Certified Peer Specialist
By partnering with experienced peers, individuals living with mental illness receive support to actively engage in their recovery.
Certified Peer Specialists are people who have lived with mental illness in their own lives. They serve as role models and advocates for other mental health consumers.
Peer Specialists receive training and are tested on their skills. They are people who want to help others succeed, offering encouragement and hope along the road to recovery.
A Certified Peer Specialist can . . .
- listen to an individual’s current concerns and hopes for the future
- help develop those hopes into recovery goals and create a recovery plan
- support individuals to put their recovery plan into action by ensuring they have the right tools in their recovery toolbox, including
- connections to natural supports and
- referrals to social and vocational rehabilitation programs.
Who can receive CPS services?
Anyone with a mental illness diagnosis who is willing to take steps toward recovery is encouraged to use these services. Eligibility is open to those who want to reduce frequency and duration of hospitalization, learn self-advocacy skills, strengthen their independence, and take steps to improve their quality of life.
CPS Annual Reports
Certified Peer Specialist 2010 Annual Report
Certified Peer Specialist 2009 Annual Report
CPS Satisfaction Surveys
CPS Satisfaction Survey – November 2011
CPS Satisfaction Survey – May 2011