterans to the program's services, hours, locations, staff, and other pertinent information necessary for the Veterans to understand how to effectively utilize the program services. Assists Veterans to articulate personal recovery and wellness goals through the use of individual or group meetings. Observes behaviors that might indicate difficulty adapting or responding to treatment (e.g., missed appointments, failure to maintain abstinence, risk to self or others, disruptive behavior), completes appropriate documentation, and reports concerns to the treatment team in a timely manner. Shares stories about personal recovery experiences in relation to current struggles that the Veterans report. These discreet self disclosures made by the position facilitate Veterans' recovery by conveying hope that change and recovery are possible. Work Schedule: Monday
• Friday, 8:00am
• 4:30pm, may be required to work weekends and evenings as needed. Telework: Not Available Position Description/PD#: Peer Specialist/PD99327-S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/07/2026. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-8. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR PEER SPECIALISTS a. Statutory Requirements. Section 405 of Public Law 110-387, as codified in 38 U.S.C. 7402(b)(13), established that to be eligible to receive appointment to a Peer Specialist position, a person must: (1) be a veteran who has recovered or is recovering from a mental health condition; and (2) be certified by - (a) a not-for-profit entity engaged in peer specialist training as having met such criteria as the Secretary shall establish for a peer specialist position; or (b) a State as having satisfied relevant State requirements for a peer specialist position. b. Length of Experience in Recovery: must have at least 1 year of recovery from a mental health condition (mental illness and/or substance use disorder). Successful recovery is exemplified by one who manages symptoms of illness and pursues a healthy lifestyle; lives independently; is employed or volunteers significant time approximating at least a part-time employment schedule; has meaningful relationships with family members and friends; and is socially involved in the community through clubs, hobby groups, church, civic organizations or Veteran organizations in which the individual provides a service to others. IMPORTANT NOTICE: Veteran is defined as a person who served in the active military, naval, air, or space service, and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable. Restricted to VETERANS
• See IMPORTANT NOTICE. Open to current, permanent employees of the VA (i.e. T38, T38 Hybrid, and VCS employees on excepted appts covered by an interchange agreement); Federal employees on a Career/Career-Conditional appt.; Former competitive civil service employees eligible for reinstatement; Veterans eligible under VEOA, VRA, and 30% DAV; Those eligible under the Employment Program for People with Disabilities; and those eligible for CTAP/ICTAP. NOTE: You MUST provide copies of your DD-214 and Peer Specialist Certification, with your application package. ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. MINIMUM GRADE LEVEL QUALIFICATIONS SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE FOR PEER SPECIALISTS, GS-102-6/9: In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. Specialized experience is progressively responsible, post-personal mental health recovery experience as a mentor providing counseling to support peers in mental health and/or addiction recovery, a recovery advocate directly involved with consumers of mental health services, a psychiatric therapy aide, or equivalent work involving in-person communication to support others in mental health recovery. SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR PEER SPECIALISTS, GS-102-6/9: Graduate education or a post-bachelor's degree internship meets the specialized experience required for GS-6/9 only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. Six (6) months of graduate education or a 1-year post-bachelor's degree internship meets the requirements for GS-6. One full year of graduate education meets the requirements for GS-7. One and one/half years of graduate education meets the requirements for GS-8. Two full years of graduate education or a master's degree meets the requirements for GS-9. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary. Typically, the employee sits to do the work. There may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items (such as books, papers), and accessing transportation. The work may require occasional use of Department of Veterans Affairs approved behavioral management techniques with Veterans who present a danger to self or others. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required. You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Valid Driver's License is required
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

This job was verified from USAJOBS. Applications are completed on the original source.

[Apply on the original listing ↗](https://jobradar.live/ilan/371b37d2-242e-46d9-a5c1-acb5e96438f3/git)

## Stop searching one by one for roles like this.

Upload your resume or enter your target roles to see your first 3 matches for free.

[Find jobs for me →](https://jobradar.live/uye/kayit)
Your resume is never shared with employers; it is processed only for matching.

Something wrong with this job?

## Similar jobs

[Veterans Health Administration Jobs](https://jobradar.live/company/veterans-health-administration) · [Jobs in Kentucky](https://jobradar.live/jobs/kentucky)
· [Jobs by location](https://jobradar.live/jobs) · [Jobs by company](https://jobradar.live/company)

- [Confluent - Staff Software Engineer - WarpStream](https://jobradar.live/ilan/992bf1a0-3af4-4450-aac7-24145f5181c4) IBM · Boston, KY

- [Firefighter (BLS/HAZMAT Technician)](https://jobradar.live/ilan/d8e40a30-d9c7-4e47-aafe-d5c6804c2bfc) United States Army Installation Management Command · Fort Campbell, Kentucky

- [Nurse (Quality Improvement and Infection Control Nurse)](https://jobradar.live/ilan/be93caaa-6866-4bdb-86a7-fb2df46ef6f9) Bureau of Prisons/Federal Prison System · Inez, Kentucky

- [BARISTA (FULL TIME)](https://jobradar.live/ilan/2a8606c6-619c-4b1d-b8ad-af82bf27fe73) Flik Hospitality Group · Covington, KY

- [Truck Driver - Local Class A - Penske Logistics](https://jobradar.live/ilan/9cfacd7f-0848-4d4a-b9d0-f7e5da3cefcc) Penske Logistics · Louisville, KY

- [Materials Handler Supervisor (Warehouse Worker Foreman)](https://jobradar.live/ilan/bed535f4-ccc5-4641-a5fb-ac94c86cc58a) Bureau of Prisons/Federal Prison System · Ashland, Kentucky

- [Recruitment Manager](https://jobradar.live/ilan/0f19aea5-12b6-4310-b0e9-fb2b9281a7c0) Resource Environmental Solutions LLC · Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States; Brentwood, Tennessee, United States; Jordan, Minnesota, United States; Lafayette, Louisiana, United States; Louisville, Kentucky, United States; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States; Orlando, Florida, United States; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States; Richmond, Virginia, United States

- [Non-Sterile Compounding Pharmacy Technician](https://jobradar.live/ilan/d804d33a-9190-41f2-9ff4-75a9ba9c3d37) Wedgewood Pharmacy · Lexington, KY