Your lived experience with mental health or substance use recovery isn’t just your story, it’s your professional strength. At Peer Academy, we help you transform that experience into state-recognized certification as a peer specialist, opening doors to meaningful work in healthcare, community programs, and recovery settings across Texas.
Whether you’re starting with Core Training or pursuing Mental Health Peer Specialist MHPS, Recovery Support Peer Specialist RSPS, or Peer Specialist Supervisor PSS certification, we provide the training, supervision, continuing education, and financial support to help you succeed.
A Peer Specialist is a trained professional whose greatest qualification is their own lived experience with mental health challenges or substance use recovery. They offer hope, shared understanding, and practical guidance — not as a clinician, but as someone who truly gets it.
Recovery Support & Wellness : Providing information and support with recovery planning, wellness tools, and navigating community resources.
Mentoring & Role Modeling : Serving as a role model and helping people find the services, resources, and community connections they need.
Advocacy & Rights Support : Supporting people in stressful or urgent situations and helping ensure their rights are respected at every step.
Keep Growing Your Career : Certified peer specialists can advance further — become a supervisor or earn your continuing education credits to stay certified.
Peer Academy provides comprehensive training and certification support for individuals pursuing peer specialist careers in Texas. We offer state-approved programs for Core Training, Mental Health Peer Specialist MHPS, Recovery Support Peer Specialist RSPS, and Peer Specialist Supervisor PSS certifications.
Our facilitators are certified peer specialists with lived experience who bring both professional credentials and personal understanding to every training. We’re committed to supporting the Texas peer workforce with quality education, accessible resources, and ongoing guidance throughout your certification journey.
From your first training to your first day on the job, here’s exactly what the certification journey looks like.
Find upcoming Core, MHPS, RSPS, and PSS training sessions. View dates, locations, and register for programs that fit your schedule.
Access financial support for your training, supervision, and continuing education. Apply for full or partial funding based on your needs.
Complete your required 250 supervision hours with group sessions, one-on-one support, or our all-inclusive PACE program.
Stay certified with our workshops, Peer Cafe sessions, and PAIR Network program. Earn the CEUs you need for recertification.
Certified peer specialists work across a wide range of settings in Texas, from hospitals and community programs to criminal justice, veterans’ services, and beyond. Your lived experience is needed everywhere.
Psychiatric hospitals, general medicine hospitals, substance use treatment centers, and VA hospitals.
Going directly into communities where people live to provide peer support where it’s needed most.
Jails, prisons, specialty courts, probation, and parole, bringing peer support to justice-involved individuals.
Federally Qualified Health Clinics, mental health clinics, and substance use treatment programs.
Recovery Community Organizations and Consumer-Operated Service Providers led by peers in recovery.
App-based services, teleconferencing, domestic violence shelters, recovery housing, and more.
Common job titles include:
Crisis Peer Support Specialist · Military Veteran Peer Specialist · Youth Peer Support Specialist · Peer Outreach Specialist · First Responder Peer Support Specialist · Peer Wellness Specialist · and more
Peer Academy offers scholarships covering up to 100% of your training costs. Many of our students complete Core Training and their full certification program completely free. If you need support, we’ll help you find it.
of the training costs can be covered through Peer Academy scholarships
Certified peer specialists work across a wide range of settings in Texas, from hospitals and community programs to criminal justice, veterans’ services, and beyond. Your lived experience is needed everywhere.
Going directly into communities where people live to provide peer support where it’s needed most.
Jails, prisons, specialty courts, probation, and parole bring peer support to justice-involved individuals.
Choose from full-day workshops, evening sessions, or self-paced modules built to fit around work, family, and life.
Receive official documentation for every training you complete, ready for your certification application and employer records.
From Core Training through PSS and ongoing CEUs, we’re your long-term partner, not just a one-time training provider.
Apoyo En Pares is the Spanish-language home of Peer Academy. All of our peer specialist training programs are available fully in Spanish — the same quality, the same support, in your language.
Tell us who you are — an individual with lived experience or an organization
Share your background — mental health, substance use recovery, or both
Tell us where you are in your journey — new, in training, or already certified
Get a personalized recommendation with a direct link to your next step
