Certification · 30 hours · $250

Certified Peer Support Leader

Everything in the Teammate training, plus the really important things you need to know when managing a peer support team. 24 hours of Teammate training and 6 hours of Leader-specific training.

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Leader training · 6 hours

What the Leader program covers

  • Selection of a peer support team leader
  • Selection of the members of the peer support team (teammates)
  • The types of training a peer support team needs to be effective and beneficial
  • Succession planning and co-leaders
  • Working with leadership / command staff / administration
  • Budgeting / funding to support the team’s work
  • Self-care of the Leader, the Teammates, leadership, and coworkers
  • Networking and connecting with mental health professionals, other leaders, and resources
  • The art of leading, coaching, and being a mentor
  • Organizing incidents and responses and delegating tasks and roles
  • Tracking and reporting peer use of the peer support team
  • Assessing teammates and personal, as well as morale
  • Being prepared vs. being reactionary
  • Policy, SOP’s and regulations for the peer support team
  • Updating and maintaining the peer support manual
  • The many roles and responsibilities of a team leader
Teammate training · 24 hours

Plus the full Teammate program

  • Why someone might want to be on a peer support team
  • Who’s right for a peer support team?
  • What are the criteria for a great peer support teammate?
  • How to prepare yourself for peer support mentally and emotionally
  • Expectations of a peer support team
  • Limitations and boundaries of peer support
  • The 4 C’s of peer support: Compassion, Connection, Crisis-Care, and Camaraderie
  • Self-Care and dealing with your own stuff
  • Mental Health: Anxiety, Stress, and Burnout
  • Mental Health: Depression
  • Mental Health: Trauma / Cumulative Trauma of a First Responder
  • Mental Health: Vicarious / Secondary Trauma
  • Mental Health: Post-Trauma Responses & Disorders
  • Mental Health: Treatment
  • Common coping choices among First Responders
  • Healthy coping choices
  • Resources
  • Networking & Connection to expand support options
  • Earning and keeping the trust of your coworkers
  • Confidentiality
  • Types of incidents, calls and needs
  • Ways to help your peers
  • Resiliency
  • Types of holistic health
  • Being a presence
  • Answer the call or don’t be on the team
  • The responsibility and privilege of being on a peer support team
  • Know your teammates and your coworkers
  • When to step up, step back, and/or leave the team
  • Do’s and Don’ts of peer support
  • Overload
  • The support you’ll need at home
  • Listening Skills
  • Including retirees in your program
  • Clarifying the required reporting situations and confidentiality boundaries
  • Suicide and Crisis Intervention
  • The impact of pre-career experiences
  • Debriefing using the Post Action Strategic Debriefing method
  • What to do when you just don’t know what to do
  • Proactive resiliency planning
  • Helping your coworkers to connect with, and use, resources
  • The effects you have as a peer support teammate
  • Practice scenarios, case studies and sample scripts for talking with your peers
How it works

Build, train and grow a peer support team.

Mental health foundational knowledge, team roles and duties, and organized and effective coordination are key elements of this training program.

Enroll on the Hub
Format
Online, on-demand and self-paced, with a certification exam at the end.
Access
90 days from the date you enroll. Sessions open gradually over the first 25 days, and the rest of the time is for catching up and going back over the material.
The exam
After the 90 days you're enrolled in the exam, with 30 days and two attempts to pass. You need a 90% or better to earn the certification.
Renewal and CE
Renew every year to stay active. After the first year, complete one hour of continuing education before each renewal. Renewals and CE
Teams
Group pricing is available. Ask us about your team

Already trained?

The ICPS is an open-book knowledge exam you can add to your Leader certification.

See the ICPS