Aspire Advocates for Behavioral Health
Aspire Advocates for Behavioral Health is doing something revolutionary in Missouri: building a recovery ecosystem that includes two Recovery High Schools and an Alternative Peer Group. Recovery High Schools are places where students in recovery from substance use disorder can finish their education while receiving recovery support services.
This role is early-stage, ground-floor work. You’ll build strategic relationships, primarily with school professionals but also with families, youth, and nonprofits. The goal: to ensure youth are referred to the right service at the right time. This is proactive, business-development-style work. You will be trained in Aspire’s proprietary outreach program called “Opening Doors to Care.”
You’ll also work with Aspire’s Youth Advisory Board to ensure their voices have a real influence on the behavioral health system.
You’ll thrive here if you:
- Are energized by proactive outreach — this role has a real business development rhythm: prospecting, relationship building, and follow-up.
- Enjoy behavioral health data and sharing best practices with school and behavioral health professionals
- Have some familiarity with recovery, youth-serving systems, or SUD treatment, so you can meet a young person’s story with understanding
- Are organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to track data and meet grant reporting requirements
- Are comfortable splitting time between remote admin work and regular in-person work in schools and community settings
Why Join Aspire?
Aspire’s track record is this: bringing the voices of lived experience directly to decision-makers. That work is the reason Missouri’s first Recovery High School is opening this fall — proof that this approach changes what gets built, not just what gets discussed.
You’d be joining at a pivotal moment. Aspire is a small team — right now, two people, and you’d be the third — with real room to grow this position as the organization grows.
The Details
Aspire Advocates for Behavioral Health seeks an Outreach Specialist I (Contract) to improve behavioral health services for youth in the St. Louis region. The central focus: helping establish the region’s Recovery High Schools, programs that combine academics and recovery support while honoring students’ developmental stage. The first opens this fall and a second is planned for 2027. The Outreach Specialist I will lead school district outreach, referral network development, and direct connection with families and youth.
Key Responsibilities
Community Outreach and Education (Primary Responsibility)
- Cultivate relationships with school counselors, administrators, and student support staff to build a strong referral network for the Recovery High School and Alternative Peer Group (an ongoing recovery support group for teens)
- Build trusted relationships with families and youth affected by SUD — through community meetings, events, and one-on-one connection — so families know where to turn and young people see a path to recovery-supportive education
- Strengthen coordination among schools, treatment providers, and families so students and families are connected to the right services at the right time
- Practice Aspire’s proprietary relationship-building and outreach program, “Opening Doors to Care”
- Record all interactions in Bloomerang CRM
Community Engagement (In Partnership, With Opportunities for Expanded Leadership)
- Plan and attend monthly community meetings for families, youth, and community members, and represent Aspire at select tabling and speaking opportunities as assigned
- Translate research and data for professionals, families, and community members in ways that reduce stigma, highlight remission pathways for youth, and build broader support for the Recovery High School model
- Help design and implement educational and outreach opportunities such as There is Hope: Youth SUD Summit and Day of Celebration and Education at the Capitol
Youth Advisory Board Leadership (Primary Responsibility)
- Lead Aspire’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB), a monthly gathering of youth and emerging adults working to build a behavioral health system that meets the unique needs of children, teens, and young adults
- Ensure YAB members’ lived experience shapes the Recovery High School — its programming, messaging, and strategic decisions — before and after the doors open
Qualifications
Education
- Bachelor’s degree with significant relevant experience required
- Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH), Social Work (MSW), LPC, Public Policy, Education, or a related field preferred
Experience and/or Familiarity With
- Community outreach, program coordination, public health, behavioral health, education, or nonprofit settings
- Business development and relationship-building — experience preferred, but we’re willing to train the right person
- Substance use disorder treatment, recovery support services, or youth-serving systems preferred
- Working with schools, alternative education models, government agencies, or cross-sector coalitions a plus
- Territory management tools, or willingness to be trained
Skills and Attributes
- Strong relationship-builder who connects authentically with diverse stakeholders, including youth, families, educators, treatment providers, and policymakers
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex information into accessible messages
- Self-starter who takes initiative and manages multiple priorities with minimal supervision
- Deep commitment to centering lived experience and youth voice
- Collaborative spirit and comfort working as part of a small, mission-driven team
- Organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to track data and meet grant reporting requirements
- Passion for improving outcomes for young people affected by substance use disorder and behavioral health challenges
To Apply
Please send a resume and cover letter to jamie@aspireadvocates.org. We will begin reviewing resumes on August 3.
