Application:
The application must be approved to attend training. Complete the application BEFORE continuing with your registration.
Cost: Free
Who should attend/Requirements:
Individuals who are currently or who have been the primary caregiver of a child/children, under the age of 25, diagnosed with a behavioral health challenge (mental, developmental, substance use, or co-occurring disorder) looking to obtain family peer supporter certification. High school diploma or GED is required.
What is a Family Peer Support Specialist:
A Family Peer Support Specialist is legal caregiver (parent, guardian, relative with permanent custody) of a child, age 25 or younger, living with behavioral health challenges.
Family Peer Support Specialist must be:
- Experienced in navigating child serving systems of care in Ohio (i.e., Child Protective Services, Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities, Special Education, etc.) for at least one year.
- Able to partner with families, youth, professionals, and other community members, in order to plan and implement services.
- Able to support family strengths in problem -solving and solution seeking.
- Knowledgeable of community resources.
- Able to accept direction, guidance and assignments made by supervisory and/or treatment team.
Description:
NAMI Ohio Family Peer Support Specialist Training ensures that those employed in Ohio as Family Peer Support Specialists meet the high standards of performance demanded by the state of Ohio. This training promotes uniformity of core competencies of Family Peer Supporters as practitioners by:
- Ensuring professional development, continued education, and supervision.
- Advancing uniform standards, scope of practice, and best practices.
- Promoting ethical practice within the profession.
- Encouraging cultural sensitivity and cultural competency within family and professional partnerships.
- Providing tools to instill confidence with the families served.
How to become a Certified Family Peer Supporter:
To obtain peer supporter certification, individuals will submit a complete and compliant application including the following documentation:
(a) Proof of a minimum of forty hours of department approved competency-based peer services training.
(b) Hold a high school diploma, a general educational development certification, or similar secondary education from outside of the United States;
(c) Documentation of passing the department peer supporter exam, or an exam administered or designated by the department;
(d) Certified peer supporters will attest to having read and understood the code of ethics at initial certification
(e) The results of a bureau of criminal investigation and federal bureau of investigation criminal records check conducted within one year of submission.
What do Certified Family Peer Supporters offer:
Certified Family Peer Supporter services may include:
- Providing empathetic listening and emotional support
- Assisting families in navigating systems
- Supplying information about child‐serving systems, children’s behavioral health and development, and community resources
- Rendering advocacy support
- Encouraging self‐care activities
- Facilitating familial engagement with service providers
- Modeling collaboration between families and professionals
- Engaging in safety and care planning; exploring and eliminating barriers to care plan follow‐through
- Offering skill‐building for parents that enhances resiliency, communication, advocacy and other areas affecting the ability to maintain a child with complex needs in the home, school and community
- Sharing personal stories
- Providing HOPE