top of page

Certified Peer Specialist project
continuing education

After successful completion of the CPS examination, a CPS is required to have a minimum of 12 continuing education units (CEUs) per calendar year.  The time frame for the beginning acquisition of CEUs is the year following the year in which the CPS passed the certification exam. 

​

For example:  If a CPS passed the certification exam at any time in 2022, CEUs begin accruing in January 2023.  Twelve CEUs must be acquired by December 31, 2023.  The cycle will then repeat, beginning in January 2024.  Additional CEUs over the required 12 hours are not transferable to the following year.

 

There are many opportunities to obtain CEUs through workshops, webinars, and conferences.

​

Some of the opportunities are listed below.  Please be aware that the dates shown are tentative and subject to change as needed.

​

Certification Verification for Employers

Employers and potential employers of Certified Peer Specialists should email GMHCN's Continuing Education Coordinator at ceu@gmhcn.org to request verification of active CPS-MH credentials. Please indicate in your email all of the information you require. If you need the verification sooner than five business days, consider calling the GMHCN home office at the number at the bottom of this page. 

​

GMHCN Summer Conference (offered annually in August at St. Simons Island, GA)

Plans for the 2023 ANNUAL SUMMER CONFERENCE are uncertain, but it will likely be held online. Please consider utilizing online trainings to fulfill your continuing education requirements for 2023.

​

  • Opportunity for CEU Training hours offered annually by attending keynotes and workshops at the conference.

  • Advance conference registration is required.  Keynote presentations are available to all participants; workshop availability is on a first-come; first-served basis.

  • Check lists and signature sheets for attending keynotes and workshops may be picked up throughout the conference.

  • Signature sheets may be turned in to CPS Project staff on the last day of the conference or mailed, emailed, or faxed into the GMHCN offices thereafter.

  • Due to the high volume of participants, physical certificates copies are mailed out by request only.

  • For more information and updates, please visit the www.gmhcn.org website.

 

Whole Health Action Management (WHAM) Training

  • Complete your WHAM Training to become a certified Wellness Coaching and receive 12 CEUs.

  • Please check the www.gmhcn.org website for updates, trainings, and locations.

 

 

RESPECT Institute

  • 3 and ½ day training to develop your recovery story for presentation in public venues.

  • Completion of Respect Institute provided 18 hours of CEUs.

 

Trainings:

  • Intentional Peer Support

  • Trauma Informed Peer Support

  • WRAP

  • Peer Zone

​

Webinars (CEU credits are granted based on hour equivalencies):

  • Content must be recovery-oriented and strengths-based.

  • All webinar announcements posted below are eligible for CEUs.

  • Relias Online Learning Modules can also receive CEU credit. (Review and prior approval of specific modules is required.  Not all modules are eligible to receive credit.) Relias may require a paid membership/subscription in order to receive CEU certificates.

 

Other CPS Trainings and Certifications with CEU Credit:

​

Online Resources/Webinars:

Certified Peer Specialists can also attend webinars and receive CEUs from a range of national websites.  CEUs for webinars are hour equivalencies - e.g. - 1 hour = 1 CEU; 1.5 hours=1.5 CEUs.  

​

Acceptable webinars must be recovery oriented, which means that they focus on topics of wellness, holistic approaches to recovery, strengths-based perspectives, community resource linking, person-centered treatment, and so forth. Unacceptable webinars include those that focus on strictly clinical topics such as the DSM-5, diagnosis, clinical assessments, psychiatric treatment modalities, etc..

​

Some organizations the frequently provide CEU opportunities that are recovery-oriented include:

​

​

Please note that not all webinars on these websites meet the above criteria. Please review the webinar content prior to participating, and verify that it meets the CPS Project criteria. Please contact the CPS Project at ceu@gmhcn.org with any questions.

​

If you are also a CPS-AD (CARES), you may receive CEU credit from your CARES training and CARES Connect.

​

In general, to attend a webinar, you sign up with your email and attend on the time and date indicated.  Once the webinar is complete, you should receive either a "thank you for attending" email, an actual certificate, or both.  Either will have to show the total number of CEUs earned or the total number of HOURS attended.  It will also require the name of the webinar or training, the presenter, dates, times and topic.  Please call the CEU department for more information.

​

Submitting CEU Documentation and Maintaining Active Certification

​

Please scan any paper certificate and email to ceu@gmhcn.org or fax to 404-687-0772 along with your current contact information or click here to submit your documentation online.

​

CPSs may submit documentation for CEUs in any given year up through January 31 of the following year (for example, documentation of CEUs received in 2022 must be received by GMHCN no later than January 31 of 2023). Any CPS who has not provided required annual documentation by January 31 will go into an “inactive” status.

​

GMHCN and other providers of Georgia Certified Peer Specialist trainings are required to report the Active/Inactive status of CPSs to the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. 

Upcoming Ceu Opportunities

IMPORTANT FOR ALL CERTIFIED PEER SPECIALISTS

Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the agency that provides funding for the Certified Peer Specialist Project, is creating a database of all Certified Peer Specialists across the state, and they have asked us to provide them with updated information for all Certified Peer Specialists, including date of birth. Depending on when you completed your training and certification, the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network may not have your date of birth and current contact information (including mailing address and working phone number) on file.

 

It is very important that we be able to provide DBHDD this information as soon as possible. Please click here to update your CPS information, including your date of birth, at your earliest convenience.

bottom of page