Continuing Education Trainings
PaPSC Trainings
Added Membership Benefit: Only PaPSC members will have access to registration for space limited trainings and events up until 30 days prior to the event. Access will open to everyone within 30 days of the event.
Please note: All of the following training courses will earn continuing education credits accepted by the Pennsylvania Certification Board (PCB) for recertification purposes.
Certified Peer Professionals in Crisis Services
Like the other skill enhancement trainings in Pennsylvania (forensics, veterans, older adults) this training is designed to give the participants extra skills to specialize in a particular service area.
This training is specifically designed to prepare peer professionals to work in crisis services (telephone, mobile, walk-in, and residential). Topics covered include the Mental Health Procedures Act, roles and responsibilities of a CPS in crisis services, de-escalation, and suicide assessment and prevention.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
Orientation to Medicaid Funded Peer Support Documentation
This training was created by an Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) workgroup and covers the minimum state requirements for documentation.
Participants learn about the purposes of documentation, and examine and learn how to write a Strength Based Assessment, Individual Service Plan, and Progress Notes. There is also a section on Collaborative Documentation.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
Ethics for Certified Peer Based Professionals
In this training we introduce attendees to the Pennsylvania Certification Board’s Codes of Ethical Conduct for Certified Peer Specialists, Certified Recovery Specialists, and Certified Family Recovery Specialists. We use the Codes of Conduct as our backdrop to frame discussion surrounding ethics related issues like fraud, waste, abuse, confidentiality, service approach, non-discrimination, integrity, etc.
Additionally, this training covers setting and maintaining healthy boundaries with co-workers and the individuals served through real-life scenarios of potential ethical violations. Through this discussion participants learn to articulate their own beliefs and thoughts concerning these scenarios while being guided by the facilitators. The scenarios are framed from a learning perspective rather than a right/wrong one, in turn creating the space for participants to gain an understanding of their own ethical principles and values.
This training is Pennsylvania Certification Board approved for CPSs, CRSs, and CFRSs.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
Ethics of Codes of Ethics: Moral Injury in Peer Support
Peer professionals are trained in relational practice grounded in mutuality, shared power, and voluntariness, yet governed by a code of ethics borrowed from clinical disciplines built on categorical rules and professional distance. When these frameworks collide, peer workers face ethical binds that produce moral injury: an identity wound deeper than burnout that self-care cannot fix. This workshop examines how that tension creates conditions for moral injury. Drawing on ethical philosophy, the Shay moral injury framework, Peer Support Guidelines, and the PCB Code, participants gain language to name what many have felt but struggled to articulate. Through ethical dilemmas, side-by-side analysis of Peer values and PCB rules, vignettes, and small group exercises, attendees explore key conflicts and identify how moral injury shows up in daily practice. The session closes with communalization strategies and directions for peer-informed change.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
Advanced Supervisor Training: Tailoring Peer Support Supervision Strategies to your Staff’s Needs
The primary goal of this workshop is to aid Certified Peer Specialist and Certified Recovery Specialist Supervisors, and other clinical staff, in discovering ways to tailor their staff supervision in order bring out the best in their staff and create a cohesive team atmosphere. Through the use of audio and visual technology, and existing sources on the topic, we will explore what works, and what doesn’t, when viewing supervision through a Peer Based lens. We will explore why proper supervision is a key component to successfully integrating peer based staff into organizations, while discussing strategies that supervisors can utilize within their organizations in making that integration a reality.
This training is a supplement to, not a replacement for, the required, two-day supervision course offered through RI Consulting, the Institute for Recovery, or the Copeland Center.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
Understanding Hearing Voices for Peer Professionals
As Peer Professionals we are often faced with situations where we support people with the experience of hearing voices. This training was designed around the concepts covered in the Montgomery County Hearing Voices Network Training – Understanding Voices through a Human Perspective. It also brings in concepts from the larger International Hearing Voices Movement and all involved in these efforts have been peers in this capacity – seeing, sensing, or hearing things others do not and other unusual beliefs or experiences. In this training we cover alternatives to traditional medical model treatment for hearing voices and ways Peer Professionals can best support.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
Confidentiality Training
This training will explore the relevant Federal and State regulations governing drug and alcohol confidentiality in Pennsylvania.
Participants will learn about 42 CFR Part 2, including when and what type of information can be released, the required elements of a valid consent, how a consent can be revoked, and PA specific laws governing confidentiality as they relate to Certified Recovery Specialist and Certified Family Recovery Specialists. Participants will also engage in Case Studies to aid in increasing their practical application of the confidentiality laws. At the end of this training participants will have an increased understanding of their duty to uphold confidentiality laws for the protection of the peer’s they work with, themselves as peer-based professionals, the agencies they work for, and the peer-based profession as a whole.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
Recovery, Resiliency and Person-First Language
In this training we will explore the importance of using person-first language and the need for having systems and communities that support recovery from behavioral health conditions. Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to define recovery, resiliency, and person-first language, as well as recognize the importance of being a recovery champion in their communities. Through the demonstration of person-centered language and class discussion, each participant will leave with the knowledge of how to use, and more importantly, verbalize the purpose and importance of utilizing person centered language and the inherent benefits to not only the recovery community, but our behavioral health system as a whole. We will also cover ways to promote recovery, resiliency, and person-first language in the communities that the participants serve to better facilitate a recovery-oriented system of care within provider organizations and beyond.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
Peer Engagement
This training is designed to prepare peer professionals to engage more meaningfully with their peers. Promoting our services and exploring initial as well as ongoing engagement strategies are a central focus. The training also allows participants to explore communication skills and how they are essential to engagement.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, and Vicarious Trauma
This presentation delves into the concepts of compassion fatigue, burnout, and vicarious trauma experiences that are prevalent among those of us working in peer support. By fostering a deep understanding of these phenomena, this session aims to equip us as peer professionals with the knowledge and tools necessary to safeguard their well-being while continuing to provide empathetic and effective support to those we serve. We will foster an open dialogue around these topics and provide a unique hands-on opportunity to practice skills such as boundary setting and effective communication. We seek not only to educate, but to empower peer professionals to combat CBV.
1. Understand compassion fatigue, burnout, and vicarious trauma (CBV),
2. Provide hands-on knowledge of how these affect peer professionals.
3. Practice skills to combat CBV.
If you are interested in bringing this training to your area or if you represent an organization interested in sponsoring a training please contact us at: info@papsc.org.
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As a benefit of membership of the Pennsylvania Peer Support Coalition, you will be notified of these and other upcoming trainings and job opportunities. Join today.
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