PEER ACADEMY
MHPS Supplemental Training
The MHPS Supplemental Training is a comprehensive Texas Certification Board certified training curriculum. Students that complete the course and successfully complete the knowledge assessment will obtain their 6-month initial certification.
Overview
The MHPS (Mental Health Peer Specialist) Supplemental Training is a specialized program designed to provide individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to become proficient in supporting individuals with mental health challenges on their recovery journey. This training is intended for individuals who have a lived experience of mental health challenges and wish to utilize their personal experiences to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
What You’ll Learn
- Comprehensive overview of peer specialist work, including understanding its historical context and foundations.
- Values and ethics that guide peer specialists in their work, highlighting the importance of language and the impact it has in the context of peer specialist practice.
- Five stages of the recovery process and their relevance to peer specialist practice, as well as the role of personal stories and experiences in supporting others.
- Essential skills such as active listening, holding space for others, group facilitation, and promoting self-help, while also exploring the federal and state mental health systems and their impact on peer specialists.
- Significance of the environment in mental health, problem-solving approaches, managing fear, considering the whole person in peer specialist practice, maintaining ethical boundaries, and being an effective change agent while navigating power dynamics and conflicts with integrity.
Modules
Monday
Module 1: Orientation
Provides an overview and summary of the main ideas covered in the training.
Module 2: The Shoulders Upon Which We Stand
Covers the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to understanding the historical context and foundations of peer specialist work.
Module 3: Peer Specialist Values and Ethics
Focuses on the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to exploring the values and ethics that guide peer specialists in their work.
Module 4: The Power of Language
Addresses the goals, objectives, and main ideas associated with understanding the impact and importance of language in the context of peer specialist work.
Module 5: Five Stages Within the Recovery Process
Covers the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to understanding the five stages of the recovery process and their relevance to peer specialist practice.
Module 6 Part I: What Are My Stories?
Focuses on the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to exploring personal stories and experiences as a peer specialist and their role in supporting others.
Features
Path to becoming a Mental Health Peer Specialist (MHPS)
Virtual (Zoom)
Details
40 Hours ( 5 Days x 8 Hours)
9 am to 5 pm
Prerequisites
Completed Orientation & CORE Training
Lived Experience in Mental Health
Laptop, Desktop or Tablet with Webcam
Registration End Date
7 Working Dates Before the Start Date
Investment
$650
Tuesday
Module 6 Part II: Stories in Practice
Focuses on the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to utilizing personal recovery stories in peer specialist practice and includes a self-assessment of one’s recovery story.
Module 7: Opening the Door to New Perspectives
Covers the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to exploring common types of trauma, gaining new perspectives, understanding the role of a peer specialist, and emphasizing the importance of self-care.
Module 8: Listening and the Art of Holding Space
Addresses the goals, objectives, and main ideas associated with the art of active listening, the concept of holding space, and how to effectively hold space for others.
Module 9: Group Facilitation and Recovery Dialogues
Focuses on the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to group facilitation skills, running effective groups, understanding different types and structures of groups, and exploring the qualities of a good facilitator. Additionally, it covers the concept of recovery dialogues.
Module 10: Federal and State Mental Health Systems
Covers the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to understanding the federal and state mental health systems, local service delivery, the financial aspects of Medicaid, and how these factors impact peer specialists in their work.
Thursday
Module 14: Fueling the Power of Dissatisfaction
Explores the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to creating space for exploring dissatisfaction and its potential for personal growth and change.
Module 15: PICBBA Problem Solving
Covers the goals, objectives, and main ideas of using the PICBBA (Problem Identification, Confidence Building, Brainstorming, and Action Planning) approach, including its definition, application, purpose, and appropriate timing.
Module 16: Fear: Friend or Foe
Addresses the goals, objectives, and main ideas concerning fear, including its definitions, the Catch It, Check It, Change It approach, the culture of patienthood, the influence of language on human experience and recovery, and the concept of reframing fear.
Module 17: Meeting the Whole Person
Focuses on the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to social identity definitions, acknowledging and understanding differences, and recognizing the importance of considering the whole person in peer specialist practice.
Wednesday
Module 11: Environment Matters
Focuses on the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to the significance of the environment in mental health, using personal stories to highlight the impact of environments, the process of learning and unlearning, identifying negative environments, understanding the difference between negative and positive environments, and introducing the concept of the ladder of inference.
Module 12: Snippets
Covers the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to the use of snippets in peer specialist work, providing an exercise on creating snippets.
Module 13: Promoting Self-Help
Addresses the goals, objectives, and main ideas associated with promoting self-help, including the definition of self-help, examples of self-help, the role of peer specialists in self-help, self-care for peer specialists, modeling and supporting self-help, and advocating for self-help.
Friday
Module 18: Ethics and Boundaries 101
Covers the goals, objectives, and main ideas related to understanding the overview, laws, regulations, and ethics associated with maintaining boundaries in peer specialist practice, along with guidance on navigating complex relationships.
Module 19: Change Agent
Explores the goals, objectives, and main ideas of being a “change agent,” including defining the term, exploring the emotions that may arise with change, identifying qualities of effective change agents, discussing different ways change can occur, and emphasizing the importance of maintaining the peer perspective.
Module 20: Power, Conflict, and Integrity
Addresses the goals, objectives, and main ideas surrounding power dynamics, conflicts, and integrity in peer specialist practice, including an overview of these concepts, explanations of power, conflict, and integrity, real-life examples, the three steps of PCI (Power, Conflict, and Integrity), affirming examples, utilizing lived experiences, employing ‘we’ statements and third alternatives, and providing tips for positive communication during conflicts through the PCI framework.
Scholarships
Peer Academy Scholarships
At Peer Academy, we firmly believe that money should not be a barrier to education. Therefore, we offer scholarships to students in need. Our goal is to find people interested in using their personal lived experience with mental health challenges and turning them into the best possible Peer Specialists.
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CORE and MHPS Supplemental Training Scholarships
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Access to our Peer Career Mentors
Why Choose Peer Academy?
Online Training
Peer Academy’s training sessions are conducted entirely online, making them accessible from anywhere with a computer and reliable internet connection.
Certified Trainers
Our trainers at Peer Academy are certified and experienced peer specialists, dedicated to ensuring your success in the training program.
Exclusive Financial Aids
As a student enrolled in Peer Academy, you’ll have access to exclusive financial aid, stipends, and internship opportunities.
Student Story Highlights
★★★★★
“I went through the MHPS program at Peer Academy and I can’t say enough amazing things about it. Working in a healthcare setting with mental health and substance abuse clients, the Peer Academy provided me with multiple new resources and healthy ways of navigating communication with these clients. I have also found new relationships with others in the program as well as a safe space to express myself and ask those uncomfortable questions.
Each individual trainer, group leader, supervisor was always readily available to help and answer any questions I may have had. The most rewarding part of going through the Peer Academy was I was able to learn more about myself and how I can be that vessel of hope for others that may need it.
I am truly honored to have gone through this program and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to grow within the Peer Specialist program.”
Cassidy Goodrum Lambert
★★★★★
“Joining Peer Academy was a transformative experience in my journey to becoming a great peer and supporter. The comprehensive training and hands-on activities provided me with the essential skills and knowledge to connect deeply with others. The supportive community at Peer Academy fostered a sense of belonging and encouraged continuous learning and personal growth.
Thanks to their guidance, I am now more confident, empathetic, and effective in my role, equipped to make a meaningful impact in my peer interactions. Peer Academy truly set me on the path to success.”
Rodney Brown
ENROLL IN TRAINING
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